Lesson 4:

Performance Management

Performance management is an ongoing process that aligns individual and company goals to make employees and the overall business more successful. It involves planning, goal setting, tracking, monitoring, reviewing, and modifying as needed. As a supervisor, you can help your staff improve their success by managing their performance, including sharing expectations, setting objectives, and offering feedback to help them grow their skills, knowledge, and abilities. Performance management is crucial for employee and business development and can reap numerous rewards when done correctly. Watch the video to learn more about the steps involved in performance management.

Watch: https://youtu.be/78VaoiL9FoI

Note: (GreggU, 2019)

Read: What are SMART Goals and how are they set? (Quantum Workplace, 2021)

Benefits of Performance Management

Performance Management is critical for several reasons. Namely, it ensures job clarity, builds employee assessments, boosts engagement and motivation, promotes staff development and improves overall workplace results. Using each step of the performance management cycle secures each of these key benefits for all employees:

1. Ensures job clarity
   With a strong performance management system in place, employees understand their roles and objectives. Regular discussions eliminate job ambiguity and employees know what they’re supposed to do. Plus, with clearly defined plans, employees also understand how to perform those daily activities. Simply put, staff members know what success looks like, and they know how to get there.
2. Builds accurate employee assessments
   A well-established performance management system helps create an atmosphere of equality. Rather than basing rewards and termination decisions on hunches, managers can accurately track employee progress, objectively understand performance, and make fair and impartial decisions.
3. Boosts engagement and motivation
   Regular performance management creates an atmosphere in which employees feel encouraged, supported, and involved. Staff members learn how their goals align with company goals, which boosts engagement and shows them that their work means something. Plus, with a system of ongoing feedback, employees are likely to feel motivated to reach their maximum potential.
4. Promotes staff development
   Consistent performance management provides staff with real-time feedback and support. Employees understand their strengths, and they know what competencies require improvement. These discussions give employees direction for how to develop and stretch their abilities—thus helping staff members reach their maximum potential.
5. Improves overall workplace results
   The primary goal of performance management is to improve employee results. And, with each employee’s goals aligning with your overall business objectives, that means as your staff develops, so will your workplace as a whole.

Performance Reviews

A performance review is a formal evaluation of a team member’s general performance as well as their progress toward achieving individualized goals. The goal of a performance review is to highlight a team member’s strengths and successes; identify opportunities for growth or address performance issues; and talk about action steps for improvement. A performance review is also an opportunity for the team members to give feedback or address any concerns that they have, too.

Annual performance reviews are not just a formality. They’re one of the best tools managers must develop their teams and improve performance. They’re not just inevitable—they’re essential. When done well, a performance review can be a positive and empowering experience for everyone involved. Some of the benefits of conducting effective performance reviews include:

1. Aligning expectations
   Team members know exactly where they stand in the company and how their actual performance measures up to their expected performance. This knowledge can be empowering and motivating.
2. Being proactive
   Investing the time to review performance and detect problems early also helps you to be proactive in your management strategy. You can challenge or reward team members who are excelling and coach or support those who are struggling.
3. Communication
   Finally, effective performance reviews help to create open communication channels. They’re an opportunity to get out of the daily grind and get in touch with your team’s goals and needs.

As a supervisor you hold the key to reaping these rewards. A performance review is only as useful or useless as you make it. You should also treat performance reviews as a yearlong activity. So, if you’re scrounging together notes a few days—or even a few weeks—in advance, then you’re already behind. In the next section, learn how to prepare effectively for your team’s performance reviews.

Preparing for Performance Reviews

A last-minute dash to evaluate your team’s performance won’t result in a meaningful (or accurate) performance review. Take the following steps to do the proper prep work and conduct reviews that are complete, insightful, and actionable.

