Performance Management

What is performance management?

Performance Management experts Armstrong and Baron, define performance management as “A process which contributes to the effective management of individuals and teams in order to achieve high levels of organisational performance. As such, it establishes shared understanding about what is to be achieved and an approach to leading and developing people which will ensure that it is achieved”. They go on to stress that it is 'a strategy which relates to every activity of the organisation set in the context of its human resource policies, culture, style and communications systems. The nature of the strategy depends on the organisational context and can vary from organisation to organisation.'

In other words performance management should be:

·       Strategic - it is about broader issues and longer-term goals

·       Integrated - it should link various aspects of the business, people management, and individuals and teams.

It should incorporate:

·       Performance improvement - throughout the organisation, for individual, team and organisational effectiveness

·       Development - unless there is continuous development of individuals and teams, performance will not improve

·       Managing behaviour - ensuring that individuals are encouraged to behave in a way that allows and fosters better working relationships.

At its best performance management is a tool to ensure that managers manage effectively and that they ensure the people or teams they manage:

·       know and understand what is expected of them

·       have the skills and ability to deliver on these expectations

·       are supported by the organisation to develop the capacity to meet these expectations are given feedback on their performance

·       have the opportunity to discuss and contribute to individual and team aims and objectives.

It is also about ensuring that managers themselves are aware of the impact of their own behaviour on the people they manage and are encouraged to identify and exhibit positive behaviours.

So performance management is about establishing a culture in which individuals and groups take responsibility for the continuous improvement of business processes and of their own skills, behaviour and contributions. It is about sharing expectations. Managers can clarify what they expect individual and teams to do; likewise individuals and teams can communicate their expectations of how they should be managed and what they need to do their jobs. It follows that performance management is about interrelationships and about improving the quality of relationships - between managers and individuals, between managers and teams, between members of teams and so on, and is therefore a joint process. It is also about planning - defining expectations expressed as objectives and in business plans - and about measurement; the old dictum is 'If you can't measure it, you can't manage it'. It should apply to all employees, not just managers, and to teams as much as individuals. It is a continuous process, not a one-off event. Last but not least, it is holistic and should pervade every aspect of running an organisation.

How does performance management work?

Because performance management is (or should be) so all-pervasive, it needs structures to support it. These should provide a framework to help people operate, and to help them to help others to operate. But it should not be a rigid system; there needs to be a reasonable degree of flexibility to allow people freedom to operate.

Performance management is a process, not an event. It operates as a continuous cycle.

Corporate strategic goals provide the starting point for business and departmental goals, followed by agreement on performance and development, leading to the drawing up of plans between individuals and managers, with continuous monitoring and feedback supported by formal reviews.

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