Manager support
- It’s a tool to help managers to deliver success through their teams.
- It is about communication, transparency and fairness – all employees should understand what they need to achieve, when and how.
- They need regular feedback on their progress and guidance on what they might need to do differently.
- Performance management keeps your employees focussed.
- It’s about expectations. Do your employees know what support is available to help them suceed?
- Do your employees fully understand their role and how to deliver their objectives?
- Do they understand how their role fits into the Organisations overall objectives?
How does it work there are 3 steps:
- Setting objectives - this is the opportunity for you to communicate and translate the organisations objectives and goals into department goals and then into team and individual objectives. Linking individual objectives and goals to the company goals in this way helps employees to understand where they fit in, how they contribute and how their success leads to the success of the Organisation . As a manager it helps you to ensure your department objectives are all linked and being delivered.
- Update and record progress - this is an opportunity to check with your employee to see how they are doing, Coach and support them through feedback, to listen to them and see what support they may need from you.
- End of year review - this is a more formal review of performance. You discuss and agree with your employee how they have done throughout the year against their objectives , development and competencies.
Remember, performance management is simply a process and system. What is at the heart of this is good communication and conversations with your employees. This should happen throughout the year and the performance management process is used to support and record .The review process ensure that everyone keeps the Organisations goals in focus and understands their role in achieving those.
Performance Managment and why is this beneficial to me as a Manager?
It helps you to
- Deliver for the organisation with your team, managing them consistently and effectively.
- Communicate regularly to your team - acknowledging good work and celebrating success.
- Helps you to be confident in coaching and supporting those that need your help.
- Assists you to develop yourself by listening to and learning from others.
- Ensure your people are engaged – they are motivated to go the extra mile to deliver for the Organisation
- Performance Managment is a tool to help you be the best Manager that you can be. Deliver great sucess through your people for you ,them and the organisation
So what’s your role?
- To support your staff through the Performance Management process – especially if they are new to it.
- To set the agenda in terms of what needs to get done and what is expected of your team.
- To motivate your team to deliver, to go the extra mile.
- To communicate regularly –both informally and formally through the performance management process.Don’t save your feedback up for the meetings, it should be given at the relevant time that it can have the revelant effect.
- To take the time to understand and experience the process both as a manager and as an employee with your own Manager.
- To prepare for meetings, meet with your team members and really engage with them.
- At the core of Performance Managment is good communication and great conversations.
- To listen - be open to hear from them about their experiences, successes, challenges, ideas and questions.
The benefits:
- You will set up your team to deliver success – aligned with the organisations goals.
- You will communicate priorities and expectations for performance during the year.
- You will quickly identify where your team are during the year and can direct your attention to where it needs to be,both quickly and effectively.
- You will identify weak performance and can manage it quickly.
- You will have the opportunity to spot talent and support your employee to develop through the Organisation .
- You will hear about how you are doing as a manager
- You get an opportunity to give feedback and also to hear any concerns or issues that an employee may have and deal with them before they become a problem.
- You get to drive and experience your team’s success and development.
The setting of objectives is the first step of the Performance Management process. It gives you the opportunity to discuss your team’s individual performance and contribution for the year. By making objectives, expectations and performance standards clear, they should be clear on what they need to do to succeed.
Objectives describe what you expect your employee to do in their job over a period of time (usually 12 months). They are used to help them focus on delivering what is important to the organisation. If they are motivated and do their job successfully, in turn the organisation is successful.
Writing objectives is not easy and can take time, but it is time well spent- especially when you are doing this for the first time It is an oppertunity for you to ensure they you are clear in your expectations and what it is they need to achieve.It is an oppetunity for you to see if they need any support and resources to deliver their objectives
You may have heard of the SMART process for writing objectives.
SMART stands for:
- SPECIFIC
- MEASURABLE
- ACHIEVABLE
- RELEVANT
- TIME-BOUND
A good tip is to consider the objective in the order MARST – measurability and achievability are the most important considerations (as opposed to SMART).
For each area of activity in a job a good starting point is to ask your employee to brainstorm who, what, when, where, how and why. Then you can get better data and a clearer picture to start to write their draft objectives
Once you have written each objective it is important that you consider all the objectives to ensure that it is reasonable for your employee to deliver them all successfully over the defined period
Writing objectives is not easy. Invest the time in writing and re-writing them until both you and the employee are happy with them and that you both very clear about what they need to achieve,how they will do it and by when
Competencies (if used by the organisation )Objectives tend to focus on ‘what’ you are delivering. 'Competencies may be defined as the ‘how’ - the behaviours that individuals must have, or must acquire, to perform effectively at work’ (CIPD, 2011). So this is about how you behave and how this impacts on the way that you deliver your job.
