CHAPTER 5
The Nuts and Bolts of Positive Performance Management (PPM)
The fundamental belief underlying Positive Performance Management (PPM) is this: Leaders and their employees must strive to make performance reviews complete, honest, and timely.
As a leader, it is critical that you engage in crucial conversations to let employees know where they stand at all times. In the course of executing PPM, you should hold yourself to the highest standards of character, always being fair and honest and never injuring a person’s sense of dignity and self-worth. Ultimately, by holding yourself to the highest standards of character, you enable your employees the free will to make whatever decision that’s in their best interest, whether such a decision involves recommitting to you and the organization or even deciding to move on in their careers. Clearly, by executing PPM with character, you also enable your organization to exercise its free will to make the best human resource decisions possible, whether they are decisions involving promotion, transfer, discipline, and even termination. It is only as a result of leaders’ executing PPM with unwavering character and purpose that an organization—your organization—can lay the groundwork for achieving breakthrough operating performance.
What If the Truth Is Not Told?
I have coached countless leaders who, unfortunately and unknowingly—even knowingly—fall into a very dangerous trap of underrepresenting their employees’ performance (i.e., they tell them that they are performing worse than they are in reality). This tendency creates:
• Dissatisfaction: “They don’t understand me no matter what I say or do.”
• Reduced Motivation: “Why try? My boss doesn’t appreciate what I do.”
• Reduced Commitment and Alignment: “Neither my boss nor anyone in this company cares about me or the talents I bring. Why should I care about my boss or this company?”
• Voluntary or Involuntary Termination: “Enough is enough. I am going to bring my talent elsewhere.”
Of course, I have also worked with many leaders who make the opposite mistake of overrepresenting their employees’ performance (i.e., they tell them they are performing better than they are in reality). This creates:
• Coasting: “My boss told me I am doing great, so I’ll just cruise along with my usual half-effort.”
• Perceived Unfairness: My boss is playing favorites, so why should I commit?”
• Problems Disciplining/Terminating the Employee Later: “What? Poor work? You told me last year right in this office that I was doing great work.”
Clearly, beyond the need to hold yourself to a higher character standard as a leader, there are significant ethical and legal reasons for ensuring that you are executing PPM in a fair, honest, and objective fashion.
The Ten Elements of Positive Performance Management
There are ten key elements of Positive Performance Management. The greater the degree to which you incorporate these principles, the greater the probability will be of having complete, honest, and timely performance reviews. The ten key elements follow in outline form to put the overall process in perspective. Subsequent sections will explain each of these ten elements in more detail.
1. Employee involvement: Objectives should be set with employee input.
2. Valid performance criteria: Employees should only be rated on the criteria/ factors that determine success in their job.
3. Year-Round Process: Employees need feedback on a regular basis to optimize their performance.
4. Proper Preparation: Both you and your employees need to dedicate time preparing for appraisals.
5. Avoid Stereotypical Thinking: You must ensure that your ratings are free of biases.
6. Input from Others: Obtaining input from others (i.e., teammates, coworkers, subordinates, etc.) can result in more accurate and complete performance reviews.
7. Consistency: You must send a clear and consistent message. Your words should not conflict with your body language.
8. Rating Integrity: The final rating should be based on what was accomplished and how it was accomplished.
9. Dialogue: Regular communication between you and your employees is critical throughout the year.
10. Employee Ownership: Because your employee’s name is on the review and his or her compensation and promotional opportunities are determined by the review ratings, employees should be entitled to a much larger role in shaping their own review.
The Three-Part Cycle
Positive Performance Management has three phases:
1. Performance review/goal setting
2. Coaching
3. Reviewing performance goals
Each of these phases is critical for improving performance. Although these phases are presented in an independent manner, it should be noted that they are all interrelated and build on each other. Here is a more detailed description of each phase:
1. Performance reviews consist of providing feedback to employees regarding their progress toward objectives/goals and skill/ability improvements. Goal setting is concerned with “setting the course” in terms of objectives, responsibilities, and skill/ability development.
2. Coaching consists of mentoring employees and helping keep employees on the course that has been set. As a coach, you should ensure that employees maintain effective levels of performance while striving for performance improvement. Other sections of this book detail significant coaching recommendations.
3. Reviewing performance goals consists of you and your employees evaluating previous goals. As time passes, some goals may need to be revised or eliminated. Reviewing performance goals also provides you and employees an opportunity to determine if an employee is still on course.
