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May 2006

Performance Management Makes a Difference

  by Pat Zingheim & Jay Schuster

Performance management is controversial and important—controversial because there are many views of how to do it “best” and important because it is critical to total rewards and communicating a win-win between the organization and workforce. Here are some performance management tips to consider:

1. Performance management is not a forms-design project. The form itself is not important—what is significant is the opportunity for honest discussion with employees about their skill, competence, and performance and for setting a course of action for performance improvement or enhancement. It is an ongoing process and not just something everyone “hates to do” once a year.

2. Performance management is about communicating with employees about where they are and how they are doing compared to expectations. It is a chance to take stock of how they are progressing in acquiring the skills and competencies they need to become increasingly valued to the organization over time.

3. Performance management is the opportunity to be honest with employees who are not performing up to expectations. It is the time to be fair and objective and to tell some employees that they should seek other employment rather than not tell the truth. It is a cruel hoax to be “nice” and avoid informing people when they are not working out before they have wasted many important years with your organization.

4. Performance management is a continuous process that may be documented and formally discussed at regular intervals, but coaching, training, communicating, and making course corrections should happen continuously. There should be no “surprises” about how an employee is doing, and employees should be able to do much of their own performance review objectively and in concrete terms.