Many organisations set out important behaviours that they believe will deliver long term organisational success in a competency framework. These are defined in terms of what’s important to their organisation and what fits with their culture. A competency framework describes and defines each individual competency required by individuals working in an organisation.
There are different types of competencies:
Competencies for all employees based on core values. E.g.:
- Communication skills
- Customer service (but could link to results orientation)
Competencies set by level of employees. E.g. for managerial level employees:
- Influencing
- Leadership
- People Management / Delegation
Competencies set by job. E.g. for IT based jobs
- Software development
- Programme management
When used with objectives, competencies can provide a more complete basis for a discussion on performance. Objectives focus on what has been delivered; competencies focus on how this has been achieved. Often when we receive feedback, it will be based on something that we have done and how it was done – it is therefore useful to review the competencies set to understand what you could have done differently in order to deliver your objectives more effectively.
What is objective feedback and how do I prepare it
Objective feedback is based on data, facts, observed behaviour, evidence and examples. It is not based on relationships, opinion, thoughts and predictions – neither yours or your employees.
Through the year (performance cycle) you can record highlights, achievements and/or evidence of progress against objectives in the performance management system .The most important thing to remember is the objectivity of the information. Remember SMART objectives (SPECIFIC, MEASURABLE, ABLE, ACHIEVABLE, RELEVANT AND TIMEBOUND) and then record the achievement , e.g.:
Employee data
- Objective: To increase sales by 5% within my category.
- Activity: Rang 10 additional customers each day / updated sales process to reflect new features, additional benefits and customer feedback to up-sell to existing customers. I called 2 existing customers per day.
- Support: Administration team provided updated records for new customers for CRM system and developed sales history reports for existing clients.
- Result: Between Jan-March, I increased new customers by 3%. I increased sales orders by 10k on average. I was recognised by my manager and my manager’s manager with a recognition award for coming top of the sales team for the first quarter.
Manager data
- Objective: To develop the effectiveness of the team through buddying up with junior members of staff and stepping up to manager role in manager’s absence.
- Observed behaviour: Regular informal meeting with; the two; newest members of the team ask for suggestions and get them to bounce ideas off you regularly. Other team members appreciate advice and support that you offer.
- Result: Between Jan-March, productivity in the team increased to support sales target of 5% increase. Employee feedback on your support and expertise was consistently and positive. Have noticed improvement in new team members confidence and understanding of their role. During my holidays at Easter I was not called at all (which is a great improvement from previous year).
- Ensure objectives set at the beginning of the year are being met or are on track.
- Ensure objectives set at the beginning of the year are still applicable (make revisions where necessary).
- Discuss any challenges or obstacles your employee may be experiencing in achieving an objective and agree how you can help them to overcome these challenges, e.g. further training, additional support from you, resource, etc.
- Get feedback on how you are doing as a manager – it is much easier to give feedback when you can take it too!
- Give them objective feedback about how they are getting on -what’s going well, where they can make improvements?
If you notice an employee is falling behind or struggling in a particular area, consider why this is happening and discuss it with them. Don’t wait until a formal review meeting to raise this with them. Raise it with him/her at the earliest opportunity to ensure you have plenty of time to discuss and agree a plan of action for going forward.
The performance review porcess gives you the opportunity to check with your employees to see how they are doing, to coach and support them, to give them feedback and discuss what more you may need from them (How regularly this occurs will vary by company)
You should be clear with your employee ( and your team) how you will approach this throughout the year. How often it is formally recorded will vary too (from one half-year review to monthly / quarterly reviews). It may involve scoring, again this is determined by company. The concept stays the same. The purpose of the review is to:
This is another chance for you and your employee to discuss their performance and contribution during the year. It is a further chance to make sure you are clear on your expectations, company performance standards and how they can deliver and succeed.
Before the meeting
| 1. Prepare |
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| 2. Organise |
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At the meeting
| 3. Focus |
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| 4.Foresight |
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| 5. Coach |
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| 6.Listen |
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| 7. Work togeather |
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| 8. Planning |
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After the meeting
| 9. Review |
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Engaged employees are more likely to “go the extra mile” so use this meeting as an opportunity to set them up for the year. Engaged employees will help you and your business drive results. Performance Management is not an event, it is an ongoing process - every interaction with your people is an opportunity to motivate, support and engage your people. Performance management should be a positive process that your team will look forward to because it is an opportunity for them to talk about themselves, their goals and aspirations as well as an opportunity for you to give them feedback and get them really focused on the year ahead.
