Chick Fil a – Performance Management

MGT 760 Chick-fil-A – Performance Management and Key Business Factors Performance Management is a process for establishing a shared understanding about what is to be achieved and how it is to be achieved. It is an approach to managing people that increases the probability of achieving success. In regards to the definition, Chick-Fil-A has a consistent and calibrated performance management process. They have been focusing on how to develop enough leaders, fast enough to create healthy growth. Leadership is the main part of the company’s success formula.
They have a do-it-yourself leadership development culture. First of all they defined leadership at Chick-fil-A. They interviewed leaders within the company. After discussions they realized they needed more information. They decided to supplement their internal interviews with a survey of global best practices. As final part of process they read 200 books on leadership. They had a picture of leadership definition which is similar to iceberg. According to this model, like iceberg’s 90 percent is underwater, leadership character is hard to see. 0 percent is represents the skills of leaders. And they want to combine leadership and characteristic skills. They have seen character is 90 percent of what makes a leader. They want to do their best to select men and women of character and focus on helping them develop their skills as leaders. After that, they identified best leader skills. These are; 1- See the future: It is the vision skill, ability to improve business for future. 2- Engage and developed others: They want managers reach and develop their employee’s potential. – Reinvent continuously: It means that the leader is the catalyst for continuous improvement and innovation. It involves the leader’s continued growth and development. 4- Value result and relationship: They agree the idea that results are critical. But also they believe that results alone not sufficient. They want to maintain tension between results and relationship. 5- Embody the values: The leaders that know their values, share their values and live their values earn the trust of people. Their actions become an important shaping tool in the culture.
As a result of definition of leadership and defining the skills that a leader should has, their goal is to select the right people, provide them the skills they need, and challenge them to guard their motives. In addition to performance management process, Chick-fil-A has successful business practices. They escaped the effects of recession well. One of the key factors that they were not affected by recession is the ability to absorb and pollinate great ideas. They could find very useful but cost nothing ideas. They have been always trying new things and experiments.

As an example, he mentions the idea of inviting the first 100 customers who come in when they opened a new store to eat at Chick-fil-A for a year. That created millions and millions of dollars worth of publicity for Chick-fil-A. Besides that, they have a very rigorous hiring process. They are looking for competence, character, and chemistry. Competence is the knowledge and skills to do the job. As mentioned before, in the evaluation of character, moral choices and decisions are very important. In chemistry, they are looking for the ability to inspire, excite, and motivate other people.
The company has a 97 percent retention rate. They have free food, free fitness center with hot showers, towels and child care center. When an employee has a problem, they try to help and got him or her into a rehab program. They influence on people’s life. They do a review annually with their executives committee. Everyone has a performance assessment. They look at fast trackers and people who need extra mentoring to be sure that they are developing them at the right rate. They change with changes. They saw a big shift in 1990s and they simulated what the whole operation would be like. It helps them to be ready for changes.
Innovation is a very important topic for them. They are getting ready to open an innovation laboratory. They want everyone to be a part of the innovation process. To improve customer service, they had conversations with people outside their industry. When customers pay them $6, they get what they really want and they feel good about the transaction. And relationship follows the service. Also they see social media as leveraging influence. In conclusion, their corporate purpose is glorifying God by being a faithful steward. The long view and the purpose of this whole enterprise is to positively impact people’s lives.