Your employees are your team and the core of your company's success. To achieve success, employees need to feel aligned and supported by their manager and team. Performance management strategies can be helpful to assist in providing this alignment and support.
Performance management is an ongoing process of communication between a supervisor and an employee that occurs throughout the year to accomplish the organization's strategic objectives. A robust performance management system should provide feedback for the employee, insights for the manager, and align with the organization's strategic initiatives.
To provide this critical success for employees, teams should set out a framework for managing their team performance. Our top strategies to manage your team's performance include;
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Make time for 1:1s. Whether your 1:1s are weekly, monthly, or quarterly, it's essential to set aside time to connect with your team and vice versa. 1:1s can be valuable time where you will have the opportunity to monitor performance, complete spot-checks, set expectations and goals, and learn how your team truly feels about their workload and ongoing initiatives. Take the time to connect with your team as often as you can.
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Set Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and Metrics. Key Performance Indicators, or KPIs, are measurable values used to evaluate how successful a person or organization is at reaching a target. KPIs can be high level, like business objectives, or tailored to an individual's role. When setting critical goals for or with employees, best practices include personalizing KPIs and metrics to align with the organization's strategic objectives.
An example could include your company needs to hit an annual sales goal of $60,000; therefore, an Account Executive could be responsible for 20% of that annual number. The plan could be broken into quarterly objectives with advanced metrics per quarter.
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Performance Appraisals. A performance appraisal is a process for evaluating and documenting how well an employee is carrying out their role. Performance appraisals should be fair, honest, and encouraging when done correctly. Rather than ticking off a box, this is a chance to connect with your team and understand how their skills and achievements are progressing and how they see their careers growing within your organization.
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Utilize Feedback. If a team member is underperforming, there is a chance they are not aware, especially if clear expectations and goals were not set out initially. It's essential to set out time to speak with this employee to understand why their underperformance is occurring and set out a path for success and improvement. Feedback, expectations, and goals should be communicated/set regularly to avoid unclear expectations.
By setting a framework to establish meaningful and attainable expectations, provide feedback and recognition, and continuously communicate, employees will feel supported and empowered to perform at their highest levels. How are you managing your team and setting them up for success?
Are you looking to build out a performance management program or other ongoing support with hiring, onboarding support, or other areas of HR? Our team is here to help! Reach out to our experts at Wendy Ellen Inc. to assist with all your organization's HR practices.
