Managing Performance..best practices

If you speak to most leaders/supervisors and ask them how much they value the performance evaluation process, most will say, not much. 
Why do you think this is?
Here are just a few reasons I hear often:
  • Uncomfortable with handling the process
  • Fear of employee reaction to less than strong ratings
  • Lack of preparation
  • Time constraints
  • Not tied to pay increases
  • Have little impact
  • Lack of clear organization direction, vision
  • Dislike of evaluation tool

Why would evaluating someone's performance not be effective or valuable?

Here are a few reasons:

  • Inaccurate, general job descriptions
  • Insufficient time spent with employees learning more about how they perceive their work
  • Errors in approaches to the process
  • Too lenient/too strict: Overemphasizing either positive or negative performance
  • Comparing employees against one another rather than against the individual job description and individual performance tied to it
  • Rating them "satisfactory" to avoid expressing concerns over substandard behavior
  • Bias interferes when there is too much emphasis on characteristics about a person that are either perceived as very positive or very negative and rather than using objective criteria, rate them on your personal feelings about the employee
  • Recency effect kicks in when an evaluation is inflated because of some recent performance rather than taking into consideration the entire evaluation period of time to ensure consistent performance patterns
  • Halo/Horn effective, some evaluators are too "flowery" and others are too "negative"...balance is the key
  • Evaluation periods are too infrequent, such as waiting until an annual appraisal to fully communicate with employees as to an entire year of work
  • Not taking the time necessary to ensure employees are clear on expectations, comfortable in the workplace and lack of awareness of their needs

So how do we correct our approach?

Many organizations spend very little time and effort on this process, so it is a cultural situation that often is at the core of the problem.  While many have a performance management process, very little focus is on the effectiveness, the needs of supervisors/leaders in handling the process and measurement of the impact of the process from an employee's perspective.

 

When organizations find themselves in situations where  they are frustrated, there is tremendous conflict, clients/customers aren't satisfied and quality is not up to par all arrows should point to this critical process of measuring performance. 

 

Some considerations for improving the performance evaluation process
  • Review the tool
  • Consider the rating scales:  Do they make any sense, what do the scores mean, how well do they tie to actual quality of performance?
  • How much of the evaluation has a strong focus on the qualitative aspects, narrative comments?
  • How involved is the employee?
  • How often do you conduct evaluations?
  • Are there meaningful goals, actions, timelines and measurements?
  • Are job descriptions functional and accurate?
  • Are you a "fair and objective" evaluator?
WHAT'S TRENDING IN PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT 

More emphasis on one to one meetings:
Meeting with employees must be a priority.  Most problems in organizations, when drilling down, are related to unclear expectations, infrequent communication need to provide direction, lack of accountability and lack of understanding related to individual strengths and shortcomings.  Such meetings take time but the "costs" of not effectively leading, guiding and supporting employees "costs" much more.

Frequent Check ins:
Like so much of what I write about and value, employee engagement is key to making this process effective.  Meeting with employees more on a regular basis to catch up on individual performance, needs, struggles, areas of development will have far more impact than this once a year function that is often dreaded and not taken seriously by supervisor or employee. Ensure the employee is being measured against clear objectives, determine resources that may be needed or any obstacles they are experiencing. 

Employee Engagement:
Be sure employees come well prepared to this meeting.  Guide them on how to prepare for such a meeting, what objectives and goals you will be discussing and ensure they think through what they may need to be more effective and/or to ensure goals are accomplished.

Focus on preparation for the review meeting:
Ensure the employee's job description and previous appraisals as well as any other documents outlining goals, actions and expectations are in hand prior the meeting and during the meeting.  Be sure the employee has the same.

Ensure the communications are relevant to their jobs,:
Ensure job descriptions and other written goals and objectives are clearly driving the process.

Identify areas of development and opportunities to grow:
Not everyone wants to be promoted but everyone has opportunities to improve and grow in their current positions.  As the environment around us changes, our need to change how we do our jobs must change as well.  When job functions are improved the jobs provide more job satisfaction and enrichment.  Everyone wants to enjoy their job, identify ways that they can perform based on their input.  Creating an environment of respecting and "listening" to your employees will have a huge impact on quality of performance and productivity as well as employee morale and loyalty.

Foster more opportunities for feedback, eliminating surprises from employees or supervisors, removing the angst related to the performance evaluation process.

It's well proven that employees who are engaged and respected love their work, appreciate the culture, and support the organization  resulting in happier, more productive, loyal employees!

LEADERSHIP SKILL DEVELOPMENT IS KEY

Many of us are highly competent in our field of expertise, but how often are we assessed on our personal approach to leadership, supervising, guiding, inspiring and directing others?

If you are like many organizations, very little time and effort is spent on this, the most critical role of any leader.  Great workers don't necessarily make great leaders. Leadership requires very specific skills and without such skills, there are huge gaps in an organization's performance.

Regardless of how long we have been leaders, there is always room to learn, improve and modify our approach in order to optimize performance.  Strong leaders recognize the importance of investing in their employees at all levels.

Jeannine Brown Miller, MA,SPHR
Organization Development Consultant/Leadership Coach

 716-946-8381
jbm@jbmconsultingonline.com