Performance Management Design and Implementation
Principles:
The overarching principle is one of supervisory attitude and accountability. The entire organization must understand that employees have a strong desire to be, and feel, successful in their work. It is the job of the manager or supervisor to help each of their employees get there by taking responsibility for providing three elements:
- The employee’s expectations. What must the employee produce, not “do” to be successful?
- The resources needed by the employee to deliver on expectations. These include tools, information, authority, processes, coaching support, and others.
- Evaluation of the employee’s performance. Employees need to know how their organization views their performance, how their contribution impacted the organization, and that their performance mattered.
More principles
- Engaged employees want and need to be evaluated
- Performance improvement happens when feedback is timely, objective, and delivered in the spirit of helping the employee be successful
- Dialogue is required
- Three quarterly reviews plus an annual appraisal work best for most organizations
- Expectations should be clear in advance, and they should be written, verifiable and mutually understood
Performance Management
It’s a process, not an event. The employee and the supervisor communicate face-to-face throughout the year in support of accomplishing the organization’s strategic objectives. Expectations are clarified, objectives are identified, feedback is provided, challenges are addressed, and results are reviewed throughout this communication process.
Documentation follows the formal requirements of the organization. For example, in many organizations, the three quarterly reviews are documented on a page or two, while the annual review may require forms filed with Human Resources.
The Cycle
Since measurable outcomes are essential to this approach, the three quarterly reviews must occur at the end of each quarter after that quarter’s results have become available. For example, Q1’s review might occur during the second week of April; Q2’s review during the second week of July; Q3’s review during the second week of October; and the annual review during the second week of January the following year.
To begin the planning process, supervisors meet with each of their employees to review overall expectations. They collaborate on developing performance objectives (following the organizations’s and specific unit’s goals) and include individual development goals. The outcome would be written, shared expectations of the employee’s efforts toward achieving specific, outcome-focused results.
To prepare for each quarterly review, the employee matches measurable results against the identified goals. During quarterly reviews, both challenges and up-dating are discussed. Employees take the lead in scheduling reviews with their supervisors. During these reviews, the communication often includes re-focusing employees, as needed, on specific areas for attention in the subsequent quarter. The review may also include a discussion of what resources, including coaching, the employee needs from the supervisor. Employees prepare for an annual review as they fo for the quarterly check-ins, with the supervisor preparing by assessing progress, both toward corporate goals and individual development goals, for the entire year.
What does an organization need to implement Performance Management?
- Annual, outcome-focused goals for the organization as a whole
- Departmental or unit goals that are aligned with and cascaded from annual goals
- Measurements to be used to evaluate team/unit and individual performance
- Leaders and managers who understand the concepts of Performance Management and who will “stay the course” when challenges arise
- Employees who have been trained in how to prepare for their reviews
- A trial period followed by evaluation of the process, and improvements to the process
- Roll-out beyond the trial group
- Evaluation of the process at the end of the first full year
- Employee survey to gather feedback about the process for leaders/managers
What others have said about JFA Performance Management process
The Performance management process... has brought a rigorous, disciplined process to goal setting. It is a process with real application–I consider it on-the-job training for planning. Its strength is in its simplicity and its ability to keep work teams focused... There is clarity throughout Call Servicing that enables teams in all parts of our organization to know how to reshape goals and respond quickly to shifts in our overall strategy. The process JFA designed and installed has enabled us to turn on a dime.
"The JFA performance management processled us to have a much more aligned organization. This in turn resulted in better clarity with which to deal with day-to-day problems, resulting in time savings, including quicker time to market.