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Add You - Performance Management - Getting The Most Out of Your Employees
Differentiation in business is not something you go out and buy off the shelf and plug into your company. It’s something you have to strategically identify, develop, refine and promote. The best place to start is looking at your competition. What is it you offer that none of those other companies do? What is it about your business that makes you stand above the rest in the eyes of your customers?Whatever THAT thing is, you need to hang your hat on it and shout it from the rooftops. That is your differentiation! This discernable differen
If you are managing people, then people management activities need to take up the majority of your tim
Pick one thing, one focus for this year. That’s right – one. I’ve never been fond of new year’s resolutions, for all the reasons most observers report. However, I am completely in favor of identifying a theme for the year. The theme is a guide for decisions you make throughout the year. It’s not a way to stifle you or shut you down.Some themes for your business could be one specific topic among many areas of your expertise. Or your theme might be product development or approaching a specific new audience or traveling more for business o
In it’s simplest form, performance management is a common sense set of discussions that make sure people are clear about what they need to do, have the support to do it and get open and honest feedback on their performance.
Any performance management process should answer 4 important questions for your employees:
· Direction: What do I need to do and how well?
· Feedback: How am I doing?
· Rewards: What happens when I do well?
· Support/Development: What happens when I need/want help?
Lets look more closely at each of these:
Direction
Employees are not mind readers. Just because it is clear to the manager exactly what is expected, doesn’t mean the employee has the same understanding. Having a detailed discussion about exactly what the job requires and any specific priorities is the first step in good performance management. Key points to cover include:
- what needs to be achieved throughout the year
- what data or information (evidence) will be used to measure performance
- the key actions needed to achieve the desired outcomes
Both parties should have a written record of this discussion either in the form of a job description or a set of specific objectives for the next 6 or 12 months. Written documentation leaves little room for misunderstandings or confusion between manager and employee about the expectations of the job.
Feedback
Observing the performance of your employees and providing feedback about it should be a routine part of the performance management process. Feedback is most effective in making a difference in work performance when the employee has confidence in the basis of that feedback. And you as the manager will be more confident if your feedback is based on information that you can support.
For this reason the most useful feedback should be based on observed and/or verifiable work-related behaviors, actions, statements, and results. If you can provide specific examples of good and “not so good” performance, your employees will be confident that you have taken time to notice what they are doing and sincerely support them in improving. This kind of effective feedback helps the employee sustain good performance, to develop new skills and to improve performance when necessary. Feedback should be given as it is required – it loses effectiveness if not delivered at the time an event occurs.
Reward/Recognition
All employees need to have a clear understanding of how the reward and recognition system operates in your business. Most probably everyone gets paid a salary for doing their job to a certain level. What happens when an employee performs significantly above that level? How will they be rewarded, if at all? If there is no incentive for employees to be outstanding, then the likelihood is that they won’t put in the extra effort. A well designed scheme will clearly identify the rewards and incentives available for strong or outstanding performance.
Support and Development
This aspect of managing performance focuses on current and future skills, behaviours and knowledge. Firstly, the discussion should focus on what training or other support the employee needs to be the best in their current job - identifying skills and behaviours that need to be improved. If you can support the employee in doing their job better, they will have reassurance that their contribution is valued by the business. The discussion should also focus on where the employee would like to go in the future and how you can help them achieve their longer term career goals. If they are being considered for other roles in the business then you will need to identify what new skills and behaviours they need and help them to develop those.
If you are managing people, then people management activities need to take up the majority of your time
Understanding the cost of conflict is a major factor in persuading contesting parties to attempt conflict resolution and turn their conflict into collaboration.Stewart Levine in his excellent book "Getting to Resolution – Turning Conflict into Resolution" identifies four costs of conflict:Direct costsProductivity costsContinuity costsEmotional costsWhenever you get bogged down in an unresolved conflict, all four of these costs begin to mount. The conf
- what needs to be achieved throughout the year
- what data or information (evidence) will be used to measure performance
- the key actions needed to achieve the desired outcomes
Both parties should have a written record of this discussion either in the form of a job description or a set of specific objectives for the next 6 or 12 months. Written documentation leaves little room for misunderstandings or confusion between manager and employee about the expectations of the job.
Feedback
Observing the performance of your employees and providing feedback about it should be a routine part of the performance management process. Feedback is most effective in making a difference in work performance when the employee has confidence in the basis of that feedback. And you as the manager will be more confident if your feedback is based on information that you can support.
For this reason the most useful feedback should be based on observed and/or verifiable work-related behaviors, actions, statements, and results. If you can provide specific examples of good and “not so good” performance, your employees will be confident that you have taken time to notice what they are doing and sincerely support them in improving. This kind of effective feedback helps the employee sustain good performance, to develop new skills and to improve performance when necessary. Feedback should be given as it is required – it loses effectiveness if not delivered at the time an event occurs.
