performance process

For almost twenty years I have been asking managers what they think their role is. It no longer surprises me that many find it hard to define this and those that attempt a response say it is ‘something’ to do with managing their people. This elusive ‘something’ does in fact appear to have a common theme with most, which is, managing the performance of colleagues.

What do we mean by performance? Essentially it is about the conduct of a role; what a person adds to the organisation’s efforts to reach specific goals; what they contribute. Although many managers agree it is their responsibility to ensure people meet targets they appear to spend little time agreeing what that contribution should be or what the overall targets are. Few employees can tell you their organisation’s strategy so what part can they take in ensuring what they do supports the strategy? The have to hope their manager passes on targets that meet the organisation’s goals. We have extensive experience of working with clients to determine what their performance management processes might look like and to design solutions with clients and help in effective implementation. For a client list see www.stephenhuntleyassociates.com.

Managing performance is however more than this. It is about agreeing what the role is for each employee and what the expectation is in performing that role; what the targets are and what can be provided to ensure people are knowledgeable and technically competent to achieve their targets. Organisations therefore need a model of what good looks like or, even better, what supreme performance looks like so they can compare employees to an ideal super-performer and begin the process of ensuring all staff become more effective. This process would also enable employees to determine for themselves what their needs are to become super-performers.

It is hard to see how anyone can become ‘engaged’ and take responsibility for meeting targets if they do not know what capabilities they will need to perform their role to maximum effect.

Organisations that are using a performance management system, even the simplest of systems, find that they can communicate significant organisational information (including strategy) via such a system. Goals can be cascaded down to every level in the organisation when managers are managing performance based on a notion of competence and objectives.