3 Things Your Performance Management System Should Upgrade this Year

Did you know 70% of employees who gave their managers high ratings also rated their performance management system as “very good”?

We can’t say that all good managers have good tools, nor can we say effective tools will make an effective manager, but we do believe leaders and employees alike have a far better chance of happiness and efficiency when they have the necessary resources at their disposal. Part of the challenge of selecting the right tool is in knowing what features your performance management strategy needs to be successful.

Goal-Setting

When you don’t focus on your goals in performance management, you waste 30% of your capacity and performance potential. That means, if you have a goal but lose your focus, you are far less productive than if you were to continuously check in on your tasks and deliverables. Now, consider the exponential loss of productivity you probably experience when you never had a goal to begin with. Having a plan is absolutely pivotal to achieving a desired outcome, so your performance management system should include a process for setting workplace goals.

It’s not enough to simply state goals or write them on a board. Often, we set goals with good intentions, but busy schedules and everyday emails drown those ambitions out. A great performance management tool will allow for goals to be set and offer employee and managers a place to track progress.

Collaboration and Communication

Even with all the right pieces in place, there will be times that things simply don’t work out and we experience a less than desirable result. Lack of collaboration and ineffective communication was named the main source of workplace failures by 96% of executives. That is exactly why more collaboration and better communication efforts are integral for employee performance management.

Feedback is the answer to both. Make the most out of employee performance appraisals by including peer to peer reviews which will give leaders insight into usually unseen parts of the organization and allow employees a better view of how their work affects coworkers. Use the findings to make recommendations and give advice as well as relay those positive remarks, too. Impressing leadership is wonderful, but employees are far more excited when they know their contributions are felt by their teammates.

Metrics and Measurements

An organization could have all the above moving parts in place with excellent strategies to encourage all their uses and still never really see the improvement. How? There is no means of tracking. Similar to setting goals and tracking their progress, employee performance management has to have metrics and check-ins. If managed properly, leaders will have a better chance of seeing an issue before it becomes a full-blown or company-wide problem.

Good performance management technology will feature reporting or will offer means for you to create your own. Data should focus on things like performance history and rater biases (if 360-degree reviews are included). All those pieces will ensure you have the full story around an individual’s performance.

The same study from above found 54% of employees felt their company’s performance management system was not effective. That is a staggering statistic that says chances are your organization is looking for a better employee performance process. Luckily, you have landed in the right place for all of the above features. Each are included in Trakstar’s platform and we have a team ready to help you use them all to their fullest (in no time!)