Performance Management is a system developed out of the best practice of top performing organizations to provide managers with a structured approach to the key retention criteria. Simplistically, most people will feel motivated and will want to stay in their job if their manager:
pays attention to their work
provides them with a job to match their skills, knowledge and experience
gives them opportunities to grow and develop
judges their performance objectively

Most Performance Management processes contain critical opportunities for recognition.

Appraisals

Traditionally, the annual appraisal is the only meeting during the year when an average or better worker will meet their boss to discuss performance. People with poor performance can and do have a regular audience with their manager; sometimes on a weekly basis. Your appraisal form is "the" document that is held on file as a record of how good, bad or indifferent you might have been. For some, this may be the only time in the year that they receive plaudits and even these may be guarded comments because of the close link in everyone's mind between appraisal and pay rise despite repeated denials. Too much praise might raise expectations of a large pay increase. Poor performers, however, frequently receive far more than their fair share of management attention throughout the year.

If paying attention to our employees is one of the greatest motivators, when did we decide that high performers need less motivation than poor performers? Of course they don't! Many of the top performing companies in the world have introduced regular coaching and mentoring sessions to supplement the appraisal system and to give all employees a regular, sometimes fortnightly, opportunity to talk about their job, their performance against their objectives, their motivation and their aspirations.

Coaching

From time to time you can see examples where managers act as spectators. Their behavior; the words they use and their body language would not be out of place at a soccer or baseball match. They would be sitting in the stands chewing on a hot dog, swigging a beer and shouting criticism at the players (their staff) on the field. There is very little connection between the manager and the staff other than they happen to be sitting in the same building.

This image is used to highlight the profound difference between the 'manager as coach' and the 'manager as spectator'. A coach works individually with each of the players, helping them to overcome setbacks and obstacles to progress. They understand how their players respond to different types of motivation and how their family life and health affect their performance.

Most of all coaching is carried out on a very frequent basis. You don't wait for the big match to give your advice to the team in the way that the 'manager as spectator' does. You work really closely with everyone in the team to understand the strengths and weaknesses of your defense and your strikers before they have to be tested under pressure.

Copyright 2006 BoomerangAwards.com

Published by BoomerangAwards.com

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