We had a great turnout for last month's webcast with Dell Computer, but for those who weren't able to attend, I thought I would recap a few of the highlights.  You can listen to the entire webcast here.

If you missed the webcast, Dell's Global Reporting Solution Architect shared some insights on their Merced Performance Suite implementation, highlights of the end user's experience post-implementation, and some of the philosophy and corporate motivation behind their Performance Management initiative. It was great to get a glimpse of how they utilize the Merced Performance Suite application across their entire operation - from agents, to team leaders and management.

During the webcast, Dell highlighted several keys elements to producing a high-performing culture, including:

1. A Single Version of Truth - the system is a one-stop shop for performance data for everyone in the operation
2. Metric alignment and standardization - enables all roles to self-diagnose and take corrective action
3. Personalized goals, alerts, triggers, thresholds - drives accountability for individual performance and promotes agent engagement with their supervisors
4. Coaching, recognition & reinforcement best practices - having all data and workflow in a single system allows coaches, team leaders, and executives to script action and coach towards key company initiatives

Dell highlighted the key advantages of their Merced Performance Suite deployment, stating "one of the biggest advantages of having all data and workflow integrated in one place is that you can drive accountability for individual action from the agent level to the executive level.  When key operational metrics are directly tied to organizational goals, like Customer Experience and efficiency, and when that data is comprehensively assimilated into a performance management system, the end result is a high-performance culture."  To that end, Dell uses performance management to "empower the user by providing timely data to various roles in the enterprise, from execs and managers down to coaches and agents, and through providing targeted, meaningful coaching that drives the right kinds of actions based on the numbers." 

For Executives, the Merced deployment means that they can quickly gain access to high level KPI views as well as detailed drill down on data from across the enterprise to assess site, divisional, and individual performance.  If, for instance an executive sees that the level of outages for a certain site are too high, the executive can perform immediate investigation and then send off an action item to the accountable party to take corrective action, set a deadline for improvement, and track follow-up progress through the system, rather than manually alerting the site manager through an ad hoc email.

Of the various roles using Merced's performance management solution at Dell, team leaders and supervisors spend the most time on the system.  Dell discussed how Merced Performance Suite enables these roles to see focused metrics on their individual team members.  This ensures that when performance issues arise, supervisors are immediately setting up a coaching session with the appropriate agent.

And finally, because personalized, role-relevant data, benchmarked against operational standards, is delivered to every agent, agents have the ability to self-diagnose and take steps to improve.  They can also submit a coaching request form to their supervisor or coach directly through the system, asking for guidance. 

Do you have any interesting or unique experiences driving culture transformation in your operation?  We'd love to hear them - send them our way!