V1 performance & development guide by james elliott

CONTENTS MY PERFORMANCE

PAGE

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SETTING YOUR PRIORITIES

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02 03

HOW TO WRITE A PRIORITY ............................................................................. 04 MANAGING YOUR PRIORITIES ....................................................................... 05 VALUES .............................................................................................................................. 06

ONGOING CONVERSATIONS

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ASPIRE/ALIGN .............................................................................................................. 08 DELIVER/ENABLE ........................................................................................................ 09 LEARN/COACH ............................................................................................................. 10

ASSESSING PERFORMANCE PERFORMANCE ZONES

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WHAT NEXT?.................................................................................................................. 13

MY PERFORMANCE

PERFORMANCE

A SP IR

TRUST

We’ve created this guide to help you understand the ‘My Performance’ section of Performance & Development, from setting priorities to the ongoing conversations you will have throughout the year to DLGs approach to evaluating performance. Everyone can use this guide

D ELIV ER

MY SELF

Click here to find out more about the standards of delivery and behaviour that make up your My Performance action plan – your Priorities and DLG’s Values

Click here to find out more about the different performance conversations you can expect throughout the year

MY PERFORMANCE With our business evolving we have developed an approach to performance and development discussions so that they are simple, relevant and insightful as possible. This means shifting the emphasis away from process – gathering evidence, filling in forms and ratings – towards a set of practices focused on creating a high engagement, high performance workplace.

MY FUTURE (PDP)

Click here to find out more about how performance is evaluated at year end

SETTING YOUR PRIORITIES

SOME KEY FEATURES

Our simpler approach to managing performance at DLG is based around standards of delivery – a person’s priorities – and standards of behaviour – DLG’s Values. The ‘what’ and the ‘how’. Everyone has an important role to play in defining what good performance looks like, and then achieving these standards in the service of our customers and business strategy.

More regular conversations – just part of your normal one to ones Simpler structure based around ‘what’ you are delivering and ‘how’ you are delivering it

YOUR PRIORITIES ARE THE ‘WHAT’ Instead of focusing on Accountabilities and Objectives, we just want you to think about what matters most in your role at this moment in time – your priorities. By doing this you will be able to describe the key targets or deliverables for your role, as well as small personal changes that will enhance your performance. This guide will outline how to go about identifying and describing your priorities.

Ongoing recognition of your contributions.

OUR VALUES DEFINE THE ‘HOW’ Our Values are still at the heart of how we work, both individually and as a business. Our Values define and drive our culture, ensuring that we achieve excellent results in the right way. We expect all our people to live all the Values everyday – they are central to our performance.

Let’s look at how you can decide the priorities for your role…

SETTING YOUR PRIORITIES

HOW TO WRITE A PRIORITY These are the main types of priority. You should discuss with your people manager which ones are relevant for the upcoming period. Your priorities are the key things that you are expected to do, deliver, or change to enhance your performance for the upcoming period. They are likely to include elements of your job on a page, projects or initiatives that you are involved in, and ongoing deliverables you do year in year out. They should focus on what matters most at this moment in time.

In addition, if you are a people manager you should have a priority related to maximising the potential of your team(s). PEOPLE MANAGERS

RUN THE BUSINESS

DEVELOP/CHANGE THE BUSINESS

PERFORMANCE ENHANCEMENT

PEOPLE PRIORITIES

These priorities are about running our core operations or support processes well, and delivering business results. Success is typically indicated by a set of metrics or KPIs that clarify the outcomes expected, aligning our business from top to bottom.

These priorities describe projects or initiatives to make our business more effective and drive our strategy – turning us into a great retailer, a lean manufacturer, and capable of leading/ disrupting the market.

These are small behaviour change or skill development items – could be strengths as well as improvement areas. Paying attention to these items will help you deliver against your priorities.

The key things you will focus on to create a high performance, high engagement culture, and build individual or team capability.

HOW MANY? We recommend you have between 3-5 priorities, although you should think about what makes sense for your role. Whilst there is no set number, anymore than 5 and it may be a challenge to give enough focus to them all.

Should include an action plan from your DiaLoGue results.

STRUCTURE OF A TYPICAL PRIORITY DESCRIPTION

SUCCESS MEASURES

APPROACH

A priority should contain a description of the target(s) or piece of work you are responsible for delivering, or a specific performance enhancement item as described above. It doesn’t have to be huge detail, just as long as it helps you gain clarity about what is expected.

What does a successful outcome look like? Are there any specific KPIs or measures you are expected to achieve? Are there milestones, cost savings or qualitative improvement indicators associated with projects you are delivering? It is important to have discussions about ‘what good looks like’ with your people manager so expectations are clear.

