Performance Management Project Aims to Foster a Culture of Employee Development
UM Associate Vice President of Human Resources Shawn Blair wants to position the University of Montana as a career destination.
"Whether we're talking about upper-level executive leadership positions or entry- level staff jobs," Blair says, "we want an opportunity for people to track and receive meaningful feedback that's going to help them develop their career at whatever phase they may be."
Blair is leading an FY26 Playbook Project to implement a new employee performance management system. Over the past few months, 10 pilot groups representing a spectrum of campus sectors have tested a new platform called Neo ED Perform. Blair says that feedback from pilot users has been largely positive.
"Employees have enjoyed being more participatory," Blair says. "Employees and supervisors are able to contribute feedback, track goals, and engage more actively in the process. It becomes a continuous, interactive dialogue rather than a once-a-year event."
Contrasting Old and New
A flaw in UM's current performance evaluation system is that it's done annually and does not provide the level of meaningful engagement needed for regular and consistent performance management. Too many employees don't receive reliable feedback, and annual evaluations that are completed often suffer from recency bias. Supervisors tend to focus on performance in the days or weeks before the annual evaluation deadline but often fail to capture the whole year of activity. And the worst outcome of an evaluation process is a surprise at the end of the year—performance issues that were never brought to light until the evaluation.
"Employees should know throughout the year how they're doing." Blair says. "They should know whether they are excelling or needing improvement. That's a major culture shift this project enables."
The NeoED Perform system allows employees and supervisors to collaboratively set and track goals throughout the year. Blair notes that job performance and employee development goals are interwoven.
"This is an opportunity for both employees and managers to capture the holistic picture of performance throughout the year,'' Blair says. "It will also be essential to employee development, which is a big part of retention. Where are we identifying opportunities to assist employees with their development? This is a question that should be considered as a part of the evaluation process."
Next Steps
Evaluation of the 10 pilot groups has allowed Blair and the project team to identify and address systems and process issues. The plan is to implement the system campus-wide in the next fiscal year. Blair says a key to success will be commitment from leaders across campus that this is a priority and not optional.
Full implementation will involve on-demand learning modules, in-person training sessions, and user guides along with leveraging the experience of the pilot users to support others.
"We're not flipping a switch and calling it done," Blair says. "We will continue to evolve it based on the needs of our campus community."