1. Create a Schedule and Publicize It
   First, establish a regular schedule or timeline for conducting performance reviews—and then publicize it to your team. Ask your human resources department if your company has a preferred schedule that you should follow. For example, your company’s standard practice may be conducting performance reviews at the beginning or end of every year. Try to avoid scheduling performance reviews during your company’s busy season if you can. Once you’ve confirmed a regular schedule for performance reviews, publicize it to your team. Encourage your team to keep track of their progress throughout the year, and remind them when performance reviews are getting close.
2. Meet One-On-One and Give Feedback Frequently
   Too many managers make the mistake of conducting just one performance review every year. It’s unrealistic to cover a team member’s performance from an entire year in a single, 30-minute or hour-long session. Instead, meet with team members one-on-one and give regular feedback throughout the year. Consider one-on-one meetings as informal or mini-review sessions. They give you a chance to check in with team members, talk about how they’re doing, and address problems as they arise. “When you see it, say it,” is a good motto for managers to adopt when addressing performance issues. Don’t wait until the annual performance review to talk about a problem. Meet with the team member as soon as possible to discuss the issue and brainstorm solutions. With regular feedback and frequent one-on-one meetings, team members should never be surprised or caught off guard by the contents of their formal performance review.
3. Take Notes
   This leads to the next tip, which is to take notes. Keep a file on each team member, and take notes from every one-on-one meeting or feedback session you have with them throughout the year. Also, make a habit of gathering periodic reports on team performance metrics. For example, if you manage a customer support team, then you might collect data at the end of each month on team members’ customer satisfaction ratings. You might even pull a few positive and negative customer feedback responses that each team member received for that month. In addition, be diligent and consistent with your notes and documentation. Not only will it give you a more comprehensive picture of a team member’s progress and performance throughout the year, but it also will increase visibility on how your team is doing at any given moment.
4. Do Your Final Prep Work
   Finally, start your final prep work for performance reviews at least two to six weeks in advance. Final prep includes the following steps:
   1. Review the team member’s written job description and duties
   2. Collect all qualitative and quantitative data on a team member’s performance
   3. Complete a written performance evaluation based on the employee’s job description, expectations, and performance metrics or observed behaviors
   4. Prepare your talking points for the meeting Give each team member a self-evaluation form with specific prompts to answer and bring to the meeting

Since performance reviews are two-sided, ask team members to complete a written self-evaluation form. This encourages self-reflection. The form can include a handful of open-ended prompts, such as:

• What are your three biggest strengths?
• What are the top three areas you could improve in?
• What achievement are you most proud of this year?
• Where have you fallen short in your career goals or job expectations?
• What is one new skill you’d like to learn—or goal you’d like to pursue—in the upcoming year?
• How can I better support you?

Now that you’ve done the prep work, learn how to structure your performance review meeting in the upcoming section. Meetings should last roughly 30-60 minutes. They should take place in an environment that’s quiet, private, and distraction-free.

Structuring the Meeting

Having a clear structure for your performance reviews will make the meeting go more smoothly and ensure that you don’t miss anything. It also allows you to provide ample time for the team member to respond, ask questions, or share their insights with you. Follow these six steps to structure the performance review meeting:

To summarize, performance review meetings don’t have to be overly complicated. Set the right expectations at the beginning of the meeting, and then open the floor to hear the team member’s self-evaluation. Then, transition into your own evaluation of the team member’s biggest strengths or achievements, followed by the top areas in which they could improve. Finally, give the team member a chance to comment on your feedback or discuss your evaluation further before summarizing the main takeaways from the review and what action steps you both can take moving forward.

Improving Poor Performance

At one point or another, there’s a good chance you’ll have to deal with underperformers. These employees come in many forms. They may be consistently late, checked out, or unresponsive. They might drag down productivity and mismanage projects. Or, they may submit low-quality work and consistently make mistakes.Regardless of the issue, if not managed appropriately, poor individual performance can negatively affect overall team and company performance. So, to improve workplace success, it’s critical that you work with struggling employees, figure out what’s going wrong, and resolve issues as quickly and fairly as possible. But how do you do that?

Watch the video to learn the difference between poor performance and misconduct and how to resolve performance issues effectively:  Misconduct VS Poor Performance

Note: (WebDesignerJohannesburg, 2015)

The first step in dealing with poor performance involves understanding how it differs from misconduct. The distinction is important, as the two problems require different responses.

• Poor Performance
  Poor performance occurs when an employee can’t do the job they were hired for—and so their work falls below company standards. At the core of performance problems is the lack of ability (skill) or motivation (will). It’s the result of “I can’t” or “I won’t,” and the signs are easy to spot. Underperforming employees might submit low-quality work, make careless errors, fail to complete tasks on time, or display little effort or care. Such employees may recognize those shortcomings and want to change, or they might be completely unaware of their faults. Either way, these staff members need extra guidance and support if they hope to turn their work around.
• Misconduct
  Unlike poor performance, misconduct is a behavioral problem. It refers to unacceptable actions in relation to company rules, policies, and procedures. In these situations, the employee is fully capable of performing well—and they may even submit high-quality work—but they still conduct themselves in an unsuitable manner. Misconduct appears in the form of offensive language, rule-breaking, dishonesty, abusive actions, poor attitude, and inappropriate behavior. Most often, misconduct requires a severe response, such as a verbal or written warning, or immediate dismissal.

