Performance Appraisal and Managing Performance
Performance Evaluations Identify Employee Performance Improvements
Jan 23, 2009
Employee performance management is based on the simple plan-do-review cycle and whilst this is simple in theory it is more difficult to do in practice. The difficulty is primarily focused on three system factors: objective, fair and transparent. In addition, some will find it difficult to deal with potentially emotive employee discussions about performance or development.
Set Clear Performance Objectives
Performance evaluation can only start after clear performance objectives have been agreed and set as noted in the quick guide to employee performance management. Without clear objectives there is scope for:
- Confusion. What are the actual objectives?
- Misunderstanding. What is communicated is not properly understood. Parties operate under a different set of expectations about what needs to be done, the expected quality and timeline
- Lack of Clarity. Miscommunication or unclear communication; some parts of the objective are clear but other parts are not and this consequently leads to assumptions and mistakes
- Assumptions. Objective is either not met or only partially met because the assumptions are simply not true, for example the employee has the tools or training to do the job
Performance Evaluation
With clear objectives it is much easier to do regular performance evaluation and good or excellent performance is the desired assessment. However, there may be situations when this is not the case and the indicators include:
- Objective tasks are late. Has the timeline for the objective slipped? Is this due to third party dependencies or employee performance? If it is employee performance-related then there is a further series of factors to consider
- Expected deliverables have not been produced. This needs to be investigated as to why they have not been produced
- Expected deliverables are below the required quality standards (unclear, incomplete, inaccurate...). Is the employee solely responsible for the deliverable or are there other factors to consider?
- Employee behaviours are inconsistent with organisation standards. This range of behaviours could include poor time-keeping or inappropriate interaction with team members or customers
Employee Performance
If employee performance is found to be less than the expected level of performance then this must be investigated and, if appropriate, a formal appraisal should be carried out including 360-degree feedback. Ideally, start with an informal investigation as the root causes may not warrant a more formal approach. In particular, the root causes of performance must be identified as these will determine future actions. Root causes for less than expected performance may include:
- Personal issues that are impacting performance such as bereavement, close family member sickness, financial or relationship worries
- Workplace issues that are impacting performance such as helping other colleagues to meet their objectives before own objectives, issues with the work environment such as an excessively noisy office or frequent interruptions
- Overloaded with too many objectives or conflicting priorities, especially in a matrix management environment
- Team issues such as working relationship with other team members, dependencies on others to complete their objectives first, access to needed tools, experts or third-party suppliers
- Employee development issues such as lack of training, experience or expertise to complete the required objective, or lack of people skills to work and deal effectively with others in the situations the employee is in
Performance Improvement
If employee development is required for performance improvement then solving these performance problems should be straightforward with a clear understanding of root causes. Possible approaches include changing the work environment, better prioritisation of conflicting priorities, time off, additional training, shadow or buddy system, mentoring or coaching, changing team environment or set objectives and so on.
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