It is not essential for you to detail the approach you plan to take; however you might find it useful to add some information that will help you discuss this with your people manager. ‘How’ you plan to go about achieving your priorities – using a particular method or behavioural approach that may be related to our Values – is still an important topic to discuss.

SETTING YOUR PRIORITIES

MANAGING YOUR PRIORITIES When setting your priorities speak to your people manager about the standards of delivery/success measures that are expected from you in relation to your priorities and the values. Success measures can include detail around: Quality

the quality of your work

Quantity

the measurable aspects of your work

Timeliness

the timescales or deadlines for delivery

Efficiency how to use a smart and efficient approach to getting things done Consistency how you should live the Values across different kinds of all situations, particularly pressure situations ‘Good’ performance is actually about meeting expectations against all the success measures above. This means that a good performance is a balanced performance against both the ‘what’ and the ‘how’. Click here to find out more about how performance is assessed in relation to these. Throughout the year you should be discussing how you are performing against your priorities and the values with your people manager in your 1-1 conversations. You should also get feedback about what others think about the quality, quantity, timeliness and efficiency of your work as well as how you live the values.

RESPONSIBILITIES Everyone’s responsibility You should think about and at least be involved in drafting your priorities, as you are closest to the reality of your job. Then discuss and agree them with your people manager – your approach and what successful outcomes look like. You should also highlight where changes to your priorities may be appropriate during the year.

A people manager's role If you are a people manager you have a responsibility to help people define their priorities, and provide clarity around ‘what good looks like’ in terms of approach and success criteria. Where there are standardised roles, standardised priorities can be used, as long as you discuss with people what this means and what’s expected of them.

Remember

You are closest to the reality of your job role so you should take an active role in deciding your priorities through discussions with your people manager. You should take responsibility for highlighting potential changes to your priorities and/or success measures. Think about what is best for our customers and how your priorities reflect that. If you have standardised priorities (the same as colleagues in similar roles) make sure you still discuss them with your people manager so that you are aware of what you are required to do and what’s expected of you.

Helping people get aligned around a set of priorities comes down to effective conversations where ideas and expectations are firstly exchanged, then sharpened. This often starts off as a team discussion, leading to a 1-2-1. Ongoing 1-2-1 and team conversations should continue as they always have – you should continue giving people balanced feedback on both the “what” and “how” of performance, and dial up recognition for contributions. People managers should help people turn feedback on strengths and development areas into performance

REVIEW & AMEND 05

The business is constantly changing, which means it is likely that your priorities will change as a result. Regularly review and check your priorities with your people manager as part of your performance conversations.

SETTING YOUR PRIORITIES

VALUES As previously mentioned, performance at DLG is about both ‘what’ you do and ‘how’ you do it. At DLG our values represent the ‘how’ and describe the behaviours and personal qualities that we expect from our people when delivering their priorities, setting the culture for the organisation These behaviours and personal qualities – which should be discussed at the beginning of the year and then on an ongoing basis – are highlighted in the values definitions below.

DO THE RIGHT THING

TAKE OWNERSHIP

For our people, our customers, our shareholders and our wider stakeholders; make decisions based on what is right, not what is easy; demonstrate personal and professional integrity; do what’s right for the long term sustainability of our business.

Treat it like it’s OUR business: take the initiative. If you can see a better way, go make a difference; take decisions, be accountable for your actions in whatever role you carry out; take responsibility for your own personal development and performance.

Customer focus Commercial mindset Integrity

AIM HIGHER Strive to be the best in every area of the business; be ambitious, courageous and innovative; relentlessly challenge; learn from our mistakes; persevere, always deliver our promises and don’t settle for second best. Ambitious Courageous Passion for innovation and continuous improvement Perseverant; does what they say they will do

Proactive, takes the initiative, self-starter Responsible, reliable Accountable

SAY IT LIKE IT IS Be real, authentic and true to self; have adult to adult conversations with all the audiences; listen, seek to understand and respect diversity of views; be open, call out issues we see; share information and keep things as simple as possible. Authenticity Openness, honesty Respectful of others; values differences

WORK TOGETHER Collaborate across all levels and across all functions; leverage the skills, knowledge and experience, irrespective of hierarchy, to deliver the best possible results; develop relationships based upon trusting each other, partnerships and win-wins; recognise and celebrate success. Team player Collaborative Whole business mindset; overcomes silo working