Positive Performance Management is not a one-time process. Engaging in performance reviews/goal setting, coaching, and reviewing performance goals once will not result in an improved (i.e., more Capable, Committed, and Aligned) workforce. You must be committed and gain commitment from your employees in acknowledging the importance of continuous improvement. One of the key tools you have available for improving your workforce is the PPM cycle. The cyclical nature of PPM is illustrated by the model in Exhibit 5.1. After reviewing performance goals, you and your employees are not done with the process. Instead, the reviewed performance goals mark the beginning of another cycle. To survive in today’s hypercompetitive marketplace, you must find ways to elevate the performance of your employees. By continuously setting higher goals, strengthening employee competencies via coaching, and providing feedback to employees, you can create a positive performance cycle whereby goals, coaching, and feedback lead to improved individual and team performance and ultimately to stronger operating results for the organization.
Executing Positive Performance Management
Implementing a Positive Performance Management system can be a daunting affair. The following pages provide a breakdown of the key steps in Positive Performance Management and guidelines to follow for each step.
Exhibit 5.1: Positive Performance Management
Preparation
The first step is to properly prepare for a performance review. Although this may appear to be an obvious first step, it is often overlooked and bypassed. A haphazard or improperly prepared performance review conveys to employees that their development is not a high priority. To avoid giving this message, steps should be taken to ensure proper preparation. There are five critical steps to follow in order to properly prepare for a performance review:
1. Schedule.
2. Review performance beforehand.
3. Prepare employees.
4. Self-assess.
5. Set the agenda.
Scheduling is the first step and involves finding a time to meet. Taking the time to properly schedule a meeting is important because it conveys the message that the performance review is important enough to appear on an official schedule.
After a meeting time has been scheduled, you should review the employee’s performance prior to the meeting. You should have a coherent idea of what feedback you will give to employees, with specific examples of their strengths and areas in need of development. One of the worse things you could do is go into the meeting without any idea of how the employee is performing. This conveys to the employee that you do not care.
You should also properly prepare your employees for the performance review. The review process should be a collaborative process. For the collaboration to work, employees need an idea of what is expected of them and what they need to contribute.
Additionally, you should also take the time to reflect upon yourself. People do not digitally record all of their experiences into memory. We can fall victim to any number of biases that may affect our judgment and memory. By taking time to reflect on your judgments prior to the meeting, you can potentially minimize the effects of biases.
Lastly, set the agenda for the meeting and determine the specific areas you want to focus on.
Here are specific recommendations for each step.
1. Schedule:
• You and your employees must find times in which you both can allocate the proper time and attention needed to carry out a meaningful and useful performance review.
• Phone calls, e-mail, and other distractions should not be allowed during the time allocated for the performance review.
• It may be better to conduct the performance review in neutral territory (i.e., a conference room). Your office may contain symbols of your power, which can create a gap between you and employees. This gap may prevent employees from opening up and being completely honest.
• You and the employee should meet face to face.
2. Review the employee’s performance beforehand:
• Determine the extent to which an employee has met agreed-upon objectives and responsibilities. Have specific instances of good and bad performance. Thus, it is recommended that you take notes throughout the year, highlighting specific examples of good and bad performance. You should go into performance appraisal meetings with your notes.
• You should be flexible. You are not omniscience or omnipresent. You may not always be around to observe your employees performing well or know about instances in which an employee performed well. Through discussion with the employee, your evaluation may change.
• Meet with key personnel and gather their observations and thoughts about the employee’s performance. The employee’s immediate supervisor, coworkers, and subordinates may observe different aspects of the employee’s performance and have meaningful feedback to offer.
• Present the meeting to employees as one that will be mutually beneficial.
• Inform employees that money will not be discussed during the performance review. Otherwise, employees may focus solely on whether or not they got a raise and ignore useful feedback.
• You should indicate that performance will be discussed and that future goals and plans for meeting those goals will be set.
• Make sure that employees understand that they should come to the meeting prepared to discuss their performance, next year’s goals, and the skills/abilities that they need to develop.
• Giving employees a blank copy of the performance appraisal form can help them organize their thoughts regarding their performance and goals for next year.
• Employees should be given at least one week to prepare.
4. Self-assess:
• Consider the possibility that subjective factors are getting in the way of giving an employee a true rating. You should ask yourself if stereotypic attitudes or other biases may be influencing your ratings. In essence, strive to make sure that your performance ratings match the true performance of the employee.
