Managing Performance Effectively

by Mark Evenden

I believe that the success of a business depends on the engagement, contributions, and actions of its staff at all levels, whether they are front line staff efficiently running a customer service function, or senior managers making strategic decisions about the direction of the business.

Managing performance therefore is about maximising the engagement and contributions, from each employee, their teams and ultimately the whole business. Performance management is the activity of setting goals and tracking performance against them and identifying opportunities for development and performance improvement. While reviewing past performance is important, the real focus of performance management should be on the future.

I think that the key question to ask is, what is it that my employees need to be able to do and how can they do it better?

To be successful this means that everyone across the business needs to:

• Know what the business is aiming for and trying to achieve.
• Understand how their role and goals fit with the overall aims of the business
• Know what they have to do to meet their goals.
• Recognise how progress against goals is measured.
• Understands the consequences for achievement or non achievement of
goals.

Ultimately, performance management is about delivering improved bottom line performance such as better customer service, improved productivity, and increased sales and profitability.

Sadly however, I have experienced many managers and businesses fail to get the most from their employees because they make a number of fundamental mistakes. For example, I have witnessed:

• Businesses developing and implementing a highly ‘comprehensive’ performance management system, which is so complex and takes so long that it fails to be used.
• Businesses confusing performance management with annual appraisal, assuming performance management is a ‘one off’ isolated event.
• Managers faiingl to document performance, follow up or take consequential action with staff who don’t perform.
• Organisations assuming that people will automatically know what is expected of them.
• Managers not being clear with their staff about actual performance and how they can improve.
• Managers ranking their employees, causing others to ‘sabotage’ the performance of their colleagues so that they will appear higher in the rankings.

In my opinion, one of the biggest drivers of team and business performance is the behaviour of the managers who lead them. So, if senior managers fail to set a clear direction and don’t spend the necessary time to develop the performance and capability of their own people, they cannot complain when the performance of their business or organisation doesn’t improve either.