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Performance conversations at PowerON Platforms used to be sporadic and far too focused on the past. Now they’re happening frequently, are more strategic, and really improving outcomes for the business and its people. Here’s how Perform365 helped them build more effective performance appraisal conversations.

IT might not float everyone’s boat, but for the team over at PowerON Platforms it’s a passion. They’re a mix of IT, tech, and business experts who work hard to deliver innovative solutions that help customers simplify IT operations.

With a laser focus on delivering excellent service to customers, it felt that their people were playing second fiddle. PowerON Platforms’ Chief People Officer, Anna Edmondson wanted to right that and put employees on an equal footing. Here’s her story:

Challenge: Diversity in manager experiences

With a limited formal process, PowerON Platform’s people were getting vastly different line manager experiences.

1-to-1s were happening sporadically and to varying degrees of detail. And often hijacked by day-to-day tasks. When working at pace, it’s easy for weeks to pass without having a proper conversation with your manager. This is even more true for remote teams.

That meant potentially easy-fix concerns escalated because they weren’t being raised and addressed in time. And performance feedback was left far too late to make an impact.

“I wish we’d found Perform365 sooner! Our people feel heard and valued in a way they didn’t before. Conversations between our managers and their teams happen regularly and are more forward looking.”

Anna Edmondson, Chief People Officer, PowerON Platforms

Solution: Find a system that enables regular conversations

Anna knew that having a regular check-in for the PowerON Platforms team would solve many of the immediate and underlying challenges.

The employee check-in carves out a regular time and process for employees to reflect on their successes and raise issues in a way that their manager can easily feedback on. Getting into the habit of doing that regularly builds a sense of trust. It’s therefore easier to raise concerns and have more meaningful performance appraisal conversations.

Anna also set up templates and workflows for effective 1-to-1s. The process is structured for consistency, but flexible enough that it can be personalized. It also automated much of the admin around the process, including auto-generating 1-to-1 forms to fit the monthly routine of each team. Employees and managers can pull their check-in history into the performance conversation agenda too, making prep time much shorter. The agendas practically write themselves!

Once the 1:1 conversation templates were set up, the appraisal process was moved to Perform365. The team at PowerON Platforms was delighted to move away from an unwieldy Word-based process. Engagement with 1-to-1s has been positive. That’s because preparation is lighter-touch, and notifications remind employees to complete their conversations.

Results: More effective 1:1 meetings

Firstly, meaningful performance conversations are happening. And that’s important to acknowledge because it’s so easy for business-as-usual to get in the way. What’s more, they’re happening at a regular cadence, which is vital for making sure conversations are timelier.

We’ve seen a subtle but valuable shift in the types of conversations happening during 1:1s too. The conversations are more strategic, more reflective, and forward-looking which is what effective 1-to-1s should look like. They’re less task-focused because that’s happening through our employee check-ins.

Anna Edmondson, Chief People Officer

PowerON Platforms introduced Perform365 about 6 months into lockdown and the regular check-in changed the way they communicated. It massively reduced the impact of not being able to meet in person. Through lockdown and beyond, Perform365 has been key in helping them keep a better eye on wellbeing with increased scope for intervention when needed. It’s also given the team an always-current engagement metric through the 10Pulse scores, which is now a core HR KPI.

Going beyond 1-on-1s

Being able to link a check-in question to a Microsoft Teams channel has helped us increase employee engagement. Our ‘Kudos’ initiative means that when employees give recognition through the employee check-in in line with our values, or for going above and beyond, others can recognize and celebrate that behavior. This creates a really positive Microsoft Teams channel where we publicly celebrate success.

Perform365 clearly met several real needs within the business and participation from the team has been really high. Our people engage with it really well and we now have a well-established rhythm of check-ins, effective 1-to-1s, and performance appraisal conversations. This creates a far higher quality of conversation and relationship between team members and their line managers.

Hear from Anna Edmondson, Chief People Officer at PowerON Platforms

In this compelling customer story, Anna Edmondson, Chief People Officer at PowerON Platforms, shares how Zensai has transformed their approach to performance appraisal conversations and learning management. Watch the full below video to learn more.

About PowerON Platforms

IT might not float everyone’s boat, but for the team here at PowerON Platforms it’s a passion. We’re a mix of IT, tech, and business experts who work hard to deliver innovative solutions that help you simplify IT operations and improve user experience. Our team has created a unique approach using a mixture of specialist consultancy skills with our own internal product development teams, providing superior IT solutions and services to public and private sector businesses.