People are a business’s greatest assets. So a person’s performance is key to this success. Employees need to understand what is expected of them and how to achieve these goals. To do this, employees need to be managed, motivated, have the necessary skills, resources and support but also be accountable.
Performance management aims to monitor, maintain and improve employee performance in line with a business’s objectives. It is not a single activity but a group of practices that should be approached as a whole.
Performance Management includes learning and development, performance measurement and organisational development. In the past, this practice would occur once a year and an employee’s performance would be based on what they didn’t do as opposed to the broader picture, like how do you want your employees to develop? Employees should be able to learn from their experiences and identify learning and development opportunities.
Each business should develop practices that are relevant to their goals and organisational culture. There should be flexibility within the systems that are used across the different teams within the business. It is not a one size fits all approach. Remember, a good Performance Management Plan is a continuous cycle and not an isolated event.
The main key is to look at the businesses key strategic goals and follow this to agree on individual performance and development priorities. Plans need to be drawn up and monitored. Feedback and reviewing progress against objectives should be regular and could be supported throughout the year by periodic formal performance reviews. Reviews can involve face-to-face conversations between managers and their employees, 360 degree feedback (between 8 and 10 people complete questionnaires on an employee’s performance) and assessments against performance targets. Good feedback skills can include asking good questions, active listening and giving constructive feedback. A healthy relationship between manager and employees also lends itself to an effective performance review.
Another point to note is that objectives can be set for team-level performance rather than individual level. One project could rely on team performance as opposed to individual performance. Also, Performance measures need to be trustworthy as well as relevant if they are to be relied upon, unfortunately, there’s a lot of potential for bias in performance ratings.
To overcome this, businesses need to have their performance review and incentive policies in place and reviewed annually to make sure they are inline with the overall business goals. The correct forms need to be reviewed and communicated to the correct managers. If you feel your business could do with guidance and support in this area, please contact Core Resource to get your business Performance Management Smart.
Core Resource | 087 7743205 | geraldine@coreresource.ie
