Performance Management is therefore much more than merely telling a person what to do and “policing” them until it is done. Rather, it is an integral part of the manager and the employee’s job – it is a joint process.

The bottom-line reality is that we all need to know what is expected in a specific role – if that is lacking, uncertainty and frustration, resulting in demotivation and ineffectiveness, is created. This in turn impacts negatively on company performance and long-term sustainability of the organisation. To avoid this, clear goals and objectives need to be defined and that is the crux of an effective Performance Management system.

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT DEFINED

Performance Management is the process of defining clear objectives and targets for individuals and teams, and the regular review of actual achievement and eventual rewarding for target achievement.

The process should ensure that individual and team effort support the organisational objectives and that key stakeholder expectations are realised by focusing on key value drivers. Thus:

• Planning is crucial

• Stakeholder expectations are key drivers of Performance Management

• Management and employee buy-in and involvement are paramount

• Key objectives and targets should be linked to corporate strategy

These factors are often not addressed in organisations and as a result the process is often destructive and draws a tremendous amount of energy from the organisation – leading to a situation where value-add and benefits are minimal.

Performance Management should be a process that incorporates the following

• Planning Performance: setting Key Performance Area’s (KPA’s), objectives and standards that are linked to corporate strategy, development plans

• Maintaining Performance: monitoring, feedback, coaching and mentoring and regular interactions regarding goal achievement

• Reviewing Performance: formal feedback and ratings – evaluating performance

• Rewarding of Performance: increases, bonuses, incentives, etc