Dear colleagues,

As announced by the Director General during the town hall held on 11th November 2016, it is time for 2016 staff performance reviews. This is an opportunity for supervisors to engage staff in a dialogue about how well they performed during the year and to discuss goals for the coming year.

We thank and commend the staff members who completed the process of setting their 2016 performance agreements. Well done!

Just like the 2015 performance reviews, we will use the Peformax system to conduct the 2016 reviews and in setting 2017 performance agreements. The performance review links from peformax will be released to eligible staff in batches.

1. Timelines

We will have two phases in this process that will end on 28th February 2017.

(i) Phase I: 2016 performance reviews, will commence on 18th November 2016; and

(ii) Phase II: Setting of 2017 performance agreements, will commence on 16 January 2017.

We would like to urge all staff and supervisors to adhere to the deadline as stated.

2. Phase I: 2016 Performance reviews

The following activities will take place in phase I:

	Activity	Description
1.	Self-assessment	· This has been reintroduced in the 2016 reviews and focuses on Key Result Areas (KRAs) and behavioral competencies. · Each staff will be expected to assess their performance against the 2016 KRAs as well as behavioral competencies.
2.	360o feedback	· This has been reintroduced in the 2016 reviews and focuses only on behavioral competencies. · Each staff will nominate 3 assessors, who will be approved by the supervisor before they provide feedback. When identifying an assessor, staff should select persons who they have closely worked with. · The assessors will review the staff and rate them on the behavioral competencies. · Once staff receive a notification that 2 out of the 3 assessors have provided feedback, then submission of the performance review to the supervisor can take place.
3.	Manager review	· This will be the final step after staff have completed a self-assessment and 360o feedback has been submitted by the assessors. · The supervisors will hold performance discussions with staff and agree on the ratings for KRAs and behavioral competencies. · The supervisors will sign off the performance review and the process will be complete.

3. Phase II: Setting of 2017 performance agreements

We will commence setting of 2017 performance agreements on 16th January 2017. This will be after updating the Peformax system with staff changes due to the new programs that shall be effected in the same month.

The following should be noted when setting 2017 performance agreements:

· 2017 performance agreements will ONLY be set once 2016 performance reviews have been done and signed off by respective supervisors.

· Staff will receive an email notifying them to set their 2017 performance agreements.

· When setting the KRAs, staff should link them to ILRI’s Critical Success Factors in order to foster corporate alignment and accountability to meet institutional objectives. The Critical Success Factors are already pre-loaded into the Peformax system. ILRI Managers will be required to take the lead in guiding their staff members to ensure proper alignment of unit/team and individual KRAs with the Critical Success Factors.

· The minimum number of KRAs that a staff can set will be three (3) and the maximum will be seven (7).

· In addition to the KRAs, staff will also identify performance development plans (PDPs) for 2017 that will inform the training needs for the year.

· Once performance agreements have been set, the supervisors will review them and sign off to complete this process.

4. Staff categories and actions required

	Category	Action required
1.	Existing staff who have completed their 2016 performance agreements	· Undertake activities listed in phase I and thereafter phase II.
2.	Existing staff who have not completed their 2016 performance agreements. This includes those who joined as new staff between January and July 2016	· Complete 2016 performance agreements and the supervisors will sign off. · Undertake activities listed in phase I and thereafter phase II.
3.	Supervisors who have not signed off 2016 performance agreements for their staff	· Sign off the 2016 performance agreements to enable staff undertake activities in phase I and thereafter phase II.
4.	New staff who joined from August 2016	· No action required in relation to 2016 performance reviews. · Undertake phase II activities.

5. Performance management refresher training sessions

P&OD will be conducting refresher trainings during the performance review period. We shall share doodle links in a separate email to enable you identify suitable dates to attend these trainings.

6. Compliance

In accordance with the decisions made by the IMC, performance management is a crucial strategic process that the institution has invested in considerably and the input provided from the reviews are important in various human resource processes such as: contract renewal, promotions, application to any posted internal job vacancies, group and individual performance development/learning opportunities and institutional salary increments where appropriate.

Consequently, staff who do not complete their performance reviews as per institutional deadlines will not be eligible for these developmental processes and opportunities as input from their reviews will not be available.

7. Support

For support and guidance, please contact the following in the People & Organizational Development Directorate:

Nairobi & Regions

Emily Kerandi- e.kerandi ext 3203

Jeremiah Musili- j.musili ext 3520

Joseph Njoroge- j.w.njoroge ext 3275

Addis Ababa

Getachew Wudu- g.wudu ext 2176

Tadios Tekalign- t.tekalign ext 2177

Belachew Zeyede- b.zeyede ext 2174

With best wishes and renewed thanks for your support and cooperation in the implementation of this key institutional organizational development initiative.

Best regards,

Stella Kiwango | Director, People and Organizational Development