• Some biases that you may need to guard against are:
Leniency: Evaluating employees as performing better than they truly are
Severity: Evaluating employees as performing worse than they truly are
Central tendency: Evaluating all employees as average performers
Halo: Using one feature of an employee (i.e., attractiveness, customer service skills, etc.) to influence ratings on all performance dimensions, even if that feature is unrelated to a performance dimension
Recency: Evaluating employees based on most recent performance
First impression: Evaluating employees based on early impressions
Confirmation: Noticing performance episodes that support your impression of an employee, but failing to notice performance episodes that fail to support your impression of an employee
Similar-to-me: Evaluating people who are similar to you more favorably
5. Set the agenda:
• You should let employees know what direction you want the appraisal meeting to go. For example, you may wish to cover topics 1, 2, and 3 in the meeting. Letting employees know what you want to discuss will help them better prepare for the meeting.
• Open the meeting by stating the objectives and setting a participatory tone.
• Employees should be allowed to present their self-assessment first.
• Work with employees to look for causes of problems and solutions to those problems.
• End the meeting with setting objectives and working with employees to develop plans to meet those objectives.
During the Meeting
Once the performance review meeting is underway, there are specific steps to follow to ensure that employees are receptive to the feedback and leave the meeting energized and eager to improve. The first step is to reiterate the agenda. Although sharing the agenda was a step in preparing for the meeting, it is necessary to share it once again during the meeting. This is especially helpful if some time has passed from when the agenda was originally discussed. After the agenda has been discussed, it is useful to allow employees to begin the meeting. This conveys both the importance of their involvement and decreases their defensiveness. Throughout the process, you should actively listen and try to create a win-win atmosphere. Here are specific recommendations for each step of the performance review.
1. Share the agenda:
• You should open the meeting by stating the objectives and agenda.
• Create a collaborative atmosphere, and work with your employees to determine how well they performed in comparison to preestablished objectives and responsibilities.
• Involve employees in determining their objectives and responsibilities. It is important for employees to feel like they have a voice in the process and that you are not dictating performance demands to the employee.
• You should emphasize and allow employees to take charge of the meeting. One way of letting employees take charge is to have them present their self-assessment to begin the meeting.
2. Let the employee present his or her self-assessment: Allowing employees to begin with their self-assessment offers several benefits:
• Employees do not begin on the defensive.
• Employees are reinforced that their involvement is key to the meeting.
• You can learn a lot about employees by listening to what they say.
• Negative feedback can be given without your directly giving it because employees may provide it themselves. Having employees provide negative feedback regarding their performance is also beneficial because they are often in a better position to openly discuss and address their poor performance.
3. Listen well and actively:
• You should listen for emotional and logical content.
• Paying attention to facial expressions and mannerisms is particularly important in assessing the true meaning of each message.
• If the spoken words of an employee appear to contradict their facial expressions and mannerisms, you should make sure to mention this to the employee.
• You should summarize the key points made by employees to ensure that you understand their message.
• If an employee has difficulty opening up with his or her self-assessment, open-ended questions can help prompt the employee. (For example, “What do you think about …?”)
4. Responding—the power of Positive Performance Management: It is important to make sure employees understand and accept the message that you are trying to communicate. Consequently, it is best that you avoid making employees defensive and emotional by your comments. The goal is to create a win-win review. To do that, you need to be sensitive about what you say, how you say it, and when you say it.
Here are four situations that can occur during a win-win appraisal:
1. You agree with an employee’s positive comments.
2. You agree with an employee’s negative comments.
3. You disagree with an employee’s negative comments.
4. You disagree with an employee’s positive comments.
And here are suggestions to help you make progress, regardless of disagreement or agreement.
You agree with an employee’s positive comments (see Exhibit 5.2)
• Begin by stating that you agree with the positive comments discussed by the employee. It is unlikely that employees will become defensive when you agree with them. Additionally, expressing your agreement with your employees’ comments rewards them for engaging in accurate self-reflection. (“I agree. You have really gotten the group to cooperate with you and with one another.”)
• Mention specific behaviors when giving your agreement. Employees like to see that you can back up what you are saying. (“When you asked Bill to give his point of view on how to increase sales and then listened to every last word, you demonstrated improved active listening skills.”)
Exhibit 5.2: Responding: Agree/Positive
• Show employees how their behaviors helped achieve key organizational outcomes and goals. People like to know that their behaviors make a difference. Too often, people fail to see the outcomes of all their efforts. By giving specific examples of how your employee’s actions were instrumental in achieving a key outcome, you can increase that employee’s motivation and satisfaction. (“When you caught that production error, it prevented the product from reaching the market and damaging our reputation.”)
