A truly effective Performance Management process is for the good of your company, your employees, your business culture and yourself. And it's more than meets many an eye.
Too often–and unfortunately for just about everyone involved–Performance Management is seen as only the appraisal-and-review process. That appraisal process amounts to
- setting objectives…
- "evaluating" performance…
- completing the evaluation form…
- conducting a review…
- starting it all again for next year.
And so it receives unfavorable reviews from managers and employees. And that may be a future posting you'll see here. But for today let's see how much more Performance Management means.
From Free Management Library:
From About.com: Human Resources
from US Office of Personnel Management
What is performance management? According to Handbook for Measuring Employee Performance (free, down-loadable version), performance management is the systematic process of
- planning work and setting expectations
- continually monitoring performance
- developing the capacity to perform
- periodically rating performance in a summary fashion
- rewarding good performance
Although there are differences in the above descriptions of Performance Management, they all clearly indicate a manager owns responsibility for the process. Support can be expected from Human Resources in designing the process, providing the resources, and training management in its effective implementation.
That final term–implementation–falls to the manager. The manager's should provide opportunities and options for an employee to develop and grow. A thorough and thoroughly effective process of Performance Management can offer that development.
Thursday (10/30) we'll look at more than 10 tips and pointers to make that implementation a more viable element of your business culture.
Thanks,
Photo Source: http://flickr.com/photos/brapke/226101874/
Tags: Culture, Employee Engagement, Management, performance management
One way to measure employee performance is to develop a customer satisfaction program within the company. This can be done by either mystery shopping or surveying your customers. Hiring a third party to see what the customer sees or hear what the customer hear is critical.
I am President of a market research firm in Chicago and have recently seen a trend among our prospective clients. Many B2B companies are calling us asking that we conduct mystery shops ( mostly via phone ) to insure that the level of service customers receive by employees is up to par. What gets measured, gets done. Additionally, it allows for employees who are doing a fantastic job get the recognition they deserve!
Comment by Kdoering-Ann Michaels & Associates, Ltd. — October 29, 2008 @ 10:58 am
One way to measure employee performance is to develop a customer satisfaction program within the company. This can be done by either mystery shopping or surveying your customers. Hiring a third party to see what the customer sees or hear what the customer hear is critical.
I am President of a market research firm in Chicago and have recently seen a trend among our prospective clients. Many B2B companies are calling us asking that we conduct mystery shops ( mostly via phone ) to insure that the level of service customers receive by employees is up to par. What gets measured, gets done. Additionally, it allows for employees who are doing a fantastic job get the recognition they deserve!
Comment by Kdoering-Ann Michaels & Associates, Ltd. — October 29, 2008 @ 10:58 am
My favorite definition of performance is: ANYTHING WORTHY OF YOUR ATTENTION. How do we make the important work of the organization worthy of people’s attention. Performance management is based so much on engaging conversations and engaging in conversations. I see you, you matter to me, here is what I notice, what are you noticing? What is important and worthy of your attention? How did it become that way? I think when we can make performance a key drawing out of people’s strengths we create powerful engagement. I like the immediacy of frequent and engaging contact with the person you report to and all the people who report to you.
Comment by David Zinger — October 29, 2008 @ 5:42 pm
Tim,
great post. One additional thing to think about. If you actually want people to think about how they can improve and you want them to be honest about it, performance reviews need to be separated from salary/bonus reviews.
If the two are linked, for obvious reasons, people will be very defensive and there will not be much improvement in performance.
Comment by Andrew Meyer — October 30, 2008 @ 4:14 pm