Performance Management Guidelines

If you want to really understand a company's cultures and values, then look at their performance management or evaluation process. Nothing provides a clearer picture of the inner workings of an organization's strengths and weaknesses.

Is your company great at celebrating successes? Then your rewards and recognition programs will reflect that. Is there a disconnect between knowledge workers and the managers who must direct their energies? Then that will be apparent in discrepancies between self-reviews and manager-reviews.

The following is a list of best practices compiled from dozens of books and articles on the subject of performance management.

Include developmental plans for the future in your performance evaluations. Almost no one performs for the organization if his or her mission and vision are not accomplished as well.

Train managers how to conduct performance appraisals. Performance reviews should be open, two-way dialogues, and this requires instruction and practice.

Have a system in place to address and resolve poor performance.

Include more than just the manager's perspctive in the evaluation. Co-workers, clients, vendors and the employee being reviewed can provide a more accurate picture of an employee's performance. Managers can miss a lot.

Be consistent throughout the organization. This is why training is so important. For evaluations to be fair and effective, the same process needs to be used across the board. This is not to say that the criteria is the same across the board. That needs to be customized depending on the employee's job responsibilities.

Provide feedback at least twice a year. The annual review just doesn't make a dent in performance. When that much time elapses between evaluations, employees can't stay focused on development goals. As Generation X and Generation Y take over the workplace, more and more feedback opportunities will be necessary, if not demanded.