Does Your Performance Management Program Work?

Performance Management is of value to organizations in that it provides employees with a road map of what they will do to contribute to driving business results. It consists of goals/objectives specific to organizational business plans, regular communication that provides coaching where needed and lets the employee know how they are doing, and development goals that ensure employees are able to develop skills and knowledge required to meet changing business needs.
Cannell (2009) states: “So performance management is about establishing a culture in which individuals and groups take responsibility for the continuous improvement of business processes and of their own skills, behaviour and contributions. It is about sharing expectations. Managers can clarify what they expect individual and teams to do; likewise individuals and teams can communicate their expectations of how they should be managed and what they need to do their jobs. It follows that performance management is about interrelationships and about improving the quality of relationships - between managers and individuals, between managers and teams, between members of teams and so on, and is therefore a joint process. It is also about planning - defining expectations expressed as objectives and in business plans - and about measurement; the old dictum is 'If you can't measure it, you can't manage it'. It should apply to all employees, not just managers, and to teams as much as individuals. It is a continuous process, not a one-off event. Last but not least, it is holistic and should pervade every aspect of running an organisation.”
Why do so many managers complain about the bi-annual performance review process? To some degree it is because the review process is to a large degree looking backwards, when the managers’ focus is required to be on the future. If managers are communicating effectively with employees throughout the year, then why do they need to spend valuable time filling out forms that hold little advantage for them? Some managers will tell you that it is an ‘HR’ requirement and that they resent the time and energy spent completing forms; or that the design of the form does not facilitate the capture of the information appropriately. There are many performance management resources available on the internet (http://managementhelp.org/perf_mng/perf_mng.htm) and HR Professionals can draw from these resources to design a performance management program that specifically targets the needs of the organization. Effective performance management programs will show measurable business improvements, support succession planning, and ensure that employees are prepared to meet the changing needs of the business.





Cannell, M., (2009). Performance Management: An Overview, London, CIPD 2009.