Technology is changing the way we manage employee performance. And, if there’s one company we’re used to seeing at the fore of workplace tech, it’s Microsoft. So, is there a dedicated Microsoft performance management tool? And what does it bring to the table?
Managing employee performance isn’t always straightforward. Everyone has their own wants, needs and idiosyncrasies. And performance is often a matter of engagement, wellbeing, and an absence of obstacles.
The problem is that all these things are generally beyond the control of the individual. And that’s where management and HR come in. But managers still need tools to succeed. So, let’s look at the essential features for a good performance management platform.
What to look for in a good performance management tool
Goals and OKRs
Goal tracking is an essential part of managing employee performance. Aside from keeping your team on-task, it serves as a periodic progress report. That said, there are different goal-tracking options to consider. For instance, SMART Goals break big projects down into manageable milestones.
OKRs turn all your projects into key results for company-wide objectives. This is great for organisational alignment and large-scale collaboration. That’s why OKRs are the primary focus for Viva, one of Microsoft’s performance management tools.
Performance reviews and continuous feedback
It’s true that performance reviews have popularity issues. But that’s largely a problem with how they’ve been implemented by businesses in the past. When supported by a system of regular, ongoing feedback, 1:1 reviews can be a great capstone for managing employee performance.
So, any decent performance management tool needs a system for performance reviews. That way, you have easy documentation, and can automate a lot of the prep work on both sides. Continuous feedback also allows you to monitor engagement in real-time. And that’s essential, both for understanding employee sentiment and offering critical feedback.
Talent management
Having a highly engaged, constantly productive employee is wonderful. But it’s important to realise that these staff often have higher expectations of their employers as a result. That means employee recognition. It means career growth. And, for Millennial and Gen Z workers in particular, it means regular, ongoing managerial feedback. These things are essential parts of performance management. Especially if you want to keep your top talent around.
Employee development tools
Performance management isn’t just about making sure people are working hard while they’re on the clock. It’s about what managers and HR can do to develop them as employees. And career growth doesn’t always come in the form of a promotion. Often, career development takes the form of things like upskilling, secondments and mentorships.
Investing in staff education and development means employees can contribute more effectively. And it may even help win them a promotion in the future.
A good performance management tool supports employee growth. Such as by keeping track of their progress in skills training, or personal development goal-setting.
Which Microsoft performance management tool should you use?
There isn’t just one Microsoft performance management tool. There are actually a couple. And they’re more like whole suites of apps, each with their own specific purposes. So, which is which, and what tool is the right choice for you?
Dynamics 365
Dynamics 365 is a suite of apps with a broader focus than only performance management. It even covers aspects of your business like sales and marketing, customer service, and finance and business operations. But, today, were here to talk about employee performance management. And Dynamics 365 includes a tool for that as well.
Performance journal
The performance journal is the central piece of this Microsoft performance management tool. Employees have an online journal that they’re required to update leading up to a review. It’s a place where they can document activities and events that contributed to their success. Managers can also use their journals to send ad-hoc feedback to a given employee. And that means you don’t have to wait for a performance review to address something.
Goals
These goals can be simple or complex. With this Microsoft performance management tool, goals can be set over any length of time. So, you’re free to retain them across multiple reviews if they’re still relevant. It’s easy to track ongoing results against your targets. And you can even set stretch goals to push your team the extra mile.
Performance reviews
Dynamics 365’s performance review function is designed with flexibility in mind. You’re able to set up simple, 1:1 performance reviews, of course. But you can also structure more complex reviews to suit your business needs. When setting up a review, you’re able to bring in all the relevant goals and events. You can also attach comments to give more context. Managers can also use the competencies section to review and evaluate employee skills. This gives a much clearer idea of what everyone’s strengths are. So you can manage them more efficiently, and identify areas for improvement.
Viva Goals
Viva Goals is part of the broader suite of Microsoft Viva apps. One of their main selling points is that all Viva apps are fully compatible with Microsoft Teams. Of course, this isn’t the first time we’ve talked about Viva Goals. It uses OKRs to help you achieve alignment across your whole organisation.
Viva Goals makes it easy to organise your OKRs. The emphasis on visibility helps you to identify when a key result could be improved, or when it’s working against your objective. Everything is colour-coded. And you can group relevant key results together as a time-saver. Speaking of time-savers, you can even automate some of the data input when you’re setting up an OKR.
Integration with Teams, and various other Microsoft apps are one thing. But Viva Goals’ smooth data processing means it integrates well with a lot of third-party apps too.
Where Perform365 sits
Figuring out the best Microsoft performance management tool is one thing. But where do we fit in?Perform365 is our performance management and employee engagement tool that’s built for Microsoft. It’s designed to give you a moving picture of employee sentiment, and regular opportunities to provide feedback.
Like Viva Goals, Perform365 is fully Teams-compatible. In fact, we’re a Microsoft partner, and one of the most popular performance and engagement apps on the Microsoft Teams store.
A weekly check-in
At Zensai, our employee check-in is the core of our service. Although it’s far from the only tool we offer. It may not technically be a Microsoft performance management tool. But, as a Microsoft partner, our platform still has the integration of one.
Most aspects of your check-in are completely customisable. That includes their frequency. You can check in with employees as often as you’d like. But we recommend running them on a weekly basis for two reasons:
- Critical feedback is most effective when it’s timely.
- A weekly basis is critical for a real-time view of employee sentiment.
An employee check-in is made up of two parts: First, a small, focused set of personalised questions. And second, goal-tracking.
Questions should be specific to each employee, and should address engagement and wellbeing. Not to mention insights about their performance, like obstacles they encountered, or support they need.
Your choice of OKRs or SMART Goals
Perform365 offers managers their choice of OKRs and SMART Goals. This is because we recognise that different teams or sectors can have massively different needs. You might prefer OKRs for helping you to align and collaborate across your organisation. Or you might want SMART Goals to help you set out realistic milestones for your team. Whatever your choice, each week, you’ll get regular progress updates from your team members. As well as curbing any micromanaging tendencies, this is valuable performance documentation.
Tailored performance conversations
We’ve designed Perform365 to support all your performance conversations. Not just your major reviews. And customisable check-in questions are only the start. But, since they’re their own documentation, they are an essential piece of groundwork.
You have total flexibility in how you structure performance conversations. Check-in data offers a clear idea of where they need to improve and what questions you need to ask. So, it’s easy to tailor the conversation to the individual. Even the format is flexible. You might have them in-person, over Teams, or even asynchronously. Although we’d recommend direct 1:1s for reviews and other important discussions.
Perform365 also allows you to automate up to 90% of performance conversations. But that’s to free up time for the ones that matter. Performance reviews, and vital in-person conversations.
Continuous performance management
We don’t view performance management as a seasonal thing. That’s why we recommend weekly check-ins, and why we suggest pushing past the boundaries of an annual review.
Timely feedback being more effective is only one reason. Important, but not the only one. Another is that employees need to feel valued. And that’s something they need regularly. In short, they need recognition. Either from you or their peers.
The third reason is that continuous performance management builds a dialogue. A good manager earns the trust of their employees. Without that trust, employees might view check-ins and reviews as box-ticking exercises.
In other words, they won’t take your feedback on-board. And they’ll be less forthcoming with critical feedback of their own. They might see a way work culture or efficiency could improve. But never say anything, because they don’t expect you to listen.
With continuous feedback and performance management, people get invested in the process. And this is how you get truly engaged employees.
So, there you have it. Hopefully, by now, you know which Microsoft performance management tool you’d rather use. And you also know that Perform365 might be the best choice, after all.
