Lessons from experience

No two implementations are exactly the same, but we can learn a lot from where things went either north or south 

The following lessons were gleaned from the successful implementations of larger companies.

• Practical involvement by top management i.e. they do their own contracts and approve those of their employees.
• A highly committed and involved project steering committee.
• Weekly project steering commission meetings will ensure momentum and the quick resolution of uncertainties and issues.
• Disciplined and structured communication of deadlines and expectations around contract negotiations, content loading and approval, scoring and scoring approval.
• Uniform system implementation throughout a company i.e. one set of rules is followed by all.
• Take a pilot group through the system’s performance management process and confirm the business’ performance management process; note process and information deviations and communicate as needed about these. An added benefit is if the pilot is done with IT-savvy people who could comment on potential system obstacles. 
• Well-structured project team consisting of representatives of the business, HR and IT.
• Setting up the performance management job templates prior to go-live helps HR to clean up the job descriptions and tweak them with a view on going into the performance management system.
• Employees thoroughly informed about the system prior to the project kick-off.
• Presence and involvement of a system champion, having the following characteristics:
  • Excellent system knowledge.
  • Some technical skills e.g. using Excel.
  • Some influence in the higher management levels of the company.
  • Ability to get things done.
  • Good rapport with system stakeholders and users.