15 EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE DEFINING ROLES:

MANAGEMENT BEST PRACTICES: A role is the part played by individuals

1. Identify the goals of your performance in carrying out their work. People need to
management initiatives. understand what their role is in order to do
2. Define and describe each role. their work properly and to develop the
3. Pair goals with a performance plan. necessary knowledge and skills.
4. Monitor progress w/ performance
targets. Roles do not have to be defined
5. Coaching should be frequent. formally on paper although for reference
6. Use guidelines to your advantage. purposes some record can usefully be
7. Build a performance-aligned culture. made of what role holders are generally
8. Organize cross-functional workshops there to achieve (the purpose of the role)
9. Man. should offer actionable feedback. and the important responsibilities involved
10. Keep it professional, not personal. in achieving that purpose (usually called
11. Not only employees that need training. key result areas - a piece of jargon but
12. Take adv. of multiple-source feedback. helpful jargon).
13. Don’t depend only on reviews. SETTING OBJECTIVES:
14. Prob are not always employee based. Setting objectives is usually regarded as a
15. Recognize and reward performance key performance management activity.
publicly and frequently. Objectives describe the direction people
should take and provide the criteria
PERFORMANCE AND DEVELOPMENT needed to assess performance
PLANNING – THE TRADITIONAL A performance objective or goal (the
APPROACH characteristics listed below. terms are interchangeable) defines what
1. Role profiles are agreed which set out someone must accomplish. Objectives
the key result areas of the role (KRAs). can be agreed as specific performance
2. ‘SMART’ (specific, measurable, targets that define the quantifiable
achievable, relevant, time-based) results to be attained or as more
objectives are set for each key result area. qualitative performance standards which
3. Critical success factors (CSFs) are describe the conditions that exist when a
defined that indicate the key aspects of task is well done.
performance. A key result area definition that spells out
4. Key performance indicators (KPIs) the outcomes expected is also in effect
are identified. These are the metrics or an objective. As targets, objectives will
other sources of information, which often state the results to be obtained by a
measure levels of performance by specified date over a timescale. Standards
indicating what and key result areas statements may be
results have been achieved. ongoing although they are always
5. Performance improvement plans are subject to revision.
prepared that spell out what employees
need to do to achieve better results. Some examples of performance taregts:
6. Personal dev plans are agreed which • Respond satisfactorily to 90 per cent of
describe how employees can develop customer queries or complaints within 24
their knowledge & skills’ thus improve hrs - the rest to be acknowledged within
performance & enhance career prospects. 24 hrs and answered w/in 3 working days.
• Complaints from customers should not
exceed 1:1,000 transactions.

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 • Job evaluation appeals should be held What does a good Development Plan
within five working days. look like?
Some examples of performance It should contain up to three development
standards: areas to focus on to address skills,
• Performance will be up to standard behaviours or career aspirations.
when callers are always dealt with • What do you want to achieve this year
courteously even when they are being and longer term?
difficult. • What are your greatest strengths and
• Performance will be up to standard how can you build on them?
when line managers obtain guidance on • Do you have any development areas that
inventory control practice, which makes a make it difficult to do your job or prevent
significant contribution to the achievement you from reaching your goals?
of inventory targets. • Do you want to learn about a particular
department or further develop a skill or
DEVELOPMENTAL PLANNING: area of knowledge?
process first of identifying needs to • What development area will have the
acquire or extend knowledge and skills greatest impact on your performance?
(learning needs) and to overcome • What support will you need to undertake
performance or behavioral problems development activities?
(performance improvement needs). • In terms of activities, will you be learning
Secondly, decisions are made on how on the job or will you need some learning
these needs should be satisfied. options outside of your role?
Performance management has an
important developmental role. THE BALANCED SCORECARD:
Development plans are always related to The aim of the concept of the balanced
work and the capacity to carry it out scorecard as originally formulated by
effectively. They are not just about Kaplan and Norton (1992, 1996) were to
identifying training needs and suitable counter the tendency of companies to
courses to satisfy them. Training courses concentrate on short-term financial
may form part of the development plan, reporting. They emphasized:
but a minor part; other learning activities
such as those listed below are more ◦No single measure can provide a clear
important. performance target or focus attention on
• coaching. the critical areas of the business.
• adopting a role model (mentor). Managers want a balanced presentation
• observing & analyzing what others do of both financial and operational
(good practice). measures.
• extending the role (job enrichment);
• project work - special assignments. Their original model of the scorecard
• involvement in other work areas. required managers to answer four basic
•involvement in communities of practice questions, which meant looking at the
(learning from others carrying out similar work) business from four related perspectives as
• action learning. shown in the figure.
• e-learning.
• guided reading. Some organizations have replaced the
innovation and learning perspective with a
broader people or human capital element.