• Indicate that you appreciate what the employee did. (“It takes a lot of effort to perform at your level. I appreciate what you do.”)
• Ask employees to keep up the good work. (“Keep up the good work. Let’s see more of it.”)
You agree with an employee’s negative comments (see Exhibit 5.3).
• This is a great way for you to give negative feedback without actually giving it. In this situation, employees give negative feedback to themselves. (“Yes, there were some lapses.”)
Exhibit 5.3: Responding: Agree/Negative
• As with positive comments, you should mention that you agree with the employee’s judgment, thereby rewarding the employee’s accurate self-reflection. (“You’ve shown good insight for identifying areas that could be improved.”)
• You should mention specific behaviors and the effects of those behaviors on organizational outcomes. (“When you didn’t listen to your team’s suggestion for improvements on the design of product X, their morale dropped, and they didn’t offer suggestions in the next meeting. To remain an innovative organization, we need our teams to continually offer suggestions for improvement.”)
• Address potential causes of the problem. They may be due to motivational problems, skill deficiencies, or other factors. Because the employee brought up the negatives, he or she is likely to want to discuss the negatives, as well as ways to solve them. (“I wonder if you see a subordinate’s complaint as a black mark against you. Do you feel attacked when they complain?”)
• You should work with employees to create a plan to address existing problems. (“When you next meet with your team, don’t shoot down all their ideas immediately. Work with your team to determine the likely consequences of implementing their plans.”)
You disagree with an employee’s negative comments (see Exhibit 5.4)
• Bring up the negative points made by employees, and express your disagreement. (“You say you don’t have the skills for this position. I disagree; I think you have more than enough skill to perform well in your current position.”)
• Give behavioral examples that support your judgment. (“In the last month, I have seen you handle your accounts in a timely manner. Mr. X called me to express his satisfaction with your performance. There’s a learning curve for the position you are in, and I think you have gone over the hump.”)
• You should check with employees to see if they now agree with you. If not, loop back, and present more behaviors to support your judgment. (“The way you handled the negotiation with company Y was noteworthy. You didn’t let company Y overcharge for their services. Your negotiation saved us a lot of money.”)
Exhibit 5.4: Responding: Disagree/Negative
• If employees agree with your judgment, you should ask them to continue performing in accordance with your judgments. (“I want you to keep doing the things you have been doing well.”)
You disagree with an employee’s positive comments (see Exhibit 5.5)
• At this point, you have completed 75 percent of their assessment. It is unlikely that employees are defensive at this point because a good portion of the assessment has been carried out without providing negative feedback.
• Express your disagreement with the employee’s positive comments. (“I gauge your work on the third objective to be both good and poor, sometimes right on target but sometimes not.”)
Exhibit 5.5: Responding: Disagree/Positive
• You should highlight specific behaviors and outcomes of those behaviors. (“Remember Nancy asked for Jill’s assignment, and you didn’t hear her out? As a result, Nancy felt ignored and undervalued and left two months later.”)
• Check with the employees to see whether they now agree with you. If not, loop back, and present more behaviors that support your judgment. (“When addressing the conflict that emerged between Steve and Bob, you didn’t listen to Bob’s point of view. You allowed your friendship with Steve to bias your handling of the situation. As a result, Bob felt you were playing favorites and felt undervalued.”)
• Once you have agreement, address potential causes of the problems and plans for addressing them. (“The next time there is conflict between your subordinates, listen to both sides all the way through.”)
• You may sometimes need to bring up certain goals/responsibilities that an employee failed to mention in his or her self-assessment. (“Did you forget about turnover? We wanted to keep those numbers below last year’s rate”)
• Ask employees to assess how well they performed these goals/responsibilities, and respond using the quadrant approach. (“You say turnover is the same or less. Yes, you worked on it and showed real understanding, but you didn’t get your results. The turnover rate is still higher than we like. Will you continue working on tackling this problem?”)
Plan for the Future
As the performance review meeting comes to a close, it is necessary to plan for the future. For employees to leave the meeting with a clear sense of what they need to accomplish, you must work with them to identify mutually agreed-upon goals. A useful technique is to have employees outline their objectives. Once future goals are set, close the meeting by summarizing what was accomplished in the performance review. Here are specific recommendations for how to close the meeting.
1. Have employees outline their objectives:
• Ask employees to begin by stating their objectives along with their plans for meeting them.
