Performance Management
An
organization's greatest asset is its people. The success of an organization
depends upon the contributions of its employees. Employees must know
what is expected of them and how they are measuring up to those expectations
in order to make effective contributions. They need to know what they
can do to improve performance in their present jobs and to prepare
themselves for more responsibility.
The most common reason employees give for wanting to stay with an organization
is career growth, learning and development. These facts emphasize the need for
ongoing feedback to your employees to enhance their professional development
and retain them at your place of business.
Performance Appraisal Program
A sound performance appraisal program is an indispensable part of any effective
employee relations program. Performance appraisals provide a direct connection
between an employee's performance and the achievement of the company's mission.
They are the means by which everyone in an organization understands and is held
accountable for meeting truly important objectives. Without an effective program
you face the risk of not only losing your best employees, but falling victim
to legal action undertaken by discharged or disgruntled employees.
There are many methods for conducting performance appraisals, but the success
of an appraisal is dependent upon both employees and managers having a clear
understanding of what an appraisal is supposed to do. To have an effective performance
appraisal program, it's valuable for all managers and supervisors to be well
trained in how to appraise an employee and how to handle the appraisal interview.
When an appraisal system is used to help develop the employee as a resource,
it usually works, but when an understanding of its limitations is not clear or
when it's used as a whip, it fails. When managers understand the purpose of the
appraisal, it can lead to higher employee retention, motivation, and satisfaction.
Performance appraisals should always be conducted within the time period you
tell employees you will do so. Failure to do this indicates that you do not value
them as a priority and may also have an adverse legal impact should a person
file a wrongful discharge suit later on.
Good Communication
The basis for effective performance appraisals is good communication. This begins
with a good job description for each employee. From most job descriptions you
can extract the major responsibilities and further break these down into important
objectives for success. Limit these objectives to concrete, measurable areas
of performance. If you're going to make any subjective judgments on an employee's
performance, make sure to list concrete examples of how you expect the employee
to show improvement in these areas. If you can't provide examples, it's wise
to not make these judgments. Emphasize behavior, not attitude. Attitude is too
abstract a concept for many employees. Behavior, really the result of attitude,
is something concrete that can be understood. Employees must believe that their
supervisor has an accurate understanding of what they do on the job and the quality
of work that is done, for these judgments to have meaning.
A negative performance appraisal should never come as a surprise to an employee.
The formal performance appraisal should be a time to review, reflect and set
new goals in accordance with an ongoing performance management routine. It's
critical that appraising employee performance be looked at as an ongoing process
and not a once a year event. Having an effective performance management routine
is the key to a fair and productive appraisal program.
Performance Management Routine
The most effective performance management routines consist of regular, frequent
interaction with employees where the employee can talk about specific details
of their work, what their successes are, what they've learned, what they hope
to accomplish in the next few months and how the manager can help. This kind
of performance management puts the responsibility on the employee to keep track
of their performance and not merely be a passive recipient of an annual judgment
of their work. Frequent meetings also make it easier for an employee to address
areas of poor performance since they will be introduced little by little, rather
than dumped on the employee once a year.
Resource: First Break All the Rules, by
Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman
When talking with employees about their performance, consider such areas as:
Quality of work-neatness, accuracy, organization and attention to detail.
Quantity of work-numbers and quantity standards set for the job and
ability to meet deadlines.
Work habits-time management, dependability, attendance, punctuality,
safe working habits and initiative.
Addressing Poor Performance
When addressing poor performance with an employee, consider the reasons for the
problems.
The following is a list of the more common reasons:
Is additional training needed?
Is the employee overworked?
Is there a personality conflict with a co-worker?
Has new equipment been installed or a new procedure implemented that
the employee is not comfortable with?
Has a personnel change affected the employee or the department in general?
Is the employee having family problems?
Is the employee having a health problem, including drug and alcohol
abuse?
Has the employee misrepresented his or her background?
Has the employee failed to keep current with developments in the field?
Does the employee need help in reorganizing his or her workload?
Is the employee aware of how his or her work is being evaluated?
Are there physical barriers in the way of the employee's success, i.e.,
poor lighting, substandard equipment, excess noise, overcrowding.
Peer Reviews
Involvement of all staff in performance appraisals is another option to use when
evaluating employees. These types of evaluations gather feedback from all levels-superiors,
peers and subordinates-and can provide information to identify training needs,
teamwork strengths and weaknesses, and other areas of concern that may have gone
unnoticed. It can also instill a sense of responsibility in employees to cooperate
with each other no matter what their status is in the organization. Employees
should be asked only to rate individuals with whom they have frequent and significant
contact, and they should be anonymous-especially when rating superiors.
What's Best for Your Company
There
are many types of performance evaluation forms or methods that can
be used. An employer should choose the one that best suits their needs,
their environment and the performance issues most common to their organization.
There are advantages and disadvantages to each method, the key is knowing
what will work best for you, your employees and your business.
Effective performance evaluations can empower your employees to effectively contribute
to the success of your organization, and they can help you stay out of legal
trouble.
