For those of a certain vintage, being an employee in a mid-to-large workplace came with the obvious trappings – nosy colleagues, demanding work schedules, bad cafeteria food (or worse, bad snack machine edibles), and the dreaded year-end “performance review”.

You know the one…where your manager would sit you down in his office for an unspecified time, break out your file and begin to evaluate your work, bit by agonizing bit, in predefined sections. It was a given that there would be some surprises for the employee. Statements along the lines of, “So, Sally, I see here in the ‘works well in a team environment’ section that you had that run-in with Joe last February at the family picnic when you mistakenly ate his hot dog. I’ll have to deduct a point from your overall score,” would inevitably be uttered to the dismay of the employee.

But those days are seemingly coming to an end as organizations and managers in both the for-profit and nonprofit sectors turn to a new type of relationship with their staff – the “performance management” model.

So what is it and why should you care?

Managing proactively, not reactively

According to the HR Council for the Voluntary/Non-profit Sector’s (HRVS) HR Management Toolkit, performance management is “an ongoing process where the manager/supervisor and employee work together to plan, monitor, and review an employee’s work objectives or goals and overall contribution to the organization.”

Generally speaking, the HRVS site suggests that performance management seeks to set up the following arrangement between employer and employee:

1. A work plan that identifies for the employee what is to be accomplished and how.
2. A plan that’s followed up with informal, ongoing monitoring and feedback on his/her progress toward the objectives set in the plan.
3. At year end – the supervisor and employee meet to summarize the accomplishments and challenges of the past year and document the discussion using a performance management form.

The HRVS site has loads more in-depth information on the subject and is a must read for anyone in a leadership position in charge of one or more employees. Of particular interest for the neophyte manager is its explanation of the purposes of performance management (see sidebar).

The purposes of performance management include: Organizational effectiveness Ensure that work plans of the employee are directed toward or support the strategic direction of the organization. Motivate employees to do their best. Performance improvement Establish clear communication between the manager and the employee about what s/he is expected to accomplish. Provide ongoing, constructive feedback on performance. Identify areas of poor performance. Establish plans for improving performance, as necessary. Identification of strengths Identify the skills and abilities of each employee so that work assignments build on and reflect an employee’s strengths. Identify individual employees for more challenging work. Training and development Assist and support staff in achieving their work and career goals by identifying training needs and development opportunities. Administrative decisions Support decision-making about promotions, terminations, compensation and rewards. Legal documentation Provide a paper trail for legal challenges related to dismissal or vicarious liability. (Special thanks to HRVS)

 

If you’re a new manager, this all may seem like a lot to digest and then execute, but it’s likely a positive step forward to get the most from your subordinates and increase your organization’s efficacy.

Help me help you

Betty Ferreira, principal of Restructure Non-profit Consulting in Toronto, adds some more context to the importance of the performance management tool.

“It is vital that supervisors recognize that employees want to know what is expected of them and how their job will help to further the mission of the organization,” she says.

And it’s never okay to assume your employees will know what’s expected of them, even if you say you have a management performance schedule in place.

“Performance objectives must be set with the employee at the beginning of the performance year (usually tied with the employee’s anniversary or with the organization’s fiscal year) so that they are aware of what is expected of them and what they will be evaluated upon,” Ferreira says.

“Focused and regular supervision sessions that provide coaching and mentoring support to the employee will keep the performance objectives ‘front-and-centre’ with employees and provide regular and ongoing feedback that should support the employee throughout the year. Regular supervision sessions will also help the supervisor and the employee to reprioritize tasks throughout the year.”

Maureen O’Leary Pickard, founder of The Performance Group, a London-based human resources consulting firm, agrees and adds that timing is crucial.

“Ideally, the performance management cycle would be coordinated with the strategic planning process and the annual budget discussions. At this time, managers are having conversations with employees about what the clients need and what the organization needs in order to serve the client,” she says. “It is an opportune time to take a look at employees’ skills, current performance and future demands. What resources, training and support will people need to perform their job well? What are the additional competencies that the organization needs to train or recruit for?”

Sounds good. But what about those managers who have numerous employees and find it hard to make time to provide regular feedback sessions? Is there a best way to budget their feedback time? Yes, says Ferreira.

“Supervisors should allot 30 minutes to an hour every four to six weeks for supervision,” she says. Ferreira also suggests they use a “supervision template that should outline all of the areas that the supervisor and employee may want to cover. It is best to have the employee complete the supervision form in advance of the session, so that the supervisor can review the form and add [his or her] information to it.”

Mistakes are costly

According to Ferreira, there is a cardinal error supervisors can make when attempting to follow the performance management model.

“The biggest mistakes a manager can make are [assuming] that the performance management system is limited to the performance appraisal at the end of the year, and forgetting to clearly outline the performance objectives and competencies that the employee will be appraised upon,” Ferreira says. This will defeat the purpose of the model.

O’Leary Pickard concurs.

“Managers are responsible for planning, organizing, controlling and evaluating their area of responsibility,” she says. “Performance management is critical for an organization to ensure all areas are focused on accomplishing strategic objectives. Goals combined with feedback are the most effective way of ensuring your resources are mobilized and achieve results. The consistency of performance management will impact the organizational culture. Skillful attention to overcoming poor performance will energize employees, help retain high performers and attract talent.”

Time well spent

Consultants and experts agree that a solid understanding of how performance management should work, specifically with regards to employee evaluation, will go a long way toward actually helping an organization achieve its mission and keep employees feeling informed and fulfilled.

“The use of a clear and easy to use performance appraisal that includes, at it’s heart, an employee self-appraisal that asks the employee to state achievements, successes, challenges and areas for development, is critical in an employer’s pursuit to effectively and objectively appraise an employee’s performance,” says Ferreira. “The supervisor can then look to their supervision notes, the performance objectives, and the employee self-appraisal in order to complete their portion of the appraisal and thus make the process as objective and factual as possible.”

So managers, brush up on your performance management knowledge and help establish the right foundation for your institution’s success and the contentment of your team.

Andy Levy-Ajzenkopf is president of WordLaunch professional writing services in Toronto. He can be reached at andy@wordlaunch.com.