• Explicitly state that you will respond to each goal and plan at the time it comes up. You may need to explicitly mention this because employees may have gotten used to leaders waiting until the employee has finished their self-assessment before responding. You may need to address each goal and plan because a consensus must be reached between you and your employee regarding each goal and plan. You must work toward reaching a consensus for each goal and plan.
• You must listen to what employees are saying.
• You should check to see whether employees agree with the goals and plans that have been set.
2. Agree on goals: When working toward a consensus with their employees, it is important for you to base your comments on:
• Organizational goals.
• The employee’s job.
• Strengths and weaknesses of the employee.
• Environmental factors (i.e., external competition, state of the economy, etc.).
• The amount of managerial support that can be provided. (“I will help in any way you ask.” “I don’t want to see you handle this alone.” “I will tell the others you have all my support.”)
3. Summarize the meeting: At this point you should:
• Summarize the employee’s performance by mentioning a couple of positive things the employee did, along with a couple of items where the employee fell short, if appropriate. (“You improved on two big jobs. You didn’t make much progress on this third one.”)
• Summarize key goals and responsibilities. (“Over the next three months, we need all three of these goals met, and I’m asking you to take charge on each one.”)
• Indicate the rating you have given the employee, and mention that the employee’s observations and comments contributed to the rating. (“My overall rating of your past year’s work is a seven on a scale of zero to ten. I used your evaluation to help me. Thank you for your help.”)
• Mention the next steps in the process:
– You will complete the performance review form based on the joint discussion.
– You will get the employee’s signature, if appropriate (depends on the organization).
– You will get the employee’s superior’s signature, if appropriate.
• Schedule another meeting if appropriate. The need to schedule another meeting depends on the employee’s rating. If the employee received a low rating, it is critical that you and the employee agree on short-term objectives and on meeting frequently enough to ensure that adequate progress is being made.
• Thank the employee for his or her involvement and input, and ask whether there is anything you can do to help.
4. Additional leader responsibilities:
• If there has been a noticeable change in an employee’s performance, it may be necessary to carry out an up-to-date performance appraisal. If an employee’s performance has improved, he or she should be praised and asked to continue the good work. If performance has declined, you should work with the employee to identify the cause of the performance decline and strategies to overcome it.
• Refrain from discussing your personal feelings toward the employee at all times. Personal comments impede progress. Discuss what is needed to get the job done. If you don’t like the employee’s attitude, you should ask yourself if that is important. Does it affect anyone else’s performance? Does it hurt the employee’s own performance? If not, that bad attitude may be the employee’s problem and no one else’s.
• If you leave your job for any reason (transfer, promotion, termination, etc.), you should:
– Complete your performance appraisal meetings and performance appraisal/goal-setting records on those employees who haven’t received appraisals in six months or longer.
– Review the completed appraisals with your replacement.
The Role of the Employee
You should ensure that employees know their roles and responsibilities in the Positive Performance Management process. Employees should know the major steps in performance appraisal/goal setting (preparation, assessment, and planning) and what they need to do in each step.
Employees’ Roles and Responsibilities in Preparation
Employees must take an active step in preparing for their performance review meeting, as do leaders. Without their involvement, the Positive Performance Management process will fail. Here are recommendations for how employees can optimally prepare for their performance review meeting.
1. Schedule the meeting:
• Employees should indicate the days and times that they can give full attention to the subject.
• The meeting should take place in a private, interruption-free environment. Employees may need to make sure such a place is available for the meeting.
2. Know the relevant performance indices and organizational goals/objectives:
• Employees should be informed of the importance of taking responsibility for their performance. Leaders at the top of the organization should tell employees that they are responsible for knowing at all times what they will be evaluated on.
• Employees should know their department’s objectives/goals, as well as the organization’s objectives/goals.
3. Preparation:
• Employees should review their strengths and weaknesses. They should review what they have done well and areas that need to be improved in the future.
• Employees should identify their future goals and plans for meeting those goals.
• Employees should think about what the leader may say and be aware of any discrepancies between what the leader may say and what they think. Employees should identify specific behavioral examples that support their view.
• Employees should be asked to emotionally prepare. They should be instructed to discuss topics without emotional outbursts. Employees should also remember that criticism is not a personal attack and not to respond as if it is.
• Employees should recognize that feedback is necessary for their continued growth and development.
• Employees should assume that their appraiser has the best intentions. Employees who believe that the appraiser is out to get them may approach the performance appraisal meeting defensively.