To summarize, misconduct requires disciplinary action. Whereas poor performance requires investigation, coaching, and training. Before considering your next steps, determine if you’re dealing with a true poor performer by asking one critical question: “Is the issue due to ability and motivation, or is it behavioral?”

Dealing with Poor Performance

Whether underperformers are new employees who got started on the wrong foot, motivated team members who can’t seem to “get it right,” or star employees who changed course, poor performance can be improved.

The Problem – Improving Motivation: “I Won’t”

If you’re dealing with an “I won’t” employee, you’ll spot someone who displays little commitment to their work. These staff members might be highly skilled and experienced, but they’ll fall short because they’re not putting in the effort. An employee with low motivation will have what it takes to do well, but they’ll struggle to turn that ability into action. You can use several strategies to improve low motivation. Expand the rows below to learn about three commonly used methods:

• Offer New Work Arrangements
  If an employee is feeling uninspired due to job dissatisfaction, identify the source of dissatisfaction and offer new opportunities that will reignite their passion. For instance, provide more challenging assignments for those who are bored, remote working days or creative projects for those who feel stifled, and help create a future-focused performance plan for those on the wrong career path.
• Increase Pressure
  Increasing workplace pressure can motivate underperforming employees to improve their performance. Instill accountability by showing them how their work fits into the department’s purpose and the value of their actions, and then provide new deadlines and communicate that their work is important and will be reviewed. This way, they will understand that their work matters and is closely monitored, increasing their motivation to perform well.
• Reward and Praise Improvements
  Reinforce positive behavior and offer praise for what underperforming employees are doing right. Communicate that you trust their abilities and help them believe in themselves and their abilities, because with confidence comes the motivation to continue improving.

The Problem – Improving Ability: “I Can’t”

Employees struggling with ability will lack the necessary knowledge, skills, resources, training, and support to succeed. These employees are not—in their current state—able to do what’s required of them. The telltale sign of an ability-based issue is evidence of strong effort without accompanying success or improvement. And it can be solved by following several tips. Expand the rows below to learn about three commonly used strategies.

• Retrain the Employee
  Ensure optimal job performance by providing education, training, and mentorship. Identify areas for improvement and offer external training or in-house shadowing with an expert. Conclude training by asking the employee for takeaways and improvement plans.
• Provide Resources
  With an ability problem, employees may require more resources or support. Ensure employees have the necessary support and resources to effectively complete their job. Identify frustrations and offer solutions, such as new software, updated equipment, or additional team members. Think about helping the employee with elements such as time and materials.
• Refit the Job to the Person
  If training and providing resources fail, refit the job to the person’s strengths. Reassign tasks and responsibilities to better match their skills. Optimize team members’ contributions.

Four Step Improving Poor Performance Process

Note: (Hayes Curriculum Consulting, 2023)

When offering customized support, make sure that it’s catered to the individual. If the performance problem is the result of low motivation, try offering more appealing work arrangements, increasing the pressure, and praising improvements. If the problem is the result of low ability, consider retraining the employee, providing additional resources, and refitting the job to the person. By offering that type of customized guidance, and following the four-step process, you’ll be better equipped to deal with underperforming employees. And that will allow you to turn performance around and get the most from your employees.

TIP –Don’t delay confrontation.Performance meetings can be daunting. But don’t delay these conversations, as that will only inflate the issues further. Instead, keep these conversations regular and speak up at the first sign of underperformance. That way, you can prevent problems from escalating and keep these talks pain-free.

Performance Improvement Plan (PIP)

A performance improvement plan—or PIP, for short—is one tool that you can use to help underperforming employees address recurring performance issues. A PIP works by raising awareness about the issue, clarifying performance expectations, and giving the team member concrete action steps and timelines to resolve it. Creating a PIP for an employee is valuable because:

1. Facilitates Conversation
   A PIP starts a conversation. It encourages the team member and manager to talk about a performance issue and explore the root cause of it. Together, the team manager and team member answer the question: “What’s going on—and why?” The team member should have input on a PIP, too.
2. Clarifies Expectations
   Second, a PIP notifies an employee of unmet performance expectations. It clarifies what is expected of the employee moving forward, and it communicates how their work behaviors must change.
3. Sets goals and offers support
   Finally, a PIP establishes what goals must be met, and when they must be achieved. It even identifies what additional training, support, or other resources are required for the employee to succeed.

A PIP is a wake-up call, and it shouldn’t be taken lightly. It indicates that there’s a serious issue that requires the employee to make some major changes. Managers should be up front about any repercussions the employee may face if they don’t improve their performance. But they should also express their commitment to coaching the employee and supporting them to get where they need to be.

Note: (“Performance-Evaluation-Process-z.jpg,” 2023)

Look at a PIP example: