NEXT GENERATION HR - CIPD

NEXT GENE
Competition
Although ‘confronting’ poor performance is seen as counter-cultural in some parts of Asia,
many of the same countries have highly competitive education systems. People leave them
well accustomed to ‘rigorous performance evaluation’. By tapping into this ethos some
organisations have made great progress embedding the performance culture they seek.
Case study: The Founder Group
The Founder Group in China has transformed its performance culture. Graduates join used
to a highly evaluative and competitive academic environment. By consciously sustaining
and building on this they have found a natural way to use competition to leverage a
performance culture.
‘We set a very high performance standard for our employees; if you cannot meet the
standard we defined for you, it is ok for the first time. We’ll give you a second chance.
We make it very clear what does it mean when you fail to meet the defined standard at
the end, and people know that if his or her performance appraisal result is not okay the
better choice is to leave. Therefore for me as HR Head I never force people to leave; we
just tell them their performance result. Let them know that within Founder, that means
their future is just here that’s it. This is the point.’ (HR Director, Founder Group)
Coaching
This has been accompanied by a heavy emphasis on the role of the line manager as coach.
‘Coaching’ is becoming increasingly important across Asia and the best organisations are
investing heavily in enhancing the abilities of their leaders to coach their people.
When the Indian construction company hires ex-pat project managers, it limits their contracts
to two years. And during this time it gives them two targets, both equally remunerated. The
first is to deliver the project. The second is to discover and groom a successor.
Case study: Glaxosmithkline
A similar response has emerged for Glaxosmithkline in China. The HR function here is
placing much emphasis on developing the first-line manager to engage, motivate and
retain valued employees set against a context of extremely high turnover rates in Asia.
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NEXT GENERATION HR