BRING ALL OF YOURSELF TO WORK Be the best you can be, the real and whole you; celebrate our diversity of skills, experience and personalities; be a role model to others, demonstrate ‘can do’ spirit, have fun and make this a great place to be; be excited about our company and our future; believe in yourself, feel confident and empowered. Can do spirit Passionate, positive, self-confident Committed to personal improvement

ONGOING CONVERSATIONS

ONGOING CONVERSATIONS Our new Performance & Development framework is built around trust and three core practices which link to our Values. From an employee point of view, this means people who Aspire to impress their customers, Deliver quality work and Learn from their experience. If you are a people manager, your role is to Align people’s work to customer needs and our business strategy, Enable them to deliver and act as Coach, facilitating the learning process. These practices sit at the heart of the Performance & Development framework. They are built on a foundation of trust between you and your people manager and come to life through open and honest ongoing conversations through the year, reflecting the Values of ‘Bring all of yourself to work’ and ‘Say it like it is’. Within ongoing conversations throughout the year whether they be informal conversations or more formal 1-1s you should discuss your progress against your priorities, seeking feedback on how you are performing against the various success factors.

Open and honest quality conversations every month throughout the year:

JAN

FEB

MAR

APR

MAY

JUN

JUL

AUG

SEPT

If you wish you are able to record your ongoing conversations throughout the year on Workday using the 1-1 template. Both employees and people managers can launch this template. OCT

NOV

DEC

Click here for a quick reference guide on how to do this.

ONGOING CONVERSATIONS

ASPIRE/ALIGN When talking about your priorities below are some questions that your manager may ask you in that conversation. Aspire – this is about every one of us looking to achieve higher levels of performance; challenging and stretching themselves in the service of their customers. In terms of our Values, this connects to ‘Aim higher’ and ‘Do the right thing’. So get involved in discussing your performance and development priorities, and be proactive if you feel things need to be updated or changed.

If you are a people manager, your role is to help your team identify their priorities and why they are important from a customer and shareholder perspective – their purpose. You should look to Align individual priorities to those of the team or function, ensuring people are aware of how their work contributes to DLG’s business strategy.

EMPLOYEE

PEOPLE MANAGER

ASPIRE

ALIGN

Given your understanding of the priorities and challenges facing the team/department for the upcoming period, what are your thoughts on your own priorities and success measures?

Given our team/department priorities, and KPIs, what are your thoughts on your own priorities over the next performance period? What do you think successful delivery looks like?

How could you live the Values to a an even greater extent, or more consistently? Which one do you think you are least strong or consistent on?

How do you think you could role model the Values and be even more consistent this year?

Given what you have learnt from the last work cycle, what one or two behaviour changes or skill items would you focus on to further enhance your performance? Thinking about your career and ideal next role, what skills or experiences do you feel you need, and how could you build these capabilities through a set of challenging development activities?

I’ve done some thinking on what ‘Good’ performance might look like for your role this year – [explain thoughts]. What do you think and what would ‘Outstanding’ look like? Thinking about what you learnt over the last work cycle, what one or two small behaviour or skill changes do you think would make the biggest difference in terms of your performance? Given your interest in building the capability and experience needed for [next role], what are your thoughts on suitable development activities?

ONGOING CONVERSATIONS

DELIVER/ENABLE We want people to get on and Deliver high quality work that has a positive impact on our customers. To do this you should seek feedback on how you can improve your performance and build on recognition you are given. Think about what would help you to exceed your customer’s expectations, and where you might need support. This practice links to the Values of ‘Taking ownership’ and ‘Working together”.

As a people manager you can Enable people to deliver quality work by giving recognition as well as constructive feedback. Think about the person in front of you and flex your leadership style, giving direction, providing support or delegating work as appropriate.

EMPLOYEE

PEOPLE MANAGER

DELIVER

ENABLE

What do you feel is going well, and less well, in terms of your performance – both in relation to the ‘what’ & ‘how’? Do you think your performance has improved since your last one-to-one? Is there anything you are proud of; that demonstrates your strengths? For the things that are going less well, why is this? What could you do differently to get things back on track? What have you learnt over the last period, and what one or two improvement points would you identify for discussion with your manager? Are there things you need to bring to the attention of your manager – maybe outside of your control – that are getting in the way? Would you like your manager to do anything differently; support you in a different way?

What do you feel is going well; what’s tricky? Where do you think you can improve – things to dial up or down; things to do differently? What I have seen and heard from others in terms of your performance – recognise contributions in relation to delivery against priorities and living the Values; one improvement point Think about whether a person’s priorities, or their success measures, may need amending What can I do to help? Are there any blockages or barriers to performance that I may be able to help with or resolve? Is there anything I could do differently to support you better – things I could do more of/less of, or change?

