Top tips to ensure you are managing performance effectively by increasing Employee engagement and maximizing staff potential
Set SMART Goals
The first step to great performance management is setting the right goals. Goals set the foundation for performance management, but for them to be really effective they need to be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timebound).
When there’s a clear objective, people will be more dedicated to reaching their set goal.
SMART goals will also help you identify, in good time, when goals are too far-fetched and out of reach, thus allowing you to adjust them accordingly.
Put Employee in the driver's seat
An important part of the process of creating a performance plan is allowing Employees to lead while creating their plan. People are more driven to accomplish goals and develop new skills if they set them themselves.
When Managers create plans with input from their Employees while encouraging them to set challenging goals, it secures Employee buy-in, helps push performance, and serves as a motivator for ongoing development.
Link Individual Goals to Organization Goals
Employees will be more effective if they can see how their individual goals fit into the big picture. Link organization goals or functional business objectives to individual goals. This encourages accountability and better performance as individuals grasp the direct impact of their performance.
Adapt goals in real-time
Goals should never be seen as rigid, but instead as dynamic and evolving objectives. One common mistake is setting goals at the beginning of the year, and forgetting about them until a final year review. As priorities can change during the year, failing to revisit goals can be demotivating and unfair. That’s not to say goals should become moving targets, but it's ok to adapt and change them as the environment changes.
Ongoing Check-ins
75% of Employees see annual reviews as unfair. This is because doing a performance review once a year means it can be subject to a bias and the goals that should have been measured may not be relevant anymore.
Managers should have regular check-ins with their Employees. Check-ins are one on one conversations between Employees and their Managers about work progress, goals, performance to date, and plan of actions going forward, held at regular intervals throughout the year.
In WorkCompass you can schedule monthly, quarterly and bi-annual check-ins.
Benefits of Check-ins:
- Identify Obstacles Early: Check-ins allow you to track progress on goals, identify obstacles, and ensure open communication on the next steps to be taken.
- Employee Empowerment: Check-ins allow both the Employee and Manager to be empowered to influence the direction of their work throughout the year and performance expectations.
Employees don’t have to wait for approval, but instead they engage in the process. - Course Correction: Frequent check-ins on progress on projects and overarching goals can identify obstacles and allow for rapid course correction. This will keep Employees working towards a productive goal, and help Managers identify and develop low performers.
- Build rapport Check-in conversations build a stronger relationship between Employee and Manager. 83% of companies say they see the quality of conversations go up with more frequent check-ins happening.
- Employees feel valued: Encouraging Managers to reflect on successes and deciding on next steps with Employees demonstrates the value your company places in
Employees. This value is open and transparent to everyone at every
level. Feedback and conversations amount to more than a “checked box.” You are investing in your Employees.
Keep it Simple
The final point to note is that doing performance management well is all about keeping it simple!
Complex appraisal forms can be frustrating for both Managers and Employees and take away from what the real focus is.
As Marc Efron, the author from the best-seller One Page Talent Management mentions: "To really simplify performance management all you need to do is set great goals (1 - 4 goals), do ongoing coaching, and ensure managers are providing a fair evaluation of performance at the end of the year".