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Pavestep Blog

Our latest thinking on everything performance.

7 hours ago
4 min

Tips to Retain Your Talent

Your talent is your most valuable asset; therefore, it is important to prioritize them. Employees directly contribute to the success of your company. Increasing employee engagement and alignment, which ultimately leads to employee productivity and retention, should be one of the primary goals of any organization. Employee turnover is expensive. The cost of replacing and training someone new can cost an organization a lot more than if they were to put money and resources into

Managing the Matrix: Performance Management in Matrix Organizations

Riley Steinbach

5 days ago
4 min

Managing the Matrix: Performance Management in Matrix Organizations

Whether you are a startup or a mature company, employee performance management is critical in order to achieve growth and success. The antiquated annual performance reviews have evolved, and for good reason - they simply don’t work. If you work in a matrix organization, you know better than most that the traditional annual reviews cannot accurately assess an employee’s performance. In this article, we outline some of the performance management problems often faced by matrix o

Small Gestures Matter: Employee Recognition

Riley Steinbach

Feb 12
4 min

Small Gestures Matter: Employee Recognition

“Great vision without great people is irrelevant.” - Jim Collins Creating a successful organization starts with your employees. Employees can often be unwilling to produce their best results when they are unmotivated or under-appreciated. Employee recognition is the acknowledgment of an employees’ performance, and it helps employees feel like they are supported and appreciated. It is common for people to want insight into how they are doing, and employee recognition is a wa

How to Return to the New Normal of Working

Riley Steinbach

Feb 8
4 min

How to Return to the New Normal of Working

We are two months into 2021, and there is still a lot of uncertainty surrounding companies returning to the office or continuing with fully remote work. Many people still want to work at home, while others want to go back to working at the office. Although there is no definite answer for whether organizations will be allowing people back into the office, organizations need to be ready for this new normal of a hybrid, flexible workforce. In this article, we outline how organiz

Calculating the ROI for Continuous Performance Management

Chiara Toselli

Jan 26
3 min

Calculating the ROI for Continuous Performance Management

There is an overwhelming amount of research suggesting that traditional performance management just doesn't work. If you are a talent leader, you probably are already familiar with some of these statistics: 95% of managers reported being “unhappy” with traditional performance management. 65% of employees want more feedback. 98% of employees fail to be engaged when managers give little or no feedback. Disengaged employees have 37% higher absenteeism, 18% lower productivity and

How to Create a More Inclusive Workplace

Riley Steinbach

Jan 20
3 min

How to Create a More Inclusive Workplace

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (otherwise known as DE&I) have been at the forefront of many talent leaders minds in the last several years. Diversity in the workplace includes traits and characteristics that make people unique; this includes different ages, genders, and races in your organization. Inclusivity refers to what makes people feel included, valued, and welcomed in the environment. Inclusivity enables a sense of belonging in the work culture. “Diversity is being i

Riley Steinbach

Jan 15
5 min

Performance Management in 2021

Over the last few years, there have been many changes in the workplace. This includes the ditching of traditional annual performance reviews. This should come as no surprise since assessing employees once a year simply does not work (for more details, you can look at our previous articles on the problems of traditional performance management here, here and here). Nowadays, employees want feedback more than once a year. They want the opportunity to learn and develop in real-ti

Chiara Toselli

Dec 9, 2020
4 min

Equity in Performance Management

Over the last two decades, performance management has gone through a major revolution. However, employees still complain that the feedback they get feels biased. One survey found that 29% of employees strongly agree that the performance reviews they receive are fair, and 26% strongly agree that they are accurate. There are many disadvantages to having (or having the perception of) 'unfair' performance reviews. Disadvantages of unfair performance management 1) Employees could

What is an Effective Performance Management System?

Chiara Toselli

Dec 4, 2020
4 min

What is an Effective Performance Management System?

What is performance management? Performance management refers to tools and processes that support goal-setting, feedback/recognition, and performance reviews. In recent years, there has been a major revolution on the approach to performance management. What was once an annual review process has now shifted toward a more continuous process with a keen focus on developing and motivating employees. (If you are interested to know more on the performance management evolution, you

How to Engage Millennials and Generation Z at Work

Riley Steinbach

Dec 4, 2020
4 min

How to Engage Millennials and Generation Z at Work

The younger workforce, consisting of Millennials and Generation Z, currently comprises over half of the workforce in 2020. The ability to attract and engage these generations is top of mind for many organizations. Baby Boomers and Generation X have primarily been conditioned to the hierarchal company structures with the mindset that they must “work their way up the corporate ladder” (where they expect promotions and increase in status as the main form of progression in their

Why a Feedback Culture Matters and How to Create a Feedback Culture in Your Organization

Chiara Toselli

Nov 27, 2020
4 min

Why a Feedback Culture Matters and How to Create a Feedback Culture in Your Organization

