3 Ways to Drive Employee Resiliency Through Performance Programs

In today’s fast-paced and ever-changing workplace, fostering employee resilience is a top priority. At Pando, we believe that supporting managers and having the right tools for always-on calibration and performance are foundational to building a resilient workforce. Here are three ways to proactively create a resilience workforce:

1. Clear Expectations and Goals

Having aligned role expectations for everyone at your company is crucial for driving sustained outperformance. With Pando’s built-in leveling frameworks, competency matrixes and goals-tracking, managers can easily communicate expected outcomes for each employee and employees get real-time clarity on what they should be focused on and how to be successful in their role.  

How expectation-setting becomes the foundation for a resilient workforce:  

• Clear expectations and goals provide employees with a sense of direction and purpose, helping them stay focused and motivated, especially during challenging times.
• Regular performance check-ins against previously articulated expectations creates a framework for employees to receive constructive feedback and adjust their behaviors or approaches accordingly, fostering resiliency through their own continuous, self-improvement.
• Knowing that you are focused on the right things and achieving your goals boosts confidence and reinforces an employees’ belief in themselves and their ability to navigate effectively and overcome challenging obstacles.

Tactics for creating clarity on role expectations:

• Build a leveling framework that standardizes expectations for everyone within a certain level across the organization. Including core-competencies by role will add a layer of context to help employees develop their skills to best support the business
• Have managers work with their reports to establish SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) goals for each employee that align with the organization’s objectives. Check in on these during bi-weekly 1-1s.
• Empower employees to take ownership of their goals and progress by involving them in the goal-setting process and holding them accountable to track their own goals.  

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2. Continuous Calibration

Regular feedback loops and iterative performance calibration help orient employees with iterative growth insight vs corrective performance reflection. Pando’s competency-based feedback and performance is contextually relevant for each employee based on their role and level to ensure performance and feedback is equitable for all employees. Feedback is built into workflows like career syncs, 1-1s, performance assessments and goals tracking to ensure on-going performance calibration loops between managers and their team members.

Why performance feedback fuels sustained resiliency:

• By continuously learning and iterating on behaviors, employees become more adaptable and versatile in their roles. They are better equipped to handle changing job demands and market trends.
• Getting feedback regularly and for small things, rather than all at once and for several big things, builds the muscle around giving and receiving feedback and fosters a more growth-minded approach to problem-solving.
• Continuous feedback from managers and peers exposes employees to diverse perspectives and learning experiences to uncover blindspots and enhance their confidence and resourcefulness, enabling them to navigate obstacles effectively.

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Tactics for building continuous calibration feedback loops: 

• Implement competency-based feedback to enable managers to more effectively and clearly coach and develop employees in a forward, growth-focused manner
• Try something like “feedback Fridays” where employees are tasked with giving at least one person feedback from the week
• Move away from annual performance reviews to quick, short form goal and competency-based assessments to calibrate in an ongoing way against expected performance outcomes
• Align goals (the what) of someone’s role with the competencies (the how) to align on what behaviors drive the type of business impact you’re looking for in terms of outcomes.

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3. On-going Career Development

Investing in employees’ professional growth is key to building resilience. It’s also how you can retain employees without necessarily promoting them.  With Pando employees have access to their own “career management” platform putting them in the driver’s seat of their professional development. Career frameworks combined with L&D tools and resources enable employees to connect the dots between areas they are interested in growing, and ways that best support the business to drive impact.

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How career development builds drives resiliency:

• Development opportunities create a sense of progression. Knowing that you are progressing in your career and increasing your level gives employees a greater sense of fulfillment and purpose, and reinforces their belief in their own ability to grow and succeed.
• Exposure to diverse experiences and roles through project-based career opportunities increases  an employees’ skill set and leads to greater adaptability.
• Career development and career coaching can align personal goals and aspirations, increasing morale, motivation and commitment.

Tactics for creating on-going career opportunities:

• Provide opportunities for career advancement across specific dimensions where employees are looking to grow. Even without a budget for promotions, offering strategic initiatives can be the opportunity they are looking for to develop certain  skills
• Cross-functional training programs can be a way to expose employees to new areas and roles that may be lateral but more fulfilling or a step-stone to great advancement in their career.
• Performance calibration should happen regularly, and so should conversations focused specifically on their career – here managers should work with employees to identify key strengths, interests, and long-term career goals, and provide a plan to support them in achieving those goals

Building resilience in the workplace requires a holistic approach to performance and development. With Pando’s integrated platform, organizations can empower their employees to set clear goals, embrace growth mindsets, pursue career development opportunities, receive ongoing feedback and support, and prioritize work-life balance and well-being. Together, we can create a resilient workforce ready to overcome challenges and achieve success.

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