Some Suggestions

Performance Management can take many forms to suit the business and the culture. It is a complex subject but we suggest the following are key to success:-

1. It needs to be linked to the Business Plan, and people need to see that their development has a bearing on business performance. If the organisation is about profit, the managing of performance should reflect that.

2. It should be a way of life rather than a once or twice yearly event. One sign of this would be ‘no surprises’; another would be everyday language – no jargon; another would be that there is only a need to focus on one or two priority issues at any one time.

3. It needs to be both about targets (the Result) and behaviour (the How).

4. If values are worked on in the organisation, they need to be turned into behaviours that are reviewed. Emotions need to be taken into account.

5. It should be driven not by HR, but by motivated individuals and role model managers who see the benefits of identifying development needs and addressing them appropriately.

7. If performance is linked to pay, there should be transparent, clear linkages so that de-motivating subjectivity is avoided.

8. It should be about performance not personality. A competency framework may help people to manage this aspect of the process.

9. Sometimes it is more appropriate to review team performance than individual performance.

10. Managers coaching their people are a vital part of improving performance.

11. The emphasis should be on an integrated approach to managing performance, rather than managing isolated training and development events.

There is a useful CIPD fact sheet called Performance Management: An Overview, revised in February 2006. Also, there is A Survey of Performance Management which focuses on how different organisations tackle it, and people’s attitudes to it. Both documents are available on the CIPD website, www.cipd.co.uk in the Information Resources section.

If there are any questions that you would like to raise as a result of this note, please contact
David Brown at:-