Reward/Recognition
All employees need to have a clear understanding of how the reward and recognition system operates in your business. Most probably everyone gets paid a salary for doing their job to a certain level. What happens when an employee performs significantly above that level? How will they be rewarded, if at all? If there is no incentive for employees to be outstanding, then the likelihood is that they won’t put in the extra effort. A well designed scheme will clearly identify the rewards and incentives available for strong or outstanding performance.
Support and Development
This aspect of managing performance focuses on current and future skills, behaviours and knowledge. Firstly, the discussion should focus on what training or other support the employee needs to be the best in their current job - identifying skills and behaviours that need to be improved. If you can support the employee in doing their job better, they will have reassurance that their contribution is valued by the business. The discussion should also focus on where the employee would like to go in the future and how you can help them achieve their longer term career goals. If they are being considered for other roles in the business then you will need to identify what new skills and behaviours they need and help them to develop those.
If you are managing people, then people management activities need to take up the majority of your tim
The loss of employee privacy rights in the workplace is a growing concern among employees, attorneys, and civil libertarian groups. Although employers in banks, telecommunications, securities exchange, in hi-tech industries, and in other workplaces justify using video surveillance in the workplace to monitor employee behavior to chiefly promote safety, improve productivity, and stop theft, protecting employee privacy must be a top concern. For if the courts find that the employer’s surveillance methods are less than fair, that firm may find
For this reason the most useful feedback should be based on observed and/or verifiable work-related behaviors, actions, statements, and results. If you can provide specific examples of good and “not so good” performance, your employees will be confident that you have taken time to notice what they are doing and sincerely support them in improving. This kind of effective feedback helps the employee sustain good performance, to develop new skills and to improve performance when necessary. Feedback should be given as it is required – it loses effectiveness if not delivered at the time an event occurs.
Reward/Recognition
All employees need to have a clear understanding of how the reward and recognition system operates in your business. Most probably everyone gets paid a salary for doing their job to a certain level. What happens when an employee performs significantly above that level? How will they be rewarded, if at all? If there is no incentive for employees to be outstanding, then the likelihood is that they won’t put in the extra effort. A well designed scheme will clearly identify the rewards and incentives available for strong or outstanding performance.
Support and Development
This aspect of managing performance focuses on current and future skills, behaviours and knowledge. Firstly, the discussion should focus on what training or other support the employee needs to be the best in their current job - identifying skills and behaviours that need to be improved. If you can support the employee in doing their job better, they will have reassurance that their contribution is valued by the business. The discussion should also focus on where the employee would like to go in the future and how you can help them achieve their longer term career goals. If they are being considered for other roles in the business then you will need to identify what new skills and behaviours they need and help them to develop those.
If you are managing people, then people management activities need to take up the majority of your tim
As a performance coach for a New York life insurance agency, I conducted weekly sessions with the management team to focus on increasing company productivity, retention, and profitability. At the first meeting, six of the seven senior managers were on time, and I asked these managers how they handle tardiness within the agency.“We are instructed to lock the door and begin the meeting,” one manager responded. I asked if locking the door increases productivity. “To be honest, we don’t look at it like that,” another manager replied, “we
Reward/Recognition
All employees need to have a clear understanding of how the reward and recognition system operates in your business. Most probably everyone gets paid a salary for doing their job to a certain level. What happens when an employee performs significantly above that level? How will they be rewarded, if at all? If there is no incentive for employees to be outstanding, then the likelihood is that they won’t put in the extra effort. A well designed scheme will clearly identify the rewards and incentives available for strong or outstanding performance.
Support and Development
This aspect of managing performance focuses on current and future skills, behaviours and knowledge. Firstly, the discussion should focus on what training or other support the employee needs to be the best in their current job - identifying skills and behaviours that need to be improved. If you can support the employee in doing their job better, they will have reassurance that their contribution is valued by the business. The discussion should also focus on where the employee would like to go in the future and how you can help them achieve their longer term career goals. If they are being considered for other roles in the business then you will need to identify what new skills and behaviours they need and help them to develop those.
If you are managing people, then people management activities need to take up the majority of your tim
Just like any other new business, a franchise business has financial obligations that you have to meet that include startup costs and ongoing expenses. In general, the better the franchise brand is know, the more the franchise will cost. All franchises require an investment ranging from several thousand to millions of dollars. Before buying a franchise, you need answers to specific financial questions.How much initial investment will you need to buy the franchise?Your startup costs will include a franchise fee, an initi
If you are managing people, then people management activities need to take up the majority of your time. Each business can only be as effective as the people that work in it. One of the best ways to ensure your employees are being effective is to monitor and provide feedback on their performance. Setting goals, making sure your expectations are clear, and having regular discussions will help people perform to their best. The payoff for the business is increased employee productivity, knowledge, loyalty and contribution.
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