• Employees should be allowed enough time to prepare. If the appraiser pushes for an earlier meeting, employees should be able to ask for a later meeting.
• Employees should be allowed to ask for the performance appraisal form. It may be useful in organizing their thoughts.
• Employees should go into performance appraisal meetings focused on discussing performance issues and not compensation issues.
• Employees should have a clear state of mind when evaluating their own performance. They should focus on specifics they accomplished, how they were accomplished, and the positive impact they had on the team and the organization.
5. Set the agenda:
• You will likely have an agenda of points you want to cover. However, employees should also go into the meeting with an agenda of their own. Having an agenda will show that employees take their development and feedback seriously.
• Employees should be in the mood to listen. It is ultimately your right to guide the conversation.
Employees’ Roles and Responsibilities in Assessment
Employee involvement does not stop at preparing for the meeting. Employees must also be actively involved during the actual performance review. Here are recommendations for how employees should participate in the meeting.
1. Share the agenda:
• Begin the meeting by stating their objectives and agenda. If you don’t do this, employees should ask you to do so. By asking leaders to clarify their objectives and agenda, employees know what their leaders expect to get out of the meeting.
2. Self-assess:
• Employees should be prepared to share how well they think they are performing. Employees should expect to be actively involved and not passive recipients.
• Employees should expect to begin the meeting with their self-assessment.
• Employees should listen to your assessment. They should interrupt you only for clarification purposes. Employees should not challenge your assessment or defend themselves when you are presenting your assessment. Employees should refrain from making any counterpoints until the end of your assessment. The employee’s focus during your assessment should be on getting a clear understanding of your evaluation.
4. Respond:
• Employees should avoid acting defensively and make it clear that they are hearing what you are saying.
• Employees should restate what you said in their own words to make sure they are interpreting your comments correctly.
• Employees should use open body language (forward lean, eye contact, arms and legs uncrossed) to convey a nondefensive or nonconfrontational stance.
• If your feedback is too general, employees should ask for specifics. Employees should wait until the end of your assessment before asking for specifics. Otherwise, the employee may appear to be defensive or argumentative.
• Employees should find out whether the feedback is based on one incident or several and if a pattern seems to exist.
• For negative feedback, employees should work with you to determine more acceptable behaviors. Arguing about the validity of the negative feedback will likely make both parties unhappy. Focusing on behavioral improvement is far more productive.
• If no positive feedback is given, employees should ask for examples of things that the leader likes. If only positive feedback is given, employees should ask for areas that need improvement.
Employees’ Roles and Responsibilities in Planning
Employees must also take an active role in planning their future development. Given that their career development is likely important to them, employees probably have a lot to say regarding the developmental paths they want to take. Here are recommendations regarding how employees should participate in the planning stage.
1. Present:
• Employees should have goals and plans to meet those goals prior to the performance appraisal meeting.
• Employees should be prepared to present their goals and plans to meet those goals.
• Employees should also be prepared to present each goal and plan one at a time and spend time discussing each in great depth.
2. Listen:
• Employees should work with you to reach agreement on goals and plans. Employees should be prepared to take responsibility for their performance and appraisal.
• Employees should clarify your expectations early in order to prevent misunderstandings later.
3. Monitor:
• Employees should be prepared to ask for frequent feedback. The more they ask, the more skilled they become in receiving it and aligning their performance with goals/objectives of you and the organization.
The Role of Leaders
It is your responsibility to ensure that all employees know the importance of Positive Performance Management. The most effective way for you to convey this message is through your actions.
Your Roles and Responsibilities in Preparation
Many of the steps you should follow for preparing for a performance review apply to preparing for goal setting as well. You should schedule the meeting, identify relevant goals, and prepare for the meeting. Here are specific recommendations regarding how you should optimally prepare.
1. Schedule the meeting:
• You should indicate the days and times that you can give full attention to the subject.
• The meeting should take place in a private, interruption-free environment. You should find a suitable place for the meeting.
2. Identify relevant performance indices and organizational goals/objectives:
• Discuss the goals/objectives of their department and the organization with all employees under your supervision.
• You should inform employees of the importance of taking responsibility for their performance. Leaders at the top of the organization should tell employees that they are responsible for knowing at all times what they will be evaluated on.
3. Prepare:
• Review the strengths and development needs of your employees. You should review what your employees have done well and areas that need to be improved on in the future. Refer to any notes you have on your employees.
