So why should you have some form of process for managing performance. The picture that is generated in everyone’s head when the words ‘system’ or ‘process’ is used is that of a bureaucratic administrative burden. It also conjures up images of conflict and not many people enjoy that! Business owners, managers and employees do not understand the benefit of having a process so everyone sees it as a drag. Neither do people appreciate the consequences of not having a process and this is what I would like to explore today.

Direction and feedback                           

I was only a few years into my working career and well stuck into a project when my manager after reviewing my work on this project said; ‘This is great work, but it isn’t technically your responsibility!’ Well, as you can imagine, I was rather taken aback. ‘Whose responsibility is it then?’ I thought, and more importantly, ‘what exactly then is my responsibility?’

How many employees do you have in your organisation who are bright and hard working but are focusing on the wrong things because no one has clarified expectations with them. Expectations can take the form of targets, goals or outcomes of specific projects. Without them, people will make their own decisions about what is important and they may not be the right things that will make you organisation successful.

By the way, there is a difference between job descriptions and setting expectations. Broadly you can describe it in this way –

Expectations = Job Description + Measures (Quality, Quantity, Cost, Time)

It is not possible to measure individuals against a job description, as they typically do not include measurable information. At best you can say whether that person did or did not fulfil that particular role, but it is not possible to comment on the quality of the work done without measures.

At least the aforementioned manager reviewed my work. Another of my managers when asked for feedback after 6 months of a new job said ‘If you haven’t heard anything from me then everything is fine!’

The shortcoming of this approach is that the employee only gets an audience with the manager when there is a problem (ever heard of the seagull style of management – flies in from time to time to dump on people and then flies off again?). There is no recognition for a job well done and there is no opportunity to correct mistakes at an early point as they will only hear from their manager after things have already gone wrong. The impact on morale is obvious.

Regular feedback ensures that employees know how they are doing against the expectations. If all is well, they get recognition for a job well done and if things are off track, then they have an opportunity to correct things. Anything less than this is a disservice to intelligent employees and will in a way, set them up for failure and the end of year review then becomes a battleground.

You can make sure that employees focus on the right things by putting in place a simple performance management process that provides guidelines on how to set expectations. This process should also make provision for regular reviews throughout the year. Without any kind of process it is unlikely that these activities will get done at all. Finally you need to ask yourself whether your managers have the skill to deliver the process – often processes fail not because they themselves are inadequate but because there is a lack of skill on the part of those who are delivering it.