If you wish you are able to record your ongoing conversations throughout the year on Workday using the 1-1 template. Both employees and people managers can launch this template. Click here for a quick reference guide on how to do this.

ONGOING CONVERSATIONS

LEARN/COACH Thirdly, we expect people to Learn – be reflective and open to ideas that will improve their personal performance, as well as the way the business works. You should actively engage in coaching and development conversations, and capture learning points in your My Performance or My Future action plan.

As a people manager, your role is to build a learning culture – a place where people feel that they can be open about what has gone well and less well, without getting defensive. To help individuals think in this way you need to be able to Coach your teams effectively, facilitating a process of self-reflection without fear of assessment.

EMPLOYEE

PEOPLE MANAGER

LEARN

COACH

ASSESSING PERFORMANCE

Our approach to assessing individual performance is simple – at the end of the year, each person’s contribution is evaluated against the ‘what’ and ‘how’ and slotted into one of three broad zones (see next page for detailed description)

The value of having quality ongoing conversations means that at the end of year it will be easier to have a good conversation about your performance. If you have not had ongoing conversations you will have to do a bit more work to reflect on your performance, how you have delivered your priorities and lived the values against the success measures identified. Evaluating performance always has and always will be subjective. Although in some roles there might be some set standards of KPIs that people need to meet, for the majority of people managers will use their judgement around the quality of your work and the consistency of your behaviour. This is why in section 1 we looked at the importance of being clear around what good looks like from the outset. As you can see the end of year review should be a conversation about your strengths and development areas, and leave you with ideas for performance improvements aimed at maximising strengths as well as addressing weaknesses) for you to work on in the coming year.

Need for Improvement

Good performance

Outstanding performance

WHAT DOES GOOD LOOK LIKE? GOOD PERFORMANCE Good Performance People need to be performing well against both the ‘what’ and the ‘how’ to achieve a ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’ rating.

MEETING STANDARDS AGAINST THE ‘HOW’ Values – ‘how’ Living the values consistently Take ownership Do the right thing Bring all of yourself to work Aim Higher Work together Say it like it is

MEETING STANDARDS AGAINST THE ‘WHAT’ Priorities – ‘what’ Meeting expectations around ‘what’ you do. In other words delivering the right quality, & quantity of work in a timely and efficient way.

ASSESSING PERFORMANCE

PERFORMANCE ZONES When you are given your end of year performance rating (Need for Improvement, Good Performance, Outstanding Performance) you should expect to get a clear indication of where your performance sits within the e.g. whether you sit in the top, centre or bottom half of the zone. You can also expect to get a clear rationale around your managers rating decision.

Need for Improvement

GOOD PERFORMANCE

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE

Either of these statements can lead to this evaluation – Either/Or

All these statements need to apply for this evaluation – And?

All of these statements need to apply for this evaluation – And?

An individual has not delivered their Priorities and general job responsibilities to the expected standards. Standards include, quality and quantity, timeliness and efficiency of work. They have not also worked on the performance enhancement priorities that were set.

An individual has delivered their Priorities and general job responsibilities to the expected standards. Standards include, quality and quantity, timeliness and efficiency of work. They have worked on the performance enhancement priorities that were set.

The individual delivers priorities and general job responsibilities fully, exceeding the hwigh standards expected in terms of quality, quantity, timeliness and efficiency. They have made significant progress on important performance enhancement priorities as well as proactively identifying and addressing other personal improvements.

Does not consistently act in line with all our Values – behaviours have not reflected the high standards expected for their role in a number of specific situations e.g. when under pressure.

WHERE DO I SIT IN THE ZONE?

Acts in line with all our Values – behaviours consistently reflect the high standards expected for their role across a range of situations.

WHERE DO I SIT IN THE ZONE?

Acts as and is considered to be a role model for all our Values in line with the expectations for their role. Clearly demonstrates to others how the Values guide difficult conversations and decisions in high stakes, pressure or dilemma situations.

WHERE DO I SIT IN THE ZONE?

It is important that you are aware where you sit in the broad zone, especially in the ’Good’ zone, where most of our people will be placed. There is a significant difference between the top and bottom ends of the ’Good’ zone, and it is important that everyone understands where they are viewed and why.

WHAT NEXT?

WHAT NEXT? Think about your priorities for Q1 2016, what matters most?

Discuss measures & expectations with your people manager.

Input them into Workday, updating them when they change.

Have regular 1-2-1 conversations with your people manager. Respond to feedback.

Review priorities, and values in line with new approach to rating performance.

2016

Discuss them with your people manager and agree them.