Performance management is a topic that gets a lot of negative press. It’s often seen as a means of punishing people who are not performing well but performance management should be about recognising the good in your people too.
In this blog post, we will discuss some ways to make sure your organisation has an effective approach towards performance management to help your team work together better and improve their communication.
Performance management is not just about poor performance
Performance management is key in the relationship between an employee and their manager. Whilst poor performance is often blamed on the individual employee, it’s often not that cut and dry, and it’s important to ask yourself why they’re struggling. As well as identifying what tasks and roles they do well.
Poor performance could be due to several reasons such as:
- lack of skills
- insufficient training
- misconception about the role and responsibilities
- poor management
If there are employees who are not performing well, they must know what they can do better and give them opportunities to improve. Talk to their manager about how they could help the employee grow into a more successful role. Maybe you could fill some training gaps, offer them coaching or the opportunity to shadow other team members or help them find a mentor who has relevant experience. There is a lot of research that suggests when employees are given the space and tools to develop their skills, they tend to perform better in all aspects of work.
A great idea would be setting goals with your team for what you want them to achieve this year. These can be personal or professional goals, and these should support the organisation’s strategic objectives. Remember, performance management is all about getting everyone to perform at their best. It must not be used as a weapon against underperforming employees, and it should also recognise those who are performing well. Whether you have an individual goal or team goal-setting process, you should have an effective system in place to measure your progress towards achieving these goals.
If you have tried all these recommendations and the employee is still underperforming, it’s time for performance management. This does not mean that they will be fired but instead should include a performance improvement plan and offer support to help them improve. You mustn’t just focus on poor performance but recognise the good in your employees too.
Performance Management Systems: recognising the good
A well-designed system will identify both strengths and weaknesses to help employees succeed. When an organisation has a robust performance management system, it will help identify areas for improvement and then provide the tools and resources to address these issues.
A sound performance management system should also have clear objectives so that employees know what they need to accomplish to receive recognition or rewards. And managers know how to recognise and reward their team. These should be linked to their job role and support the organisation’s strategic goals. The performance management system should also have a well-defined process that everyone knows about. Managers must then follow this process when recognising employees who are performing well. If there are underperforming employees, you should have a transparent system in place to address these issues.
Every organisation operates differently, so you need to find out what works for your company. You must feel comfortable with the performance management process; otherwise, your employees won’t take it seriously.
Regular Feedback
Regular feedback is critical for a high performing team. This help employees exploit their strengths and improve in other areas. It enables teams to pivot based on their current performance without waiting with bated breath only to find out they may have not met the mark. Plus, employees should be given regular opportunities for self-reflection because this helps them their own professional development.
You should establish clear expectations and make sure they know how to meet these requirements. This creates a win-win situation because managers will be able to achieve what is expected of them while team members can feel confident about the direction that this takes them in.
When someone is not performing well, there are ways to help them succeed. One of these is giving them feedback and coaching on what they can do better or where improvements could be made. This should come from their manager, but it’s also essential for employees to get feedback from peers. This helps everyone understand the importance of supporting each other within an organisation.
Performance Reviews
For those that conduct performance reviews, you should have set milestones and objectives to help employees understand their strengths and areas where they need to improve. Performance reviews are about highlighting what an employee is doing well, not just pointing out what they’re doing wrong. It should also help them to identify new opportunities or development plans that will help them improve in the future.
Performance reviews are also great for setting new goals and objectives for your employees to reach for and to continue to strive towards. When employees know what they’re working towards, it’s easier for them to take accountability and ownership over their role and work.
It can be challenging to know what you should include when writing a performance review, but it’s important that employees are given constructive feedback so they know how they can grow within their role. They shouldn’t just focus on poor behaviour or where an employee is falling short; after all, everyone needs positive reinforcement too. In addition, employees should be given regular feedback between performance reviews to know what to expect and prepare for this.
And remember, performance review is a summary of an employee’s performance. You shouldn’t be raising new issues you haven’t already discussed.
Happy employees = a happy organisation
Effective performance management will improve an individual’s productivity and elevate their job satisfaction, improving the organisation’s overall performance. Your company’s bottom line benefits from improved communication and relationships within your organisation.
Performance management aims to improve the organisation’s overall performance, so managers and employees must work together. Managers should understand what the organisation expects of them, but they also must know how to help their team succeed. Employees should feel comfortable sharing any concerns or feedback with their manager because this is how both sides can improve.
When managers know what is expected of them, it will help to increase employee engagement. Team members are more likely to be motivated and committed if they feel valued within an organisation, so this should be something that you consider when setting objectives for employees or writing performance reviews.
5 tips for performance management:
Wondering how to improve your performance management system? Then these top tips could help you to get the most from your process, and your employees:
- Performance management should be a collaborative process
- It’s important to keep an open mind when it comes to your employees, as they may be struggling with personal issues or family problems
- Everyone deserves a chance to succeed, so don’t give up on someone just because they haven’t been performing well lately.
- Remember that people are individuals, and each has different strengths and weaknesses – some employees might not be great at communicating but excel in other areas like technical skills
- If you have more than one employee who isn’t doing well, try switching them around so that they’re working with someone else for a while
When working in a team, it’s important to focus on what everyone can do together rather than what one person cannot do alone. Performance management isn’t an easy process, but it’s something that every organisation needs in place! If you’re struggling with understanding how your performance system is working or need advice on improving your process, get in touch with our team at Note It today.