Staff performance

All performance reviews must be conducted against expectations that have been previously set and agreed to by both the employer and the employee.

The following outlines some basic tools and techniques, often called “soft-skill” management techniques, organizations can use to motivate and enhance staff performance.

Foundation for effective supervision

Effective supervision is a vital tool in helping you ensure peak performance from your employees and ensure that everyone is working together towards a common cause.

Note: This is only a suggested list of activities, and it certainly does not mean that all of these activities should be undertaken in your organization. You will need to tailor the activities you use in your supervision, depending on the size and staff within your organization.
 

• Hold weekly, or bi-weekly, meetings with the entire staff if the organization is small (e.g. under 10 people); otherwise, with all managers together. Use these meetings for each person to briefly give an overview of what they are doing that week. Facilitate the meetings to support the exchange of ideas and questions.
• Hold monthly meetings with all staff members together. Review the overall condition of the organization and review recent successes. Consider conducting “in service” training at these meetings. Use agendas and ensure follow-up minutes.
• Have all employees provide weekly written status reports to their supervisors. Include what tasks were done last week, what tasks are planned next week, any pending issues and date the report. These reports provide a mutual understanding of what is going on, and the reports can come in handy for planning purposes. They also make otherwise harried staff members stand back and reflect on what they are doing. (Ideal in larger organizations).
• Have supervisors meet with their direct reports in one-on-one meetings every month. This ultimately produces more efficient time management and supervision. Consider these meetings as interim meetings between the more formal, yearly performance review meetings.

Effective delegation

Delegation is when supervisors give their subordinates the responsibility and authority to complete a task.

Effective delegation leads to employees who are ultimately more fulfilled and productive. Managers also become more productive, as they learn to count on their staff and are freed up to attend to more strategic issues.

A big hurdle to effective delegation is the belief, amongst many managers, that they can do a better job themselves. They don’t want to risk giving authority to subordinates in case they fail and impair the organization.

The following general steps will help you delegate more effectively:

• Delegate the whole task to one person. This gives the person the responsibility and increases their motivation.
• Select the right person. Assess the skills and capabilities of subordinates and assign the task to the most appropriate one.
• Clearly specify your preferred results. Give information on what, why, when who, where and how. Write this information down.
• Delegate responsibility and authority – assign the task, not the method to accomplish it. Let the subordinate complete the task in the manner they choose, as long as the results are what the supervisor specifics. Let the employee have strong input as to the completion date of the project.
• As the employee to summarize their impressions of the project and the results you prefer.
• Get ongoing non-intrusive feedback about progress on the project. Employees should cover what they did last week, plan to do next week and any potential issues.
• Maintain open lines of communication. Don’t’ hover over the subordinate, but sense what they’re doing and support their checking in with you along the way.
• If you’re not satisfied with the progress, don’t take the project back. Continue to work with the employee and ensure they perceive the project as their responsibility.
• Evaluate and reward performance. Evaluate results, not methods. Address insufficient performance and reward successes (including the manager’s).

Guidelines for ongoing performance management & disciplinary action

• Performance issues should always be based on behaviors that you see, not on characteristics of the employee’s personality.
• Convey performance issues to employees when you first see issues! Don’t ignore the behaviors in case they “go away”.
• When you first convey a performance issue to an employee, say what you noticed and would like to see instead. Be specific about what the problem is with the performance. Ask the employee for their feedback/explanation. Is training needed? Be clear, however, that you want the behavior to improve.
• Consider special circumstances; if there is poor performance or chronic absenteeism because of potential verified alcoholism or depression, it’s best to consult an expert to deal with this situation.
• Make notes about the first meeting and its results, and keep it in a file for yourself. You might mention the situation to your Board. This note may come in handy later on if the performance problem persists. Some organization write a letter to the employee and place a copy in their personnel file.
• If the problem occurs again over the next two months, immediately issue the staff person a written warning. Also, update the Board with a memo, outlining the case in full detail. (Although not necessarily a requirement under all governance models, updating the Board can be a good business practice for you to adopt in this case).
• If you are convinced that the employee is trying hard, but can’t improve, consider placing him or her in another position elsewhere in the organization.
• On the third occurrence, consider firing the employee. Organizations are encouraged to get legal counsel for all employee terminations.

Basics of regular performance reviews

Providing yearly performance reviews of employees is a critical aspect of any supervisor’s job.

Performance reviews ensure subordinates have a:

• clear understanding of what’s expected from them;
• clear understanding of their own personal strengths and areas for development; and
• a solid sense of their relationship with their supervisor.

If the supervisor has been doing a good job supervising, then nothing should be surprising to the employee during the appraisal. Any performance issues should have been conveyed when they occurred, so nothing should be a surprise in the review meeting.

All performance reviews must be conducted against expectations that have been previously set and agreed to by both the employer and the employee. The onus is on the supervisor to be clear and proactive in setting these objectives.

Here’s a general overview of the process:

1. Design a legally valid performance review process. Build into the process a route for recourse if an employee feels he or she has been dealt with unfairly in an appraisal process, e.g. that the employee can go to his or her supervisor’s supervisor. The process should be clearly described in a personnel policy.
   
2. Design a standard form for performance appraisals, and include:
   1. the name of the employee
   2. date the performance form was completed
   3. dates specifying the time interval over which the employee is being evaluated
   4. performance dimensions (include responsibilities from the job description, any assigned goals from the strategic plan, along with needed skills, such as communications, administration, etc.)
   5. a rating system (e.g. poor, average, good, excellent)
   6. space for commentary for each dimension
   7. a section for overall commentary
   8. a section for action plans to address improvements
   9. lines for signatures of the supervisor and employee. Signatures may either specify that the employee accepts the appraisal or has seen it, depending on wording on the form.
3. Schedule the first performance review for three months after the employee starts employment. Schedule another six months later, and then every year on the employee’s anniversary date.
4. Prior to your meeting, have the employee record their input on their own sheets (their feedback will be combined won the official form later on it in the process). You and the employee can exchange each of your written feedback in the upcoming review meeting. (Note that by now, employees should have received the job description and goals well in advance of the review, i.e.. a year before. The employee should also be familiar with the performance appraisal procedure and form).
5. Record your input to the appraisal – always reference the job description and associated formal goals for basis of review. Record major accomplishments, exhibited strengths and weaknesses. Use examples.
6. Hold the performance appraisal meeting. State the meeting’s goals of exchanging feedback and coming to action plans, where necessary. In the meeting, let the employee speak first and give their input. Respond with your own input. Then discuss areas where you disagree. Avoid defensiveness. Come to terms on actions, where possible. Discuss the impact of performance review on employee’s level of compensation. Try to end the meeting on a positive note.
7. Take this opportunity to set new goals for the upcoming year with your employee. This is also an excellent opportunity to have a general discussion on long-term career goals and plans. Based on that conversation, you may be able to support employees with professional development opportunities over the next year. Even if they are happy in their current position, don’t’ neglect to plan professional development for your employee.
8. Update and finalize the performance appraisal form. Add agreed-to commentary on to the form. Note that if the employee wants to add or attach written input to the final form, he or she should be able to do so. The supervisor signs the form and asks the employee to sign it. The form and its action plans are reviewed every few months, usually during one-on-one meetings with the employee.

Content for Managing Staff Performance was developed by SaskCulture in November 1999,
as part of the SaskCulture Inc. Handbook for Member Organizations.
Updated: May 2014