• Review the goals of your department and organization to ensure that they are fresh in your mind. You should then evaluate how well your employees are meeting those goals.
• Gather input from other key personnel (i.e., teammates, coworkers, subordinates) who work with or observe the employee’s performance. Getting other people’s perspectives will result in a more complete picture of the employee’s performance, especially for performance episodes in which you were not present.
• Think about what your employees may say, and be aware of any discrepancies between what you say and what your employees think. You should identify specific behavioral examples that support your view.
• You should prepare emotionally. Discuss topics without emotional outbursts and discuss how criticism is not a personal attack on their employees.
• Recognize that feedback is necessary for the continued growth and development of your employees.
• Allow employees enough time to prepare. You should ask employees whether they have enough time.
• Offer employees your performance appraisal form. This may help employees organize their thoughts.
• You should send the message that the performance appraisal meeting is focused on discussing performance issues, not compensation issues.
• Identify your future goals for employees and plans for meeting those goals.
4. Self-evaluate:
• You should have a clear state of mind when evaluating the performance of your employees. Focus on specifics, and try to suppress any biases that may affect your evaluation.
5. Set the agenda:
• Share their meeting agenda with your employees. This way employees can be better prepared for the meeting and actively contribute.
Your Roles and Responsibilities in Assessment
You can do many things to ensure the success of the assessment phase. Here are specific recommendations for how you can achieve success in assessment.
• You should begin the meeting by stating your objectives and agenda.
• Mention that your employees have an equal role in the performance appraisal process and in setting future goals and plans. Make it clear that you expect employees to be actively involved and not passive recipients.
2. Employee self-assessment:
• Allow employees to begin the meeting with their self-assessment.
3. Listening:
• Allow employees to finish their self-assessment before giving your own assessment. You should interrupt only for clarification purposes. While your employees are presenting their self-assessment, don’t challenge their points. Your focus during the employee’s self-assessment should be on getting a clear understanding of the employee’s self-assessment.
• At the end of the employee’s self-assessment, you should restate what the employee said in your own words to make sure you are interpreting the employee’s comments correctly.
4. Responding:
• Avoid acting defensively, and make it clear that you are hearing what your employees are saying.
• Use open body language (forward lean, eye contact, arms and legs uncrossed) to convey a nondefensive or nonconfrontational stance.
• For negative feedback, you should work with your employees to determine more acceptable behaviors. Arguing about the validity of the negative feedback will likely make both parties unhappy. Focusing on behavioral improvement is far more productive.
Your Roles and Responsibilities in Planning
You must play an active role in the planning phase. Employees often need your guidance regarding which goals to prioritize. Here are recommendations for how to improve the planning process.
1. Present:
• Ask employees to present their future goals and plans for meeting those goals.
• Discuss each goal and plan one at a time, and spend time working with employees to reach an agreed-upon goal and plan.
2. Listen:
• Work with and respond to your employees. You should reach a mutually agreed-upon solution with employees instead of dictating goals and plans. This way, employees have more ownership over their goals and plans.
• Have employees discuss their expectations in order to ensure that both parties are on the same page.
3. Monitor:
• You should be prepared to give frequent feedback. The more feedback you give, the more an employee’s performance can be aligned to the goals of the organization.
• Frequently observe the performance of your employees, and take notes. This allows you to monitor changes in performance overtime. Frequent monitoring enables you to prevent slight slipups from becoming downward spirals of declining performance. Frequent monitoring also enables you to praise employees who are doing well.
Major Steps in Coaching as a Leader
Coaching is an integral part of being an effective leader. In goal setting, a course is set for the year. Through coaching, you make sure that employees stay on course. Coaching is a key part of being a mentor; it is critical that you gain the trust and respect of your employees. Coaching consists of:
1. Maintaining effective performance.
2. Improving employee performance.
The Major Steps in Maintaining Effective Performance
Although the goal of Positive Performance Management is to improve performance, it is critical that employees at least maintain their performance levels. Here are recommendations for how you can maintain the performance levels of your employees.
1. Describe effective performance:
• Employees should be rewarded in a way that encourages them to continue performing at a high level.
• It is best that employees are unable to predict when they will be rewarded. In other words, you should use an intermittent schedule when giving employees rewards.
2. Tell the importance of effective performance:
• Let employees know the importance of their work. People want to know that their efforts are making a difference. By telling employees that their performance has had a positive impact on other employees’ performance, the organization’s effectiveness, or society itself, you let employees know that their performance is highly valued.
