Youth Leadership Institute (yli) is a statewide organization that provides mentors and proprietary training tools that guide young people in becoming community advocates and leaders. To date, yli’s youth leaders have secured over 135 policy wins across California. While yli’s impact has been measurable and significant externally, the internal organization was challenged when it came time to execute performance reviews. The prior process was burdensome for staff, and while good conversations were had, there was no mechanism for individual follow-up or analysis of how staff performance impacted team or organizational goals. yli needed process automation that would allow them to streamline the process and enable them to use the feedback to identify trends and strengthen the organization.
Leaving a paper trail
As yli’s Chief Financial Officer, Joninna Simpson, explained in April 2022, “yli was working with an eight-page document that staff and managers would complete. The first two pages were narrative comments related to [yli’s] values and how these were brought forward to the employee’s work. Next were two pages where ratings on a scale of one to four were assigned based on job responsibilities and how the individual met the goals they had set. The fifth and sixth pages were dedicated to professional development goals. The final two pages housed a supervisor review that included questions about the employee’s supervisor and their communication, accessibility, support and other attributes, along with ratings of Yes, No or Sometimes.”
yli’s process was time-consuming for both the employees and their managers. The process was paper-based, so there was no way to compare results within teams or analyze the entire organization’s effectiveness or progress against goals.
Innovation delivered with a ‘white-glove’ touch
Knowing that automation could streamline and enhance performance conversations, yli began to look at potential solutions with BPM – its existing provider of HR consulting services. BPM HR Consulting Manager Stacy Litteral quickly stepped in and demonstrated how BPM Link employee performance management platform, could be yli’s ideal performance solution. yli agreed, and the BPM team went to work with its ‘white-glove’ approach to client service. From the initial demo through implementation and beyond, the client received the training and support it needed to be successful for one flat fee. This included three one-hour trainings for yli team members at various levels of the organization, and continued ongoing support.yli an employee performance management platform, could be yli’s ideal performance solution. yli agreed, and the BPM team went to work with its ‘white-glove’ approach to client service. From the initial demo through implementation and beyond, the client received the training and support it needed to be successful for one flat fee. This included three one-hour trainings for yli team members at various levels of the organization, and continued ongoing support.
Enlightening leaders and aligning employees to organizational objectives
Since moving to BPM Link for its performance process, yli has experienced significant improvements. The review process has become less time-consuming as automation has streamlined previously manual tasks. Individual goals and responsibilities have been clarified, and there’s now increased communication and feedback between managers and staff. While time may have increased at the outset as staff and managers determined goals and metrics, the annual review prep time decreased by 30%-40%.
“BPM Link allows us to quickly see who has outstanding goals or tasks and the status of the performance conversations,” Simpson notes. “It has also made it easier to check in with staff throughout the year and allows us to conduct analysis of organizational and team performance,” she continues.
After completing its first successful performance review cycle, the organization is also now using data generated from BPM Link to determine merit increases.
Performance “management” is a thing of the past. Performance conversations are the future. Hold regular performance conversations on an easy-to-use, employee-driven platform. Contact us for your one-on-one demo of BPM Link.
