Employee performance management is a mindset. It’s an operation, an on-going process of setting expectations early and clearly starting immediately when you hire team members into your organization. And it’s a process that helps supervisors and employees reach a shared understanding of what is expected in terms of behavior, results, and feedback. Therefore, in this article, I want to talk about how to navigate the sometimes treacherous waters of employee performance through expectation setting.
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Before you can conduct performance reviews on employees, you must institute a performance management system. If you’re throwing employees into a semi-annual or annual performance review without giving them the tools they need to be successful within your company, then you’re not just crippling them. You’re crippling your business.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, performance management is a mindset and a process. It’s not a once-a-year meeting. Performance management is preparing team members to meet their goals throughout the year. It’s purposefully directing their actions without micro-managing them. But just how do you do that?
Well, I recommend the following:
Once you understand how to direct the employee performance, it’s time to begin it.
Ultimately, what I’ve just given you is the process of clearly setting expectations to your employees. It’s a seven-step process. It’s ongoing. Many business owners don’t do performance reviews, but if they do, they just throw employees in their offices once a year for a stressful meeting. That’s not fair to your team members. Let them know what you expect of them. Keep them up-to-date on where they stand throughout the year. You can make these mini-performance reviews part of your daily routines. That way, employees aren’t left wondering what you expect and whether or not they’re meeting your expectations.
Don’t miss our next staffing article using what you learned here: Conducting Performance Reviews
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