• Provide specific feedback. By giving specific feedback, you show that you are paying attention to the efforts of your employees and not just giving out praise.
3. Listen:
• Listen empathetically to your employees’ comments.
• Summarize the key points made by your employees, and say them back to the employees to ensure that you understand the message.
4. Volunteer your continued help:
• You can show your commitment to maintaining your employees’ high level of performance by asking them if there is anything you can do to make it easier for them to do their job.
5. Indicate your intention to take action:
• If employees need help, you should let them know that you will attempt to get them the help they need.
6. Thank the employee:
• When you give a sincere thank-you, it conveys to employees that their good performance is appreciated.
The Major Steps in Improving an Employee’s Performance
Improving the performance levels of employees can be a challenging endeavor. Here are recommendations for how you can best help employees improve and develop.
1. Describe the problem in a friendly manner:
• It is your responsibility to address the performance improvement needs of your employees. If you fail to do this, employees will likely assume that their current performance is acceptable. In essence, if you want your employees to change, you must let your employees know that change is necessary.
• You should keep in mind that the purpose of the discussion is to motivate employees to improve their performance, not to criticize or belittle your employees.
• You should begin the discussion by describing the problem in a friendly manner.
• You should point out specific behaviors that support your judgment. You should focus on providing behavioral-based feedback because trait-based (i.e., lazy, stupid, etc.) feedback puts people on the defensive. It is easier for people to figure out how to change specific behaviors than how to change who they are.
2. Ask the employee for help:
• You should ask your employees to help you understand what is causing the employees to underperform. By asking for help, you convey to your employee that you are focused on improving performance, not assigning blame.
• You should focus your discussions on identifying the causes of underperformance. Many times employees will avoid discussing the actual problem. You should listen and prompt your employees to get the problem out in the open. The reasons for not meeting performance standards can be many. They could be caused by skill or motivational problems. Only by identifying the underlying cause of an employee’s underperformance can a strategy be implemented to rectify the problem.
3. Identify and write down solutions:
• You should involve your employees in developing solutions. The more employees are involved, the more ownership they will feel toward the solution, and the greater the likelihood is that they will follow through with it.
• Defer to the solutions of your employees when possible. By supporting the solutions of your employees, you convey that you actually care about what your employees say. This, in turn, can have a positive influence on their motivation.
4. Decide on specific actions to take:
• You and your employees both should decide on the specific actions each should take. Some actions that you can take include providing extra resources to your employees or making yourself more accessible.
• Communicate to your employees that their effective performance is so meaningful to you that you are willing to take extra steps and time to help them succeed.
5. Agree on specific follow-up dates:
• Let your employees know when improved performance is expected.
• Also, set plans that are realistic, challenging, and time-limited.
Reviewing Performance Goals
For employees to maintain their current level of excellent performance and to improve on deficiencies, you must periodically review the performance goals of the employee with the employee. Goals that are set but not reviewed are not worthwhile.
Emphasis should be placed on employees reporting their progress to date. You and your employees need to focus on indicators of whether goals will be exceeded or not met. If employees are on pace to exceed their goals, discuss with them how to maintain their current performance level. It is important for you to spend time on performance exceeding specified goal standards. Many times, leaders spend too much time on performance that is below a goal. If an employee is on pace to perform below a goal standard, work with your employees to determine the causes of poor performance, examine solutions, and agree on appropriate actions. In some cases, it may be necessary to adjust a goal downward.
The Major Steps in Reviewing Goals
1. Discuss progress and praise employees:
• Employees should begin the meeting by estimating their progress to date toward each goal.
• You should listen to your employee’s comments and take notes.
• It is vital that you praise your employees for their progress to date regardless of how far away the employee is from meeting the goal. Criticizing employees for lack of progress may only serve to undermine their motivation and ensure that they fail to meet specified goal standards.
2. Renegotiate goals and/or resources when deviation is significant:
• If the deviation is downward, discuss with your employees the causes and solutions to the deviation. Appropriate actions may include increasing available resources, agreeing on activities that will enable employees to meet goals, or adjusting the goals downward.
• If, on the other hand, employees are exceeding goals, you should discuss with your employees how added effort and/or resources may be utilized to further exceed the goal. Additional objectives that have become important but were not important at the time of the prior meeting may be discussed at this time.
3. Write down new agreements and set a follow-up date:
• Take notes during the discussion. These notes should serve as a summary of the agreements.
• A new follow-up session should be scheduled.
• Thank your employees for their time and commitment.