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 where necessary and for developing skills
and abilities.

Performance reviews are

sometimes referred to as performance
appraisals, a term that used to be applied
to the whole process of performance
management but now usually refers only
to the assessment and rating
It is used across the organization at all components.
levels to:
The most common practice in a traditional
• ensure all areas of the organization performance management system is to
have aligned structured objectives that set have one formal annual review.
out what is expected over the course of
the yr. A performance review can be a top-down
• describe how performance against affair in which managers tell
these objectives will be measured. subordinates what they think of them.
• identify appropriate, stretching But it’s preferably a joint process in
targets for each of these objectives. which a dialogue on performance matters
• define the actions required to support takes place. The conversation is about
the achievement of these objectives. how people carried out their work, as well
• produce an agreed, effective, and as what they achieved, and the emphasis
actionable development plan is on future development rather than on
conducting a postmortem on past events.
It is used across the organization at all
levels to: PURPOSES:
The many purposes that the traditional
performance review or appraisal meeting
is
supposed but often fails to serve are:
• assessment - to review how well
individuals have performed their jobs.
• objective setting - to set new
objectives and revise existing ones.
• development planning - to agree
performance & personal development
THE PERFORMANCE REVIEWS: plans.
analyze and assess how well • motivation - to provide positive
someone has performed his or her role. feedback & recognition.
They are conducted by managers who • communication - to serve as a
provide feedback, discuss with the two-way channel for communication
individual the extent to which work about roles, expectations, relationships,
objectives have been achieved and the work problems and aspirations.
factors that have led to those results, and • reward - to assess performance in
agree plans for improving performance order to inform reward decisions,
especially those concerning performance
pay.

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• talent management - to identify In a strength-based review managers
potential as part of a talent management elicit success stories with requests such
program. as:
• poor performance - to identify ‘Could you tell me about any things that
underperformers so that corrective have gone particularly well in your work
action can be taken. recently and why you think they were
successful.’ The advantage of this type of
METHOD: question is that it provides a basis for a
Formal reviews include an overview positive discussion on future development.
and analysis of performance since the This doesn’t mean that managers should
last review, comparing results with agreed ignore what needs to be done to
objectives. They are supposed to be overcome any weaknesses, but this
stocktaking exercises. Ideally, reference should not be given prominence in a
is made to events that illustrate review.
performance as discussed during the year
(they shouldn't be brought up at a formal WHAT CAN BE DONE ABOUT
meeting for the first time). The level of PERFORMANCE REVIEWS?
performance achieved is assessed so that
individuals know where they stand. A strengths-based approach can improve
the effectiveness of a formal review, but it
HOW THE IDEAL REVIEW SHOULD BE won’t work so well if reviews are only once
CONDUCTED: a year and therefore become more fraught
1. Be prepared. affairs, especially when they involve
2. Work to a clear structure. rating and initiate performance pay
3. Create the right atmosphere. decisions.
4. Provide good feedback.
5. Use time productively.
6. Use praise.
7. Let individuals do most of the talking.
8. Invite self-assessment.
9. Discuss performance not personality.
10. Encourage analysis of performance.
11. Don't deliver unexpected criticisms.
12. Agree measurable obj. & plan of
action.

STRENGTH BASED REVIEWS:

uses the ‘appreciative enquiry
technique ‘that focuses not so much on
finding out what has gone wrong but on
the more positive approach of
identifying what is working well and
using that information as a basis for
planning further development.