Managing Employee Performance – Assessing Performance Part 2

This blog is part of a series of blogs focusing on the topic of “Managing Employee Performance”. Managing employee performance in the workplace is comprised of all of the interactions and activities that take place between an employer and an employee. These interactions and activities result in the achievement of goals and expectations. More importantly, they result in employee success and organizational success. The previous blog emphasized the importance of ongoing conversations. Managers of employee performance need to commit to providing meaningful and helpful feedback on a regular basis as opposed to a few times a yea or only during an annual meeting. This blog will continue the topic of how to assesses performance through ongoing conversations with a focus on how to structure feedback conversations. We will now explore how to assess performance and provide employees with meaningful information on how they are doing.

Employee Assessments

The previous blog provided compelling evidence to support the assertion that assessments of employee performance take place on a continuing basis. When the performance assessment takes place, it is important for an employee to know where they are relative to where they’re supposed to be. When the performance indicates that the employee is on target, the manager should provide positive reinforcement to ensure the behavior continues. If an assessment of performance indicates that the employee is not on target, the manager should provide corrective feedback to enable the employee to get back on course. Although performance assessments take place on a regular basis, most managers are not able to spend all of their time constantly sharing feedback. There needs to be a balance.

How Frequently Should Managers Have Feedback Conversations with Employees?

Ideally, conversations on performance should take place anytime there is a behavior action that has a significant impact on the individual or the organization.  This ensures that the positive “on target” behaviours that have a significant impact will continue and the “off target” behaviours that to not meet expectations are corrected.

What Approach Should You Take to Lead to Success?

Once the decision has been made to share performance feedback with an employee, the next question is “What approach should I take in order to effectively share my assessment with the employee so that it will lead to success?” (aka “How do I give them my feedback?”). This is where the correct mindset is critically important. When giving an employee feedback, managers often define a good conversation as one where they have told the employee what was wrong (or right) with their behaviour. This does not capture the real objective of the conversation. In order for feedback to truly be integrated with the overall objective of performance management (which is helping employees succeed), the goal of the conversation is not just about sending the message. The ultimate goal of the conversation is to “land the message”.

Red Auerbach was a very effective coach in the national basketball Association. He was once quoted as saying; “It’s not what you tell your players that counts. It’s what they hear.” (Red Auerbach, Leadership Wired, Mar. 12, 2004). I believe this is a profound insight. When talking with managers regarding the struggles they have with employees who don’t seem to respond to their feedback, I often hear the managers defend their actions by explaining to me how many times they spoke to the employee to tell them how to correct behavior. As a manager, rather than measuring how many times you said something to an employee, you should be measuring if the message was received and understood. This is where the term “landing the message” becomes critically important.

Landing the Message

“Landing the message” means that the employee has fully understood the message and the implications of taking action as a response to the message. When we accept that “landing the message” is the goal we are trying to achieve when sharing performance assessments, it can offer great insights into the type of approach needed to achieve this goal. When we are able to land the message, we are on the right path to help the employee achieve success. With this in mind, the next blog will provide a framework for giving feedback in a way that encourages dialogue and builds understanding on how to achieve success.

As always, I welcome your feedback. You can connect with me via email or telephone or leave a comment right here on the site.

Until next time,

Dave

David Town, CHRL, ACC is a facilitator and coach of leadership and management principles that enable individuals and organizations to build greater leadership competency, resulting in higher performance and higher employee engagement. David has a particular focus on effectively managing conversations involving confrontation or conflict. As well, he provides insights and assessment strategies for integrating character competencies into leadership skills resulting in increased trust and reduced risk for leaders. David is a member of the International Coaching Federation and is President of Your Leadership Matters Inc.