Implementing effective performance management is no easy task. It requires you to maintain a balance between two key interests; an interest in the development and personal wellbeing of your employees, and an interest in maintaining the success and efficiency of your company.
Therefore, in essence, performance management is a balance between compassion and professional accountability. At least this is how good performance management should be undertaken. In the more stereotypical sense, you may think of performance management as being a cold and rigid process of seeking out the weak links in your business and eradicating them.
However in the modern context, all businesses should show a concern for their employees and should be willing to help them meet the challenges which may be affecting their performance.
Everyone Can Be a Great Performer
The idea that some people are simply incapable of high performance is a fallacy. In truth, every single person has the potential to be a great performer. And more often than not, in situations of poor personal performance, it is a lack of clarity on the part of the management that leads to problems.
Good performance management requires a clear understanding of what is expected from employees. And in order for these expectations to be carried out, the management must also have some degree of understanding regarding the needs of the employees themselves.
After all, every person is different and the management should not simply presume that performance expectations are categorically understood by all.
Everyone processes tasks and information differently and as the management it is your responsibility to ensure that your employees fully understand what is expected of them, and that they understand how they are to carry out tasks to your desired expectations. If you are struggling with aspects of this approach, you may need to seek professional help from a group such as BWMC Limited.
Your Performance Management Checklist
In order to ensure that employees understand what is expected of them, there are some simple processes you must go through. Firstly, you need to be certain that the required performance standards are written down and formally agreed upon by both the management and the employees. In addition to this, not only must they be understood, but they must also be formally agreed upon.
It’s all very well building a company manifesto, but if there isn’t a recognition of that manifesto and a stated commitment to seeing it out, you are already setting yourself up for future problems.
Throughout this whole process it is essential that you continue to question yourself as to whether what you are asking of your employees is fair and just. Again, employees may feel pressure to comply with whatever the management sets out.
However if it is unreasonable in the first place, you are of course laying the foundation for ongoing performance issues.