Session Title : Embracing Performance Kaizen - An annual performance review case Study at Springer Nature Session Overview : Every organization hopes / expects / demands high performance from their employees and teams. It's not very long ago when most effective organizations in the world had a ritual called yearly goal - setting. Many organizations still continue with this where the HR cascades a set of goals set by the organization's leaders for their employees. This is usually followed by a quarterly to yearly review cycle which with most organizations are linked with incentives. In general terms, there ain't any flaw with this system; goal setting is an efficient way to continuously improve oneself. However, the execution of this process may be flawed and may lead to unoptimized results. With the advent of business agility, this focus shifted towards continuously learning & improving organizations. This meant that faster feedback was highly recommended for performance improvement and the idea of year-long goal setting seemed a talk of the yesteryears. Many organizations embraced this change by completely abolishing the yearly goal setting practice and instead relying on mentor relationships for an individual's performance improvement. This did improve relationships at the same time hindered transparency since the organization

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Embracing Performance Kaizen
Case Study
Embracing Performance Kaizen
Rucha Ramchandra Kapare
Senior Business Analyst
Springer Nature

2. Embracing Performance Kaizen
Rucha Ramchandra Kapare

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Embracing Performance Kaizen
What is Kaizen

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Embracing Performance Kaizen
● Kaizen means continuous improvement
● Working smarter not harder
● Japan as a manufacturing superpower
● Kaizen in personal and professional life
Kaizen?

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Embracing Performance Kaizen
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Performance Kaizen was used by a team in Springer Nature to get rid
of the year long performance cycles and instead replace it with short
cycles with trackers. The experiment was quite successful and
motivating with each team member being a part of other’s goal setting
and completion journey.
Performance Kaizen - An experiment at Springer Nature

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Embracing Performance Kaizen
Results

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Embracing Performance Kaizen
14
Participants
Some
Statistics
OverachievedGoals achieved with
average rating
No Missed Goals
Small and
continuous
iterations make
the goal
achievable
Dedication and
consistency is
required
35
%
100
%
0
%

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Embracing Performance Kaizen
Implementing Performance Kaizen – The Process

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Embracing Performance Kaizen
Team members setting goals

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Embracing Performance Kaizen
Setting a SMART goal

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Embracing Performance Kaizen
Setting goal with your tracker

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Embracing Performance Kaizen
Tracking mechanism

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Embracing Performance Kaizen
Exchanging the set goal with your tracker

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Embracing Performance Kaizen
Discussing the goal with your tracker

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Embracing Performance Kaizen
Goal Tracking

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Embracing Performance Kaizen
Tracker giving you the final goal rating

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Embracing Performance Kaizen
Getting your goal card back with the final rating

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Embracing Performance Kaizen
Kaizen Matrix

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Embracing Performance Kaizen
14
Participants
Some
Statistics
OverachievedGoals achieved with
average rating
No Missed Goals
Small and
continuous
iterations make
the goal
achievable
Dedication and
consistency is
required
35
%
100
%
0
%

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Embracing Performance Kaizen
Case Study analysis
Did not work
Percentage distribution
interpretation
Benefits
Team feels
● Positive and
confident
● Take ownership
● Highly collaborative
and empowered
Learnings
Small and continuous
improvements are
effortless
Continued??
Yes- 2018 goals because its
Is effortless and Brings value

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Embracing Performance Kaizen
Performance appraisal tracking on a monthly basis was effective when the reporting
manager and I sat back and discussed where I stand on a scale of 1-5 . 1 being
lowest. This helped me gain transparency and avoid chaos at the end of year where
one need not keep justifying his/her achievements
What does the team have to say….

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Embracing Performance Kaizen
The Senior Business Analyst Says…

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Embracing Performance Kaizen
The Senior UX Designer Says…

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Embracing Performance Kaizen
● Set a SMART goal
● Create milestones
● Devise a tracking mechanism
Milestones
Goal Setting
● Just Do
● Write an article
● Seek an Opportunity
● Finally Overcome
● Read about
● Get help with
● Study/Explore
● Start
● Present/Share
● Lead
● Get coaching on
● Find mentor
● Attend
● Experiment with
● Develop ideas for
● Provide mentoring

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Embracing Performance Kaizen
So my goal was to speak at APGI, how did I break into various milestones?
● Seek an opportunity
● Find mentor
● Start a proposal
● Develop ideas for conducting session
● Get help with
● Present/share at the APGI conference
Sample Goal and Milestones

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Embracing Performance Kaizen
Now that you have taken the 1st step, Continue doing it.
What next?

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Embracing Performance Kaizen
Questions…

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Embracing Performance Kaizen
Thank you
kapare.rucha@gmail.com
rucha.kapare@springernature.com
@ruchakapare