The CIPD - the professional body for HR and people development - have published new research showing the value of strength-based performance conversations.  It shows that line managers can improve their staff performances by focusing on their strengths and not their weaknesses.

This method endeavours to move away from a ‘shortfall’ approach, which is focused on identifying and fixing the weaknesses of team members; analysing what is wrong and deciding how that can be avoided.

Jonny Gifford, Senior Research Adviser for organisational behaviour at the CIPD, said:

“The strengths-based approach marks a big shift in mind-set for many, if not most of us. Our default mode when looking for improvements tends to be deficit-oriented – we hone in on what’s gone wrong and consider how we can avoid that in the future. There will always be cases where it’s imperative to do this, but our research shows the benefit of making the norm in performance conversations to reflect instead on what worked well, why, and how it can be replicated. The research demonstrated that by focusing on the positives and building on what works, we can actually boost employee performance and help with the learning and development of our teams.”

The research done by the CIPD concentrated on workplace involvements in three government organisations:

• Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs
• The National Offender Management Service (now called Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service - or HMPPS)
• The Valuation Office Agency (VOA), as well as work with the Civil Service Employee Policy team.

The study involved before-and-after measures comparing control groups who were not given any training or support, with treatment groups who attended a training workshop on leading strengths-based performance conversations.

In the Valuation Office Agency there were added interventions, including a change in HR policy on performance management.

After the study, it was found from employee feedback that there was a marked improvement in the usefulness of performance conversations when they were focused on strengths rather than weaknesses – 9.7% of employees agreed with the statement, “My meetings with my line manager help me learn and develop as a professional”.  It was also found that 7.4% agreed with the statement, “My meetings with my line manager help to improve my performance”.

In the civil service, it was shown that employee performance improves with simple training which focuses on building strengths and not dealing with weaknesses.  It is also possible to increase the results with changes to HR policy and further training for managers.

The published report also shows how robust and useful research can be conducted into people management practices.  HR and people development needs more research of this nature. 

Andrew Kean, Deputy Director of Civil Service Employee Policy, said:

“In the Civil Service, we know that the quality of the performance conversation between the manager and their employee is fundamental to any good performance management approach. So we are delighted that this research, which has centred on the nature and quality of performance conversations, has provided such clear results. In particular, that a simple training intervention focused on building strengths instead of fixing weaknesses positively influences the performance conversations that take place between managers and their staff.” 

David Ede, Director of People and Organisational Development at the Valuation Office Agency, stated:

“It has been a really useful experience to have the CIPD research running alongside our own internal performance management pilot. This has allowed for a comparison between a holistic approach to performance management (complete policy change and cultural shift to coaching conversations) and a more discrete strengths-based intervention where the policy has remained unchanged. VOA has been doing its own internal evaluation of our pilot and worked alongside the CIPD to feed into their research.”