What You Need To Know
To achieve your organization’s goals, you rely on the motivation and productivity of your employees. Performance management, however, is often overlooked as a way for organizations to become more competitive and to improve overall profitability.
Performance management is the ongoing process of goal setting, training and development, career management, and disciplinary action. Companies manage their employees by implementing a performance appraisal process which clearly outlines what is expected of them. Employees need to know what is expected of them and how their work contributes to achieving business results.
There are a number of performance appraisal methods to consider as every workplace is unique. It is also important that you understand potential issues in conducting appraisals such as: effectively providing constructive feedback, bias, unclear standards, and the tendency to appraise too lightly or too strictly.
Why You Need To Know
- Your workers need to clearly know what is expected of them ahead of time so they can work toward meeting the goals and objectives identified for them.
- Receiving timely and specific feedback is important to your employees. Providing effective feedback can lead to improved motivation and retention.
- Having good employee documentation can be helpful in determining promotions, training needs, and succession planning.
- Having regular formal performance appraisal documentation is essential. It also becomes critically important when an employee is not meeting expectations and coaching, corrective action, or disciplinary action is needed.
What You Need To Do
Develop clear job descriptions that align with the goals of the company.
Use a solid recruitment and selection process that match individuals with the right jobs. Do they have the right education and training to do the job?
Develop a performance appraisal that is 1) relevant to the job being appraised, 2) broad enough to cover all aspects of the job, and 3) specific.
With each employee, be clear about:
- what you expect them to accomplish,
- the standards you expect them to meet,
- the outcomes you expect them to achieve in their jobs, and
- how those outcomes will be measured.
Make sure new hires are well oriented to the company.
Provide ongoing coaching and feedback to each and every employee. They should have opportunities to continue to develop their skills and abilities to stay current with the needs of the job.
Provide opportunities for employees to advance within your company when possible. Make development opportunities available to them: know their strengths and ambitions and coach them in their work.
Consider designing compensation and recognition programs that reward people for their contributions to your company’s goals and objectives, not just for the time they clocked in for work.
Continuously assess employees’ performance informally. Formally review the performance of each worker at least annually. Compare the outcomes from their work with the job description.
