Staff Performance Management

You have great staff – at least I hope you do! How do you ensure they remain relevant to your business and on top of their game? Your staff are you greatest asset and it is critical they know your business and how they contribute. But how do they know how well they are doing?  Robust staff performance management is the answer.

The usual phrases you hear include performance appraisal, performance assessment or performance management. To be really effective you need to ensure Performance Assessment isn’t something that happens just once a year, but is part of an ongoing cycle which includes:

• Goal Setting With Clear Targets – these are strongly linked to your business goals and key performance measures. When the team know where they are headed and how it will be managed, it generally gives them confidence about moving forward. Not everything is always black and white, but guidance and direction will make a big difference to your team members.
• Coaching – regular meetings with your team members to check how they are going. It also enables you to tweak any behaviours that aren’t leading to your goals, and give them feedback on how they are doing. If there is a skills gap, you can put an intervention in place to support them and help them get it right
• Feedback – timing is everything when giving feedback. It is important to give feedback as close as possible to when it occurred. Small errors can be nipped in the bud, and larger issues addressed before they become too big. The same applies for positive feedback. Make sure it is as close as possible time wise, so the team member knows they are valued. You don’t want to wait too long or your feedback may then seem negative rather than positive.
• Management – depending on your teams’ individual skill levels you can adjust your management style. Some staff will need a lot of your attention to get them up to the necessary standards. This is normal when they are learning a new skill or task. Other team members who are competent will need less input from you to deliver the results you need.
• Development Planning – as you work with your staff, more frequent appraisal and feedback can identify other training opportunities. Once these opportunities are identified, the staff can grow their role and career within the business. It gives them a sense of control of their progress and growth as a person, as well as increasing their value to you and the business. In addition, it can help you address an area often neglected in business; succession planning. Although not strictly usually a part of performance appraisal, it is sensible to consider succession planning while working with your staff, during their appraisal time.
  
• Reward and Recognition – everyone is different with unique ideas when it comes to recognition and appraisal. Some of your team may bask in public praise while others blush and run out of the room. It you want it to be meaningful, and I’m sure you do, you have to ensure reward and recognition is tailored to your individual team member.
• Succession planning – is an opportunity for you to future-proof your business as well as helping your staff to feel valued. This happens when you can identify any training opportunities that will help the business in the future and encourage your staff to be involved. You need to ensure the development is seen as a positive by your team member and not as a punishment.

In addition, there is some infrastructure you can check you have in place so your staff performance management monitoring is as effective as possible. There are a number of documents you need to ensure are linked:

• strategic and business plans
• job descriptions
• employment agreements
• performance appraisal system – performance assessment, performance managements

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