Make Work Better
Revolutionizing How Great Bosses Lead, Give Feedback and Empower Employees
Available now at all major book retailers
The book John Doerr called “required reading for anyone with a stake
in empowering people to achieve at the highest level.”
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It’s time to make performance management work
We’ve moved on from antiquated tools like typewriters or checkbooks, but bosses still rely on the same annual performance review process to manage employees the same way they did 70 years ago. It fails our modern hybrid workplaces, and it doesn’t improve performance, especially for today’s millennial and Gen-Z workforce. It succeeds only in lowering employee engagement, undermining trust in management, decreasing transparency, and increasing turnover. There must be a way to make work better for all of us.
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Contents
- Chapter 1: How We Manage Performance and Why It Sucks
- Chapter 2: Make Work Better with Performance Enablement
- Chapter 3: Performance Enablement from the Ground Up
- Chapter 4: Putting Performance Enablement into Practice with People Development Plans
- Chapter 5: Leading Your Performance Transformation
- Chapter 6: Implementing Performance Enablement
- Chapter 7: Scaling Your Initiative with Technology
- Chapter 9: Compensation
“Make Work Better is a radical manifesto—and blueprint—for operating excel lence in our fast-changing world of work. Packed with practical advice and instructive case studies, Make Work Better is required reading for anyone with a stake in empowering people to achieve at the highest level.”
“Make Work Better provides leaders with actionable steps to create a culture of trust, empowering employees at all levels to do their best work. It’s a must-read for those seeking to build resilient and agile organizations that can adapt and thrive in today’s dynamic landscape.”
“Doug and Jamie have done a brilliant job making the case for why leading companies need to rethink performance management, and they have provided a roadmap for how to lead a workplace transformation. Don’t wait to read this one.”
“Make Work Better gives leaders actionable steps to create cultures of trust and empower employees at all levels of an organization to do their best work. It’s an essential read in this dynamic moment.”
“Doug and Jamie have written the ultimate playbook for C-suite leaders looking to build a high-performance business that puts people at the center. If CEOs and CHROs read one book this year, Make Work Better should be it.”
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Make Work Better shows HR, leaders, and middle managers the modern path to better employee performance, amplified engagement and company culture, and more empowered people. Readers will learn how to:
- Make goals and OKRs more useful, more often for everyone
- Eliminate ratings and implement a promotion process that reflects reality and retains employees
- Make check-ins more productive at better intervals for managers and reports
- Teach everyone to better deliver and receive more effective structured and unstructured feedback
- Make recognition count, and create formal development paths for high performers
- Use data to make the right people decisions and eliminate bias
- Structure your organization to maximize the impact of HR and People Operations
Featuring front-line insights from adopters of the process at Intuit, Vertiv, Pepsico, and other leading organizations, Make Work Better gives readers everything they need to improve their organization from wherever they sit.
Doug Dennerline
is the CEO of Betterworks, the leader in strategy execution software for enterprise companies. He has been working in Silicon Valley since 1982 – starting with HP selling the first PC, followed by 12 years at 3Com, and 12 years at Cisco, massively scaling those companies. In his last role at Cisco, he became the CEO of Webex post the acquisition of Webex by Cisco. He has been running SaaS companies ever since. He’s worked for many famous leaders – Marc Benioff, John Chambers, Lars Delgaard – and learned many lessons about what it takes to grow and scale high-performing teams. Hint: it’s not an annual review, followed by a pat on the back and standard raise.
Doug was the president of SuccessFactors which was the first company to move the performance management process to the cloud and was ultimately acquired by SAP.
Jamie Aitken
As VP of HR Transformation at Betterworks, Jamie helps customers reimagine the way employee performance is managed with proven systems and processes that work. As co-author of the forthcoming book, Make Work Better, she draws inspiration from her more than twenty-five years of HR leadership experience, spearheading organizational development, HR transformation and employee engagement strategies that boost business performance. Her work as a consultant and an in-house HR practitioner spans the entire spectrum of human capital practices and multiple industries.
Jamie has a deep understanding of talent management strategies and principles and has ideated and implemented global talent practices system redesign, strategic planning and positioning in public and private for national and international organizations spanning all associated processes. As a McKinsey-certified facilitator, Jamie has also been instrumental in cultural transformations for several large enterprises – supporting fundamental change with her background in executive coaching, change management, and employee experience strategies.
Jamie Aitken
Jamie has a deep understanding of talent management strategies and principles and has ideated and implemented global talent practices system redesign, strategic planning and positioning in public and private for national and international organizations spanning all associated processes. As a McKinsey-certified facilitator, Jamie has also been instrumental in cultural transformations for several large enterprises – supporting fundamental change with her background in executive coaching, change management, and employee experience strategies.
It’s time to make performance management work
Make Work Better: A Call to Action for HR and Business Leaders to Rethink Performance Management
With Doug Dennerline and Jamie Aitken
5 Ways Compensation Practices Harm Your Employees and Company
In the Press
Doug
‘The Great Mismatch’: Employers Firmer On Return-To-Office Policies In 2023
Best Leadership Teams 2022
Betterworks Wins Silver for Best Advance in Performance Management Technology from Brandon Hall Group
Betterworks Wins 2 Comparably Best Places to Work Awards for Best Company Culture and CEO
Quiet quitting: 9 IT leaders weigh in
Jamie
VP of HR Transformation: ‘It’s the most exciting time in my career’
10 Ways Technology Can Improve Employee Retention
What advice would you give to a new HR professional?
Betterworks Announces New Vice President, HR Transformation
What Digital Transformation Leadership Looks Like For HR
How to Recognize Employees the Right Way in Today’s Workplace