Give your team members what they need
Managers often struggle to provide the constructive personal and career development feedback their employees need. This is because traditional performance management processes lack meaningful dialogue and often use evaluation structures that are not relevant or applicable to a specific employee.
Your people want and need to know:
- what they are accountable for
- how they are performing
- what their development needs and opportunities are
- how they will be recognized for their contributions
The real benefit of performance management initiatives comes from the open and transparent conversations they should spark—whether planned or “in the moment”. It’s also in these moments that your organization’s culture, values, and engagement strategies are reinforced.
What’s needed is a system that supports honest, frequent, and productive conversations and real-time coachable moments. This will ensure that the performance management process is embedded as an ongoing conversation at every level of the organization.
Elements of an effective program
To build or strengthen your performance management initiative, it’s imperative to first establish the foundations:
- assess and prepare the organization for this change initiative
- define the performance management systems and processes that incorporate a philosophy with both formal and informal “touch points” and meaningful conversations
- determine the technology, tools, and resources required to support the process
- assess and build manager capabilities to stimulate dialogue, assess performance and provide constructive feedback
- support the communication and implementation of the process
Once established, an effective performance management process should include the following elements:
- setting clear expectations and goals for individuals that align with team and corporate objectives
- creating a simple process that can be utilized throughout the organization
- building a repository of tools and resources to support the change and deepen capabilities
- incorporating relevant metrics and indicators
- establishing accountability
- creating the link between performance management and compensation, as well as other areas of the human capital strategy, such as retention
- using performance management as the platform to identify learning and development opportunities
