Employee Performance Management

© Copyright Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD, Authenticity Consulting, LLC.
Adapted from the Field Guide to Leadership and Supervision.

Simply put, performance management includes activities to ensure that goals are consistently being met in an effective and efficient manner. Performance management can focus on performance of the organization, a department, processes to build a product or service, employees, etc. Information in this topic will give you some sense of the overall activities involved in employee performance management. The reader would benefit from reviewing closely related topics referenced from the section , including basics concepts in performance management, organization performance management and group performance management.

Sections of This Topic Include:

Preparation

Preparation: A Story

The following story portrays some of the problems that can occur from not having any form of employee performance management in the workplace.
"We're Doing Great! How Come We're Not Performing?"

Overviews of Employee Performance Management

The following links provide a broad overview of the employee performance management process.
Performance Plan (repeated from "Basic Overview")
Overview of Employee Performance Management
Performance Management: An Overview

Also see:

Basic Overview of Supervision

Establishing Performance Goals

Strategic Planning (employee goals should align with strategic goals)
Task and Job Analysis
Job Descriptions
Competencies
Goal Setting with Employees

Also see:

benefits and compensation, career development, creativity and innovation, employee performance management, management by objectives, negotiating, personal development, Basic Overview of Supervision and training basics for supervisors and learners

Documenting a Performance Plan

Performance Plan (repeated from "Basic Overview")

Also see:

Define Performance Standards
Example Measurement Design for Accounts Payable Function (concise depiction of measures)
Example of a Performance Measurement System

Observing and Providing Feedback

Sharing Feedback
Preparing for performance appraisal discussions - Part I
Conducting performance appraisal discussions - Part II
Concluding performance appraisal discussions - Part III

Also see:

delegating, motivating, building trust and valuing diversity

These links may round out your skills:

coaching, counseling, delegating, mentoring, morale boosting, motivating and power and influence

If there are issues, these may be helpful:

conflict (interpersonal) and handling difficult people

Evaluating Performance (Performance Reviews / Appraisals)

Performance Appraisal (repeated from "Basic Overview")
Performance Reviews / Appraisals
Selecting from Among Publicly Available Assessments

Also see:

sharing feedback, listening, negotiating and presenting / speaking

These topics may be helpful:

counseling, morale boosting and motivating

If there are issues, these topics may be helpful:

conflict (interpersonal) and handling difficult people

Rewarding Performance

Reward Systems

Also see:

Benefits and Compensation

Recognizing Performance Problems ("Performance Gaps")

Performance Problems

Also see:

counseling and presenting / speaking

These topics may round out your skills:

coaching, delegating, mentoring, morale boosting, motivating and power and influence

If there are issues, these topics may be helpful:

conflict (interpersonal), handling difficult people, employee law, personal wellness, drugs and alcohol in the workplace, employee assistance programs and personnel policies

Performance Improvement / Development Plans

Performance Improvement Plan
Development Plan (repeated from "Basic Overview")

Also see:

coaching, delegating, mentoring, morale boosting, motivating, power and influence
and training basics for supervisors and learners

These topics may also be helpful:

employee law, personal wellness, drugs and alcohol in the workplace, employee assistance programs and personnel policies

Firing Employees

Also see:

employee law, personnel policies and staffing

Additional Resources

List of useful links about employee performance management
Onboarding: A review of the literature associated with new manager orientation, applicable to most employees
Leadership and Supervision (building leaders at every level)
Leadership & Supervision
Transformational Leadership & Supervision
Managing Day-to-Day Employee Performance
5 Performance Management Tasks That are Often Overlooked
Improving Employee Engagement to Drive Business Performance
Driving Growth Through Workforce Empowerment: The Business Case for Integrated HCM

For the Category of Supervision:

Recommended Books

For Supervising Yourself, See
Personal Development -- Related Books

For Developing Individuals, See
Training and Development -- Recommended Books

For Supervising Teams, See
Facilitation and Teams -- Related Books

General Information About Supervising Other Individuals

Field Guide to Leadership and Supervision in Business: by Carter McNamara, published by Authenticity Consulting, LLC. Provides step-by-step, highly practical guidelines to recruit, utilize and evaluate the best employees for your business. Includes guidelines to effectively lead yourself (as Board member or employee), other individuals, groups and organizations. Includes guidelines to avoid burnout -- a very common problem among employees of small businesses. Many materials in this Library's topic about staffing are adapted from this book.

Field Guide to Leadership and Supervision With Nonprofit Staff: by Carter McNamara, published by Authenticity Consulting, LLC. Provides step-by-step, highly practical guidelines to recruit, utilize and evaluate the best staff members for your nonprofit. Includes guidelines to effectively lead yourself (as Board member or staff member), other individuals, groups and organizations. Includes guidelines to avoid burnout -- a very common problem among nonprofit staff. Many materials in this Library's topic about staffing are adapted from this book.

The following books are recommended because of their highly practical nature and often because they include a wide range of information about this Library topic. To get more information about each book, just hover your cursor over the image of the book. A "bubble" of information will be displayed. You can click on the title of the book in that bubble to get more information, too.

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Employee Performance Management

Sections of This Topic Include:

Preparation