9 Tips for Improving Performance Management

 

1.  Performance management is a process and not an event.  Include performance management in one-to-one meetings between managers and employees throughout the year.  This can include discussions on barriers to execution, lack of clarity on projects/tasks, resource availability, learning opportunities among many others.

 

2.  Create easy to use and easy to understand performance appraisal forms whether they are online or paper based.  I have seen some that include scoring formulas and ranking scales that are way too complicated.

 

3.  Ensure there is ‘line of sight’ between an individual’s goals and the organisation’s strategy.

 

4.  Offer coaching and interpersonal communication skills development to managers who may need this training to conduct better performance appraisals and strengthen interpersonal relationships.

 

5.  Include competencies in the appraisal as one means of structuring development plans.

 

6.  There must be follow up actions from the performance appraisals.  Too often appraisals are filed away never to be seen again.

 

7.  Ensure the whole performance management processes are on the radar of the management team.  Performance management should be a regular topic in meeting agendas dealing with organisational health, succession planning, tactical and strategic decision making.

 

8.  Perform some quality control by undertaking interviews with selected employees to gain feedback on how satisfied they are with the performance management process.   Look for some common feedback and ask some good questions to learn how the process can be improved.

 

9.  Your performance appraisal process should include at least one face-to-face meeting with the manager and employee present.  At the very least this could be an online meeting with cameras turned on.  Believe it or not, I have worked with one company that had a performance appraisal process that only included inputs from the manager and employee entered separately.

 

Performance management has had a bad reputation for too long based on lousy design, planning and execution.  I think the term ‘performance management’ is pretty bad as well but at this point it is a commonly understood term.   When done well, performance management can be a positive contributor to organisational health and employee engagement.  If you are interested in more information and ideas on how to make your performance management processes more effective then you can get in touch and we will help you out. performance management processes more effective then you can get in touch and we will help you out.