That time of year has come again when appraisals, annual reviews and performance management meetings are back on the agenda. That email lands in your inbox with the title “Performance Management Meeting” and you are probably filled with a sense of dread. Why? Why does the phrase “performance management” have such a negative connotation, when it is meant to be a positive time to be constructive and rewarding?

We seem to be conditioned to feel negatively towards performance management because anything which “assesses” us is historically quite a stressful and therefore often negative experience.

But we know that performance management is actually a very good thing and if managers are using it negatively then they are using it wrong! Performance management is about having regular, open and honest conversations, and is an opportunity to learn how someone is doing. It should be an opportunity to learn how one might progress to the next level in the company, or how to improve and develop a skill set in order to meet personal goals.

It should not be an opportunity to focus on a persons weaknesses in a way which doesn’t offer any improvements or solutions. Attempting to prod or worry employees into improvement by highlighting weaknesses is counter productive. Instead, managers should be looking for ways to overcome hurdles and help employees to improve their skills in a constructive and positive way.

As we know, everyone is different with different motivating factors. Whilst one employee might be very motivated by money, another may be motivated instead by career progression. So how do you know if you are using the correct reward?

Performance-related pay can potentially be a negative reward system for some employees, particularly if the KPIs and targets are not set fairly. If an employee feels they may lose some of their income which is vital just to maintain their personal living standards, they could very quickly begin to associate these targets with stress and financial pressure.

What if we changed the reward to performance-based progression instead? Sure, we can’t promote everybody all of the time, but are there ways we can reward employees via organisational progression or development? This would be a good way to show value and appreciation of staff, whilst developing the internal team.

Pivotal to performance management are KPIs and targets – have you set the right ones? Are they realistic? Are they actually in the employees control? Are they motivating?

We see the wrong KPIs being set very often and this can often lead to demotivated employees who learn to dread their performance management meetings.

Every individual will have different goals and these will align with the organisational goals in unique ways. This is why goals should be an individual process, and they should meet the SMART criteria:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Results-focused
• Time-bound

Motivating an employee is not about putting pressure on to reach certain targets in a set time, but rather about understanding where they currently sit and motivating them to get to the next level in an achievable way.

We often see targets which are in the interest of the organisation, such as to meet certain sales targets or deliver within a short time frame. Goals should be factoring both the employees and the organisational goals, in order to make them both motivating and effective.

Sometimes the goals and rewards have been set appropriately but employees still consider performance management to be a negative thing. Often this can simply come down to storytelling and language.

Using negative words such as “weaknesses” or “under performance” rather than “areas for improvement” can make all the difference. Performance reviews should be a motivating pep talk rather than a verbal beating, with negative feedback delivered with positive language and ideally, in a nice feedback sandwich (delivered between two positive comments).

We believe that positive performance management can be the key to satisfied employees, high performing teams and ultimately, customer experience. When employees are motivated, reviewed and rewarded appropriately they can thrive and will be more motivated to help the organisation meet their goals. Sometimes a company change is needed to turn performance management from a negative experience to a positive and useful tool and that is where Brightstone can help.

Change management and performance improvement are our areas of expertise – let us help you make a positive change in 2019!

Get in touch with Richard at Brightstone today!