SDO San Juan City cascades Results-Based Performance Management System (RPMS) Performance, Planning

In today's workplace, performance improvement and the role of performance management is an increasingly popular topic. The Department of Education has adopted the so called Results-Based Performance Management System (RPMS) to raise the bar and encouraged excellence in government service. The RPMS is a systematic approach for consistent and continuous work improvement. The same way teachers grade students and give them feedback to improve their performance, the RPMS gives all employees a means to gauge their performance and seek improvement. The RPMS results will guide the Department in providing training interventions to ensure continuous development. This is part of DepEd's commitment to provide quality education to our learners.

Four speakers through the leadership of Mr. Virgilio A. Santos, Chief-School Governance and Operations Division elucidated the Results-based Performance Management System (RPMS) Performance Planning and Evaluation cycle. Along with Mr. Santos were, Mr. Allan Eliezer M. Mal-in, Administrative Officer V, Ms. Marnelli A. Bautista, Education Program Supervisor for English, and Mr. Demie S. Atienza, Education Program Specialist II. This was held last August 10-12, 2016 from 1:00-5:00 PM at the SDO Conference Hall. This was participated by the School Heads, Master Teachers, Unit Heads and other Division Personnel.

The objectives of the said seminar-workshop on RPMS are:

to explain the RPMS cycle
to develop written performance objectives and indicators according to RPMS guidelines
to define development needs of staff based on results of performance evaluation and craft appropriate written development plans.
to describe the process of giving effective performance feedback.

Mr. Virgilio A. Santos, Chief-SGOD gave the program rationale to better understand the need to continuously visiting the RPMS cycle. Some questions from the participants raised. Mrs. Mila Eustaquio, MT II of San Juan Elementary School asked Mr. Santos, in anticipation to the activity whether the RPMS/IPCRF which they did last School Year different from what is going to be discussed. Mr. Santos differentiated what RPMS and IPCRF were, to fully satisfy the inquiry made by Mrs. Eustaquio. Because of the discussion made by Mr. Santos, another inquiry came in when Mrs. Eulafel Pascual, EPS for Filipino asked in Tagalog, “Magkakaroon po ba kami ng mas malinaw na gampanin ngayon pagkatapos ng seminar na ito?” Mr. Santos answered her yes, because thru the RPMS, the functions and responsibilities are clearly defined and aligned to each teaching and non-teaching personnel.

The workshop overview was discussed by Ms. Marnelli A. Bautista, EPS for English. She reminded the participants of the materials needed in the conduct of the seminar workshop like the Position and Competency Profile, OPCRF, IPCRF, and portfolio to support the IPCRF.

Mr. Allan Eliezer M. Mal-in, Administrative Officer V did the review of RPMS, RPMS Updates and Challenges, and Phase I- Performance, Planning, and Commitment. According to Mr. Mal-in, Phase I is the starting point of performance management. The Rater and the Ratee work together to identify, understand, and agree on: what the employee needs to do, how it needs to be done, why, when, and so on. He put emphasis on the four important components of Phase 1:

Discuss Unit’s Objectives- the Office head discusses the office’s KRAs and objectives with direct reports. Then, break this down to individual KRAs and objectives.
Identify Individual KRAs, Objectives and Performance Indicators- the second component of the performance plan deals with the individual's share of the organization's strategic objectives. Key Result Areas are the reasons why a job exist. They are broad categories expressed as general outputs or outcomes. It gives the employee clear accountability. They will know what is expected of them. During the year, they will know how their results measure up to those expectations. It enables employees to easily track and document performance better. Lastly it help to ensure that jobs are rewarding, value-adding and manageable.
Discuss Competencies Required and Additional Competencies Needed- There are 4 classes of Competencies: (1) Core Behavioral, (2) Leadership, (3) Teaching, and (4) Core Skills. Competencies are the HOWs of performance: the knowledge, motivation, and behaviors people display to achieve results. Competencies uphold the organization's values. They represent the way people define and live the values.
Reaching Agreement- It's the manager's job to act as reviewer and coach for the final version of the performance plan. The Rater and the Ratee has to meet to discuss and agree on objectives that the Ratee has identified for the current performance cycle. The Rater should help to set priorities as to what can realistically be accomplished. Once all the MFOs, KRAs, Objectives and Performance Indicators are agreed upon, the Rater and Ratee should sign the form.

The next session was facilitated by Mr. Demie S. Atienza, EPS II where he asked the group to shoot as many balls in the box starting with 1 minute, to 40 seconds, to 30 seconds, to 20 seconds, and finally to 10 seconds. He then asked each group to count the number of balls landed in each box per time given. He asked “What strategy did each group employ in order for them to catch as many balls considering the time frame given? The high school group through Mrs. Marichu Lopez, told everyone that, only few balls were caught due to the distance of the shooter to the box, and only one member of the group is good at shooting the ball. She also mentioned that the group did not use any specific strategy for the balls to be caught. Mr. Atienza metaphorically compared the shooting of the ball within the given time to the crafting of effective objectives that are sufficient to cover each Key Result Area. He allowed the participants to be grouped together according to their position and were asked to brainstorm on the objectives that will commensurate to them in consideration to cover their KRA. Group output presentation followed.

Mr. Atienza pointed that objectives are specific things one need to do and the results one need to achieve in the Key Result Areas. An effective objective should be characterized as SMART- Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time Bound. The number of objective per KRA may sufficiently range from one to three items. He further discussed the crafting of objectives by giving few tips like, start with an action verb, define quantity, timelines, and/or quality as well as due dates or time frames, avoid writing “All or nothing” and etc.

Mr. Virgilio A. Santos on the other hand, made a clarification that to measure the objectives, a certain assessment measure such as Performance Indicator has to consider because PIs are the exact qualification objectives and that they gauge whether a performance is good or bad.

Dr. Felicito M. Angeo, had a discussion on giving performance feedback. He clearly noted that constant monitoring should be given attention to effectively track the performance and do the documenting output and behaviour of the employees. Monitoring is important because it is the key input to performance measure (No Monitoring, No objective measurement), it also provides objective basis of rating, it facilitates feedback, it clearly defines opportunities for improvements and provides evidence.

Dr. Angeo also tackled writing development plans. He mentioned that the lowest or ratings in both achievement of results and demonstration of competencies becomes the basis for the development plans. Systemic in nature, one has to follow the steps like, identify development needs, set goals for meeting these needs, prepare action plans for meeting the needs, implement plans, and then evaluate the plan.

Mr. Santos, added that, aside from the classroom training activities like benchmarking, seminars/workshops, formal education/classes, assignment to task force, job enhancement/redesign, functional cross-posting, coaching/counselling, developmental/lateral career moves, and self-managed learning are other activities that can be considered for employee development.

The integration of learning is through a group output where the participants were asked to finalize their objectives through their respective KRAs. They were asked to submit the said output the following week which will be checked by the SGOD Chief.