Performance Management

Whether you are a new manager, an experienced manager or have a loyal team, it is important to continuously follow good performance management practices with each of your team members. Here is a tool you can use for guidance on how to improve motivation and effectiveness.

Planning:

The first step is planning. "Getting employees involved in the planning process helps them understand the goals of the organization, what needs to be done, why it needs to be done, and the level of effort or responsibility required." Part of planning is setting SMART goals for a project, initiative or job role.

Monitoring:

"Monitoring well means consistently measuring performance and providing ongoing feedback to employees and work groups on their progress toward reaching their goals. If they are achieving their goals, this is a great opportunity to show appreciation and accelerate their motivation and productivity." If they are not meeting the performance expectations, it is better to know sooner rather than later. No one likes to be surprised at their annual review. Plus you would have lost a year of productivity. You also never know why someone isn't performing. It could be that they are not clear on the expectations. Stay ahead of poor performance by having more frequent check ins on the agreed upon goals.

Developing:

"Developing in this instance means increasing the capacity to perform through training, giving assignments that introduce new skills or higher levels of responsibility, improving work processes, or using other developmental methods. Providing employees with training and developmental opportunities encourages good performance, strengthens job-related skills and competencies, and helps employees keep up with changes in the workplace, such as the introduction of new technology."

Rating:

"Within the context of formal performance appraisal regulatory requirements, rating means evaluating employee performance against the elements and standards in an employee’s performance plan and assigning a summary rating of record. The rating of record is assigned according to procedures included in the organization’s appraisal program. It is based on work performed during an entire appraisal period. The rating of record has a bearing on various other personnel actions, such as granting within-grade pay increases and determining additional retention service credit in a reduction in force. Note: Although group performance may have an impact on an employee’s summary rating, a rating of record is assigned only to an individual, not to a group."

Rewarding:

"Rewarding means recognizing employees, individually and as members of groups, for their performance and acknowledging their contributions to the agency’s mission. A basic principle of effective management is all behavior is controlled by its consequences. Those consequences can and should be both formal and informal and both positive and negative. Good performance is recognized without waiting for nominations for formal awards to be solicited. Recognition is an ongoing, natural part of day-to-day experience. A lot of the actions that reward good performance—like saying “Thank you”—don’t require a specific regulatory authority. Nonetheless, awards regulations provide a broad range of forms that more formal rewards can take, such as cash, time off, and many nonmonetary items. The regulations also cover a variety of contributions that can be rewarded, from suggestions to group accomplishments. "

Tool reference and quotes are from the U.S. Office or Personnel Management.