Employee Performance Management

Dear Friends,

I would like to invite you to read my blog. Today, a company from the Gulf, my client, was talking about our proposal on Competency Mapping. I casually asked, Competency Mapping is a good exercise to have but there are other exercises as well and those should be taken on priority. One such exercise is to have Performance Management of Employees be done in the right way. I further asked, how is there performance management activities placed? We had a long conversation on the subject. I then thought of writing a blog so that my other clients and the public as a whole can benefit from it. So here we go..

So what is performance management?

Performance management can be described as a series of interactions between a manager and an employee over the course of a business year with the goal of concentrating and inspiring high performance.

Why is performance management so important?

There is a clear connection between behaviour management and practices, employee engagement, and company profitability. In other words, if you want to boost next year's bottom-line, start with this year's employees' performance and hence the behaviour management. The problem is that it is often perceived as a process, and yes, it is a process in the sense that it happens repeatedly. However, that devalues performance management as this is beyond being just a process. Rather, it is also the art of having human interaction between the manager and the employee. So it is both science and art. Process because it is a defined way of doing. Which is also a science in that sense but keeping the interaction right is an art part of it.

What are the key activities that comprise performance management?

Well, it should begin at the beginning of the business year with target setting. Every employee should have a set of objectives that correspond with business goals. The aim of these objectives is to provide guidance to the employee. They should know what is required of them at work. After those objectives have been set, it's critical that the manager and the employee sit down, preferably weekly, and have frequent one-on-one meetings. During those 1-2 ones the manager checks in on results against goals, but he or she can also use coaching skills, provide input, and ensure that their staff feel fully understood and have all of the skills they need to perform at their best. Many companies choose to conduct a detailed assessment of some kind at least twice a year, and in some cases even quarterly.

It's also possible to offer performance scores during these meetings, which provide a clear indicator of how a person is doing in comparison to their peers, allowing managers to get the most out of your employees.

Do you remember your class tests that you had on a weekly basis when you were in your schools? It always works. Schools having weekly class tests always find their students doing well in their exams. It is seen that students preparing for any serious exams, do have these class tests culture on a weekly basis. An organization must practice the same. You can start with quarterly or monthly reviews initially, but after one year of practice, you need to change the gears and get to weekly checking. To keep it simple, monitor KPIs figures on a weekly basis.

Along with these reviews, it's critical to determine if they have any development requirements that would allow them to be more productive in their current position. You may meet these development needs through training but equally, they might be met through on-the-job learning interaction with peers or even self-study. You need to ensure that you have a set goal in this regard.

A Huge Mistake: It will be a huge mistake if you give all responsibility of running all this to your HR team. Yes, HR can help to set it up but this is not an easy task that can be handled by HR who is also handling many other stuff. You need to have a culture where you ask employees to present their reports on a weekly basis. The way in childhood, you use to play games. Someone might have made rules of the game, you know those rules but while playing the game with your friends, you use to ensure that you play and enjoy the game in the right way. And you do it regularly. Similarly, you need to play your performance management game and let HR be a coach for the process. Do not wait for your coach to play for you. If you understand this, life will be easy and you will enjoy success.

Why is it important?

Once a year, holding a career conversation is really helpful in managing your talent pool. Simply letting people know that you care about what motivates them can help them perform better and remain longer with you in the company.

When you finish the period with an end-of-year assessment in which you and your employee review their success against the goals that you decided at the beginning of the year, then you refocus your employees on the goals you set for the next year.

Remember, there should be no surprises in the end-of-the-year appraisal. Therefore, you need to talk about their goals and remain engaged with them on a regular basis. Keep giving your inputs regularly. Along the way, both parties will know exactly where they stand and that you're working together to produce the best results. Nevertheless, all of this can be seen as lot of work and potentially intimidating. Therefore, try to be organized. Keep fun in the atmosphere and do not push too much each time. Rather try to be regular in your approach.

Wouldn't it be awesome if you had software that directed your managers through every step of the process? To make it even simpler, I have invested in developing software. It has unique features. Check the URL here www.HappyPerformer.com

I hope you enjoyed the blog reading. May you have blessed days ahead. This is a festival season in India. I wish all of you a lovely family time ahead.

Sincerely,

Shalav

www.ShalavDaftuar.com