IBM co-creates a radical new approach to performance management


IBM has decided to reinvent its approach to performance management. The previous, long-standing programme – with its traditional model of annual, top-down goals and a single numeric rating at year-end – no longer matched the dynamic and agile way the company now operates. Working hand-in-hand with its employees, IBM ‘co-created’ a brand new approach through an online social dialogue. The result was ‘Checkpoint’ – replete with quarterly formal feedback conversations, continuous informal feedback and an end-of-year assessment process that rates employees along five separate dimensions.

CONTENTS OF THIS 11-PAGE CASE STUDY

Researched and written by E-reward.co.uk

  • Organisation profile
  • Who E-reward interviewed
  • IBM’s previous programme
  • The journey towards Checkpoint
  • The case for change
  • Designing the new programme
  • A co-creation approach
  • Design thinking
  • Overcoming scepticism
  • Gathering insights and feedback
  • Dealing with negative comments
  • Amplifying the conversation
  • Playback
  • Making changes to the design
  • Announcing the new programme
  • The launch of Checkpoint
  • Checkpoint in practice
  • More regular, short-term goals
  • Multiple performance ratings
  • The five dimensions of performance
  • IBM’S digital learning marketplace
  • Guiding the feedback conversation
  • The year-end assessment and rating
  • Continuous feedback
  • Feedback training
  • Monitoring the process
  • Regularly updated milestones and achievements
  • Empowered managers
  • A positive start
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