Performance Improvement

It should be normal for people to know where they stand in the company and know how they are performing.

At employee reviews, one of the biggest sources of tension is when an employee feels misunderstood and that efforts and results have not been acknowledged.  When someone is blindsided in terms of performance, it is more likely that they will defend themselves aggressively. By communicating well and establishing a process on which people can depend diminishes misunderstanding.

Establishing a scorecard helps provide clarity when an employee begins a new position.  Each position within a company needs a scorecard.  It is a tangible that provides parameters for how an employee is expected to perform. A scorecard removes subjective conversations and discussions such as “I feel like you are not doing a great job”. Basically it helps manage without emotion.

Every other month employees meet with their coach (one’s supervisor).  A fixed agenda included scorecard review (the objective side of management) and the core value evaluation (where the coach provides feedback related to our core values). The coach’s role is to give feedback and find out how to remove obstacles that are hindering performance.

On the opposite months, employees meet with a mentor (an upper management person to whom the employee does not directly report, preferably someone from a different area of the company – for example, head of sales mentors operation project managers). This meeting agenda is set by the mentee and the conversation can cover current challenges, career development or other pertinent topics.

By executing the above items well, the employee is informed and engaged regarding their performance. This diffuses any misunderstandings about performance and “blind-sided” reviews.  When a situation arises where a person is under performing or a policy is violated, we execute the following “Performance Improvement Plan” strategy:

o      Outline improvements needed and what a successful improvement will look like

o      Set clear expectation for amount of time given to make the improvement

o      It is clearly outlined what consequences will be if not met

o      It is clearly outlined what benefits will be experienced if they are met

o      PIP delivered by head of HR and manager

o      Follow up – manager and HR touch base with the person independently at pre-determined intervals.

If someone is released, the discussion is not about them not performing well – they are well aware