Team Performance, Appraisal

"No more square pegs in round holes."

Companies want one thing: the tools to hire the right people and keep them for longer. A company that bleeds talent has problems. Finding the essence of those problems is a bit like the search for the Holy Grail - long, involved and rarely successful. However, a unique diagnostic tool to stem the flood of good people in companies is the basis for a doctorate in business administration being undertaken by Tilda Newman, a Human Resources Manager, of Perth.

On PAR (On Performance Appraisal Research) involves creating team appraisals to measure work performance from the moment new people start work.

“Most businesses already have one-on-one performance appraisals but this team appraisal approach is new. It’s never been done before,” Ms Newman said.

“It means that with the right set of circumstances in a business, team members can assess the work they do and deal with any problems or issues as they arise, as a group. It involves dealing with problems as you go along, rather than leaving it up to the boss to fix. It means taking responsibility for your own development on a continuing basis, not leaving small tremors that then grow into earthquakes.”

Ms Newman’s research then takes an important and vital step beyond this. It links the company’s recruitment processes to the team performance appraisals to discover why “square pegs” were put in “round holes” in the first place. In other words, if a company has square pegs in round holes, her research will uncover that mismatch in detail, and then look at what recruitment tools were used to hire that person. What were the tools and tests used to hire that person? Were they the right ones for that company? If not, why not?

“People make companies successful, or not, and getting the right people in the right places and holding on to them makes for a highly successful business,” Ms Newman said. Ms Newman is looking for a multinational company to be involved in her research.

“A company would be involved over several months, they would get my report at the end as well as workshops for different levels of staff and a management briefing during the process on any insights or problems that arise,” she said.

Ms Newman’s involvement entails speaking to up to 50 staff members for an hour and half each, with minimal disruption to their work. Ms Newman is conducting this research without a scholarship, so a company wanting to take part in the work would be asked to cover her costs. Ms Newman can be contacted on: