Best Practices for Managing Employee Performance

by Eric Britten, Kevin Grossman, Leighanne Levensaler and Chad Rose

Executive Summary

Keeping employees on task and working to peak performance is always a challenge. As Focus Expert Eric Britten writes: “Managing employee performance is one of the most misunderstood and abused processes in organizations today. That’s why employees and managers alike dread the process.” So how do you effectively manage employee performance and make it a positive experience? In this guide, Eric and fellow Focus Experts Kevin Grossman, Leighanne Levensaler and Chad Rose share their top 7 best practices for managing employee performance.

After reading this guide, be sure to check out the entire discussion and join the conversation:
Best Practices Checklist

1. Develop a good process and be sure everyone uses it.
2. Beware of the ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach.
3. Make your performance plan meaningful and useful to the employee and the organization.
4. Make performance management an ongoing activity.
5. Establish performance expectations.
6. Be honest and direct.

Best Practices for Managing Employee Performance
Focus Research ©2011

Best Practices

1. Develop a good process and be sure everyone uses it.

“One reason performance management is unsuccessful in many organizations is because the process is not well understood, it is not reinforced (particularly by C-suite denizens), and because different managers use it with varying degrees of acuity. The solutions to this point, then, are fairly obvious. If a performance management process is worth having, it is worth making sure everyone, managers and employees alike, understand the process and the reason for it. Training is the key here, not just in using the tool, but in using it properly. Next, everyone in the organization should have a performance plan, including the CEO, who must lead by example and visibly reinforce the process.” (Britten)

2. Beware of the ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach.

“Avoid the peanut butter approach. Tailor performance management practices to different workforce segments. Your shop floor workers should not have to conform to the same process as your accountants and vice versa.” (Levensaler)

3. Make your performance plan useful to the employee and the organization.

“If a performance management process is to be useful, it must speak to the individual and the organization. In other words, what is in the plan must be relevant, strategic and be part of the fabric of the organization. The plan must link employees to their organization and its strategy in a real way. Employees need to be able to see how working their plan will make both them and their organization more successful. In order to do that, the plan must link, at least in part, to organizational, departmental and job-specific mission and planning. Other elements must enable the success of the individual.” (Britten)

“Know your culture. Despite all the research on best practices, it is best to develop a set of practices that are consistent with your unique culture and organization readiness.” (Levensaler)

4. Make performance management an ongoing activity.

“Performance management is an everyday activity, not something done two, three or four times a year. Elements of everyone’s plans should be visible in what they do week in, week out. If plans are developed and aligned properly, employees and managers should be able to link what they are doing almost daily to something in their plan. Managers need to connect those dots frequently in group or individual meetings. The periodic performance meetings should be times for managers and employees to summarize that which is mostly already known, not a time for dread and surprises.” (Britten)

“Have one-on-ones with your staff. Schedule them and also have them informally when needed. This is a great way to give each of them your undivided attention, regular performance reviews, reciprocal feedback on your performance as a manager, empathizing on personal issues and advising counsel if necessary, identifying potential workplace issues that need addressing, and much more.” (Grossman)

5. Establish performance expectations.

“Set clear expectations and don’t move them, especially if a salesperson meets or exceeds those expectations. Then darn well deliver on the promises you made around those expectations, 100 percent without any exceptions.” (Rose)

6. Be honest and direct.

“I don’t think anyone performs well, especially in sales, without transparency and honesty. Salespeople are naturally curious and trained to dig out the truth. Good managers give it to them without sugarcoating it. If salespeople are doing well or not, they should know right away. Once they know the truth about, for example, a question on performance, give them a clear path to achieve what you want and a clear picture of what will happen if they do or don’t.” (Rose)

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