Performance Evaluations is The Key to Employee Development

Developing employees is the key to their productivity, motivation, and satisfaction.

How engaged are the employees in your company? How focused are they on key company goals? How meaningful and effective are your performance evaluations?

Based on our experiences working with our clients, reading the results of employee surveys, examining “best place to work” questions and answers, employees are saying:

• They want consistent and meaningful communication with management.
• They want definitive “career” plans, goals and objectives.
• They want regular feedback and want to be a part of the bigger plan.

Companies are finding that traditional, “once- a- year” performance appraisal programs do not do this. They are not structured to provide frequent and consistent communication.

What, then, must managers do to ensure employees are engaged in their organizations? How do they do meaningful, effective performance evaluations? The concept of Continuous Improvement may just be the answer. CI is now becoming a foundation for effective performance development because of its plan, do, check, act, philosophy.

Such a program needs three parts:

1. Individual Development Plan (IDP)

The IDP is an individualized career plan prepared by the employee and his/her supervisor to define and identify the steps necessary for the employee’s advancement in conjunction with career goals.

2. Performance Development Document (PDD)

The PDD is the basis for the employee performance evaluation process. Each employee, in conjunction with his/her supervisor, will establish a set of business-related goals for the evaluation period. These goals will be in consonance with the employee’s career interests (IDP) and his/her role in implementing the organizations’ strategic objectives.

These documents can be made a part of the company’s intranet system and available as on on-line activity, or be separate, independent documents maintained by the employee and the supervisor.

3. Management/Employee feedback sessions

Ongoing meetings with the employees are used to quickly assess the progress and needed adjustments. A quick review of the IDP is made to confirm its on target.
Continuous Improvement is applied to employee development by establishing goals (plan), accomplishing work (do), monitoring progress (check) and adjusting actions and goals (act). The focus is on successful goal accomplishment rather than an after-the-fact evaluation of right or wrong. It is effective and does not impose an annual event burden on either the employee or the manager. In fact, after the career plan is in place, the follow-up meetings to discuss performance can be done in very “crisp” 15-to-20 minute quarterly meetings.

As the process continues, the supervisor’s role will be as a coach and mentor to the employee, providing effective and consistent guidance and support, and offering the best opportunity for the employee to reach his/her goals. This program leads to a more focused workforce generating higher quality, with improved retention and increased productivity.

This program is proving to be a successful answer for firms in many industries with similar situations because it addresses the majority of the issues of employee engagement. It provides the employee and management with a sustainable method of establishing and maintaining consistent communications leading to effective performance for both the company and the individual.

Bill McClure spent 35 years in various management roles with Lockheed Martin.

Originally published by the Fort Worth Business Press