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What is Performance Management?
A very visible company practices employee recognition and engagement by recognizing its employees for good performance by prominently placing their photographs in the lobby display case, along with a brief bio of the employee as well .The employee also receives an extra paid day off, a gift certificate to a favorite restaurant and a convenient reserved parking place for the month. This reward system exemplifies one of the four crucial building blocks of performance management that is effective in combining recognition and reward. There are other key elements in the system of managing individual performance as well. None should be omitted or neglected.
The four key strategies important to managing performance are: 1. Planning 2. Monitoring & Feedback 3. Development 4. Reward & Recognition.
Planning - Set clear goals for your organization and your employees. Everyone from the secretary to the CEO should know what is expected of him or her. In setting your goals, you can create a mission statement for the overall company, but you must also be sure your employees know their job duties and performance goals.
Monitoring and giving feedback to employees - Making plans and setting goals will do no goodunless a supervisor monitors employee performance regularly, giving clear feedback when necessary. This feedback should include both praise and constructive criticism, or as GCI prefers to call it "one minute coaching sessions". The key is to "catch" your employees in the act of doing well and praise them immediately or correct a mistake right away and in the right way - constructively and privately.
Development - Leaders give workers the ability to do their jobs through skills training and other resources. Think of this as giving someone careful directions and a road map to arrive at the destination on time and without mishap. Development has a broad meaning, and your managers should think of creative ways to develop employees to grow into their jobs.
Reward/Recognition - Although rewards need not be given daily or even weekly, they are important to the process and cannot be overlooked. A reward can be expressed as a simple "Great job!" or as detailed as the recognition scenario presented earlier in this article. Be creative and match the reward to the performance.
Performance management can seem, at first, a baffling practice. Take heart readers. You CAN achieve it by ensuring the four key strategies are in place. Your efforts will result in high-performing workers who know what you expect and have the abilities and resources to accomplish it.
Ultimately, your organization will reap the rewards. In a study of 100,000 employees of 2,500 organizations, the Gallup Organization recorded the attitudes of employees at work in highly productive groups. These attitudes are directly related to the rate of employee turnover, customer satisfaction and productivity. Employees in such work groups reported high levels of agreement with the following statements:
- I know what is expected of me at work (planning).
- In the last six months, someone at work has talked to me about my progress (monitoring).
- I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right (developing).
- In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good work (rewarding).
Take an inward, honest look at your organization or team. Are these the kind of statements your employees would make? If not, you have the ability to put these building blocks in place.
(Source: U.S. Office of Personnel Management)
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