In this part of our guide to organizational management we cover performance management…

Performance management plays a key role in ensuring that an organization, including its subsystems such as employees, teams, departments and processes, are working in a way that achieve the overriding goals of the company. Performance management comes in the form of general reviews, or more specific reviews of quality, quantity, time-frame relevance, or cost.

Performance management reviews are generally conducted at regular intervals that have been pre-determined, but should also take place if it suddenly becomes apparent that a specific subsystem is not performing up to par. While most often a company will follow a standard procedure, the functional steps can vary a great deal based on the focus of the review and the preferences of the individual performing it.

Step one in the process is to prepare a documented plan that sets out the desired results, the way the results will be measured and the standards the performance are based on. The plan needs to be prioritized with first-level targets being at the top, and drilling down for each first-level target where it makes sense to do so. The results must be realistic and able to be achieved or there will be no value derived from the exercise. Finally, staff needs to be made aware of what the performance goals are.

Periodic and ongoing observations and performance measurements should be used to track accomplishments over the period of time to which the review pertains. It is additionally important to provide continuous feedback so as to maximize the level of performance.

Once the stated time frame for review is up, a performance appraisal or review should occur in order to analyze the results of the review and determine if the performance meets or exceeds the expectations, or if performance has fallen below the expectations.

If performance meets the desired performance standard, then the performance should be rewarded in some way (the nature of this reward should ideally be stated at the start of the procedure). If performance doesn’t meet the desired performance standards, then the performance plan should be developed or updated accordingly and the procedure repeated until the performance is acceptable, the standards are changed, or the subsystem is changed.