Culture of feedback has been a buzz phrase in the HR and business world for several years. A feedback culture is a culture where every employee feels that they can share feedback with another person in the organization - regardless of role. There are many benefits to having a culture of feedback in your organization. Benefits of a culture of feedback 1) Saves organizations time, money, and resources It’s estimated that a company of 10,000 employees spends a staggering $35 mil

Riley Steinbach

Nov 20, 2020
3 min

Tips to Attract the Best Executives

Every organization wants to have great leaders. Great executives not only have the skills to understand and comprehend a complex situation, but they can make strategic decisions based on the information allocated to them. But where can organizations find these ‘rockstar’ leaders and how can they attract these executives to work for them? Below we suggest some tips on how to find and attract top executive talent. How to attract great executives to your organization 1) Evaluate

What is Employer Branding and How to Build It

Riley Steinbach

Nov 17, 2020
3 min

What is Employer Branding and How to Build It

Building an employer brand can be key to business success. Employer branding is how current and potential employees view an organization. It should capture an organization’s values, mission, and vision. Why employer branding is critical for success 1) A Good Reputation Every company has a reputation - whether the organization actively works on it or not. Having a great reputation can be key in setting an organization apart from competitors and attracting top talent. One study

Performance Management Tips for Early-Stage Companies

Chiara Toselli

Oct 27, 2020
2 min

Performance Management Tips for Early-Stage Companies

For early-stage companies, hiring the right people and then managing them can be difficult. This can be due to the fast-paced and generally ambiguous nature of the start-up environment. However, there are certain initiatives that can help you manage your direct reports in this environment. 1) Set micro-goals We all have heard about the importance of goal alignment for employee engagement and productivity. However, cascading goals down to the individual level can seem like a

How to Effectively Conduct One-on-One Meetings

Chiara Toselli

Oct 14, 2020
3 min

How to Effectively Conduct One-on-One Meetings

“Ninety minutes of your time can enhance the quality of your subordinate's work for two weeks, or for some eighty-plus hours.” - Andy Groves One-on-one meetings matter. However, they often get wasted or they just don’t occur. This is not because managers don't care - they often are just unaware about how to conduct an effective one-on-one. Below we list some key tips on how to conduct effective one-on-one meetings as well as list out some questions that managers should be as

Performance Reviews in 2020: Should They Change?

Chiara Toselli

Oct 7, 2020
2 min

Performance Reviews in 2020: Should They Change?

Whether organizations should change how they approach their performance reviews has been a question on the minds of many HR professionals and executives as the end of 2020 draws near. With the switch to remote work and the economy shutdown, looking back at the goals you set 6 months ago or last December is most likely comical right now given the recent events of 2020. Should I skip the performance review all together? Our recommendation: No, do not skip the performance review

How to Avoid the "Too Nice" Performance Reviews

Chiara Toselli

Oct 6, 2020
4 min

How to Avoid the "Too Nice" Performance Reviews

Most managers are required to sit down with their employees once a year and have a dreaded conversation: the performance review. For many employees, this conversation is awkward, forced, and just generally unpleasant for both people on either side of the desk (or computer). Sometimes this can lead to managers erring on the side of pleasantry (aka being "too nice") to counteract the overall unpleasant meeting. In fact, one study found that 69% of people try to avoid giving neg

Chiara Toselli

Sep 29, 2020
2 min

The Benefits of Peer Advisory Groups

Who can executives turn to when they have need to brainstorm solutions to issues? Who can give them support when difficult decisions need to be made? How can executives learn from other executives? In this blog, we answer the most common questions about peer advisory groups. What are peer advisory groups and what are the benefits? Peer advisory groups solve the inaccessibility of expertise for executives. They are composed of executives of similar status (e.g, CEO, owner), bu

Answering Some Common Culture Fit Questions

Chiara Toselli

Sep 22, 2020
3 min

Answering Some Common Culture Fit Questions

Culture fit is defined as having shared and aligned values and mission in the workplace. From an employee perspective, it’s when the employee’s attitude, behaviors and personality are consistent with the company’s mission. Cultural fit is exhibited in many ways including: (i) language and communication, (ii) work ethic, (iii) integration of your work with your lifestyle, and (iv) understanding how decisions are made and how roles, responsibility, and accountability are distri

[Press] Pavestep Recognized as a 2021 Startup to Watch by The Starr Conspiracy

Chiara Toselli

Sep 21, 2020
2 min

[Press] Pavestep Recognized as a 2021 Startup to Watch by The Starr Conspiracy

New Report From The Starr Conspiracy Lists Pavestep in the Top 10 Startups to Watch SAN FRANCISCO — (Sept 18, 2020) — — The Starr Conspiracy, a B2B marketing agency for workplace innovators, today announced that Pavestep appears as a Top Startup to Watch in its recently published Brandscape™ 2021 report, Talent and Learning: All Together Now. The Starr Conspiracy is the premier agency focused on companies creating the future of work. Work Technology is bigger than just HR T