Simple and Easy Performance Management

by Jeff Hunt

As a business leader or manager, there's no better feeling than having a well-performing team that consistently exceeds expectations and delivers great results for your business. But what about those times when things don't go so well? When an employee is underperforming or there's a performance issue, you need to know how to deal with it quickly and fairly.

First off, let me just make this clear: underperformance isn't fun for anyone involved—especially if you're in charge of managing that employee's performance. However, if you take the time to assess why they aren't performing as well as their colleagues, you might discover there are some simple steps you can take to help them dig themselves out of their hole. 

Write clear objectives together

Here are some tips for writing objectives together:

• Discuss what you want to achieve. To ensure that your objectives align with your company's goals, make sure they align with the organization's mission and vision statements. These statements will help set the tone of the performance review process, so it's important that they be reviewed regularly.
• Set a deadline for each objective. It's a good idea to establish weekly or monthly deadlines that ensure you're on track with reaching each goal by the end of its designated time period (like one year). If an objective doesn't get met by this date, then it should be reassessed until it does meet its goal at which point it should be removed from future reviews until reestablished as an actual priority again within another timeframe (probably not longer than 2 years). The purpose of this practice is mostly organizational—it helps keep things running smoothly because everyone knows what needs doing when and why.

Review performance regularly

• Review performance regularly. The frequency of your reviews will vary from company to company and from employee to employee, but you should be reviewing your employees' progress at least quarterly. If you have a highly skilled or experienced employee who can handle more responsibility, it might make sense to review them monthly instead of quarterly. And if you have an entry-level employee who requires more guidance, weekly or even daily reviews might be necessary for them to grow and develop in their role.

Praise good performance

Don't forget to praise. When you recognize your employees' efforts and achievements, it helps them feel like a part of the team and boosts their morale. Make sure to publicly acknowledge them at all-hands meetings so everyone can see how they're doing great work—and encourage peer-to-peer recognition too. Keep an eye out for opportunities to reward their hard work by giving them more responsibility or investing in their future with onsite training materials. And don't worry if you don't have enough budget; there are still plenty of creative ways to show appreciation without spending any money at all.

Listen and support

Listening and supporting are two of the most important skills you can have as a leader. Good leaders don't just talk to their team members, they also listen to them. This is important because it helps you understand what your employees need so that you can provide it for them. It also helps build trust between you and your employees, which will make them more likely to follow your direction in the future.

To be an effective listener:

• Give people time to speak up or ask questions before jumping into your own thoughts and concerns.
• Listen carefully when someone else is speaking (and not necessarily thinking about what response you want to give).
• Ask clarifying questions if someone says something confusing—don't assume that they meant something different than what they actually said.

If you’ve ever been on a team where people are constantly looking out for each other, you know how powerful this can be. It might take some time to create that environment. But once you do, it will be worth it.

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