Opening Performance Management Cycle 2022-2023

April 11, 2022 - Defence Stories

The start of the fiscal year is a perfect opportunity to develop work objectives and expectations for our employees to align to our 2022-2023 departmental priorities.

There are new considerations for this upcoming fiscal year that require your attention.

Inclusive Behaviours

As stated in the Minister of National Defence Mandate Letter, it is our collective responsibility, at all levels, to bring forward initiatives that will create lasting change across the department. To this end, the new ADM(HR-Civ) Initiating Directive on Inclusion and Performance (accessible only on the National Defence network) was designed and implemented to guide managers through the process of ensuring all defence team members contribute to fostering a healthy and respectful workplace for everyone.

Managers must familiarize themselves with this Initiating Directive prior to starting the 2022/2023 performance agreement process in an effort to not only support this departmental priority but the people who make DND a success. Adjoining annexes provide examples of expected behaviours (accessible only on the National Defence network), how to incorporate them into the performance agreement and a variety of resources (accessible only on the National Defence network) that managers can leverage throughout the year in support of a higher performing team.

Hybrid and distributed workforce

As we move towards a hybrid and distributed workforce, employee engagement, well-being and performance remain a priority. The time invested in developing and discussing performance agreements (PA), learning and development plans and other relevant sections of the PA with each employee will help ensure a quality work environment, where everyone contributes to the needs of the organization and for their personal development. It is also an opportunity to consider and discuss each employee’s role within the team, and how a hybrid and distributed workforce will impact their work, communications, expectations, norms, etc.

Timelines

Managers and employees are expected to have completed their beginning of the year discussions and documented them in the PSPM application (accessible only on the National Defence network) by May 31, 2022.

At the beginning of a performance management cycle, managers are recommended to follow the principles below:

• Create cascading objectives for your team that align to organizational deliverables. Explain how each employee’s work contributes to these priorities. Set 3 to 6 SMART (accessible only on the National Defence network) work objectives and create clear performance indicators (Section B of the PSPA). Refer to Examples of Work Objectives (accessible only on the National Defence network).
• Discuss expectations with employees for core competencies – how to achieve the results (Section C of the PSPA). Help employees embrace inclusive behaviours (accessible only on the National Defence network).
• Ask the employee to complete the Learning and Development Plan (Section D of the PSPA – mandatory use at DND); identify learning objectives for employees that support the achievement of performance objectives, career development and succession planning within your organization. For a list of mandatory training, refer to Chapter 1 of the Defence Learning Catalogue. (accessible only on the National Defence network) For additional support contact your learning and professional development team (accessible only on the National Defence network).
• To assist you in better understanding inclusivity, a list of training courses, such as Understanding Unconscious Bias (W005), Overcoming Your Own Unconscious Biases (W006), Overcoming Unconscious Bias in the Workplace (W007), Unpacking Unconscious Bias (W095) and Leading Diversity (X166), is available on the Inclusive behaviours within the Defence Team page (accessible only on the National Defence network).

Reminders:

• In October 2021, myEmployees was added to the TBS Applications Portal (accessible only on the National Defence network). Below are the main changes to processes previously completed in the PSPM App that are now to be completed in myEmployees:
  • Managers claiming and releasing employees;
  • Employees confirming managers;
  • Managers entering employee’s personal information in Section A of the PSPA.
• Managers are reminded to continue to promote the use of both official languages (OL) by:
  • Facilitating performance conversations in the employee’s official language of choice.
• Incorporating OL requirements into work objectives where appropriate.

For all your HR-related questions, please contact the HR Connect RH team at 1-833-RHR-MDND (1-833-747-6363).

Thank you for your continued support.