The on-going review during the year will give you the opportunity to check with your team member to see how they are doing, to see if they need coaching and support .To give them feedback and discuss any feedback they might have for you . How regularly this occurs will vary by company.
The purpose of the review is to:
- Ensure objectives set at the beginning of the year are being met or are on track.
- Ensure objectives set at the beginning of the year are still applicable ,revelant ,and to make revisions if necessary.
- Get feedback on how they are getting on -what’s going well for them where they can make improvements
- Discuss any challenges or obstacles they may have in achieving an objective and agree how you and your employee can work together to overcome these challenges, e.g. further training support and development .
- Give feedback to your employee on your performance and development.
Before the meeting
| Prepare |
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| Organise |
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At the meeting
| 3. Focus |
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| Listen |
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| Share |
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| Work together |
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| Planning |
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After the meeting
| 8. Review |
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At the end of the annual review cycle a formal review will take place which looks back over the year. What happen is that both you and your employee:
a) Consider performance during the review period (including reviews and feedback during the year)
b) Make a formal assessment of their performance based on the achievement of objectives and if applicable of competencies over the performance cycle.
c) This meeting provides you with the final opportunity to discuss their role, their contribution and their performance over the performance cycle. This is your opportunity to highlight their achievements and strengths and consider where they can improve. Preparation, investment and effort during the year can help make this final meeting less daunting, with no surprises - it can be a positive experience for both.
d) Agree a final end of year rating
If they are not happy with the review
If they are not happy with your performance review and your rating, they should consider the following:
- Consider the reasons they are unhappy with your review – areas of disagreement. Write them down and assess them - how objective have you been , what evidence do you have?
- Agree to meet with them again at a later date to discuss the areas of disagreement. Sometimes a period of reflection on both sides will help. Ask them more questions; seek out objective feedback (based on evidence and examples).
- Listen to this feedback. Have they understood it correctly? Check their understanding by paraphrasing back and/or commenting on the observations. Don’t jump to conclusions and try not to get defensive! Reflect on this data and re-consider their areas of disagreement
- Remember that people don’t always react well to what they perceive as criticism, if their performance review is not favourable. If you have carried out your review objectively and fairly contact others in your company, e.g. your manager and /or the HR manager (where applicable) to seek help and advice.
Ideally you should try to resolve the issues with your employee through discussions. If this fails and/or they want to take the issues further, your manager or HR manager will outline the Company process they can follow. You maydirect them to consult Company policies and procedures (where applicable).
Remember, performance management is simply a process and a system. What is at the heart of this is open communication and conversations. This should happen throughout the year and the performance management process is simply used to support and record it at different times.
1. Regular feedback is good for everyone
Don’t wait for a formal “performance review meeting” to give some feedback. Keep communication lines open and build a good relationship with your employee. So when you see a great piece of work done, a great demonstration of core company values or competencies, let employees knows. Whether that is face-to-face, in an email, a text message, in front of your boss! Celebrate success – it can really help to motivate your team. When you need to give feedback that is less than positive, think about the impact that the feedback will have and plan how, when and where you will do this very carefully. Regular, on-the-job feedback, both positive and constructive, avoids really difficult meetings by avoiding “surprises”.
2. Keep good records throughout the year
(a) Keep regular records of an employee’s performance throughout the year. If you get feedback from another person in the Company, note it. Without good records, performance reviews can often suffer from a “recency” effect (what happened most recently is remembered and spoke about only). The focus should be on activities and performance during the entire year.
(b) Keep it Simple and stick to the process
(c) A good relationship forms the basis of great (and easy to do) Performance Management. Even where you have strong relationships with employees based on good and regular communications, stick to the process, complete the meetings and document the outcomes. This is part of the job of a manager, not additional to it!
3. Ask for support
A good relationship forms the basis of great (and easy to do) performance management. Even where you have strong relationships with your employee, make sure your meeting is booked in. Stick to the process, complete the meetings and document the outcomes.
4. Be Honest
a. Focus on data driven feedback – concrete examples based on observed behaviour and/or actions. Look for solutions and discuss how you can support your employee to better achieve their objectives. Be sincere and honest, treat each other with respect
5. Tackle poor performance quickly and early
Again, don’t wait for a formal performance meeting to discuss performance with your employee. By setting clear objectives and performance standards and communication these regularly, tackling performance issues becomes easier.
6. ListenListen to your employee; be ready to ask them for some feedback too. Communication is a 2-way process and forms the basis of a good relationship with your employee. Regular, on-the-job feedback, both positive and constructive, should be encouraged both ways!