Performance Management: An Overview

Performance management is an ongoing two-way communication process between the employee and his/her supervisor and it is not just about filling out an appraisal form at the end of the appraisal period.

Performance management aims at improving individual, departmental, and overall organizational performance by helping align individual and departmental goals with the overall goals and mission of the organization. It helps in setting specific employee performance goals, clarifying expected performance standards/results/levels of outputs, enhancing commitment to these performance goals and expectations, and encouraging coaching, mentoring, and feedback processes.

The expected benefits of the current performance management process include fostering an organizational culture that stresses high performance by focusing on results and accountabilities. It encourages communication and dialogue between supervisors and employees throughout the performance cycle, involving employees in setting the performance plans/goals/standards. The performance management process endorses continuous coaching, mentoring, and feedback, enhancing continuous learning and development, and gets employees established on the improvement map. It more accurately and objectively evaluates employee performance, tackling the gap between expected and actual performance in an effort to minimize it, and identifies and prioritizes development opportunities.

The performance management process is comprised of the following stages:

•  Performance planning which takes place at the beginning of the review period and involves setting and reviewing performance plans and expectations.
• Coaching and mentoring which takes place throughout the review period and involves holding meetings with employees on a periodic basis to provide regular coaching, mentoring, and feedback on employee performance.
• Performance appraisal which takes place at the end of the review period and involves writing constructive performance appraisals, conducting the appraisal interview, acknowledging past accomplishments and planning future performance goals.

Throughout the performance management process, the supervisor and the employee may identify training and competency development opportunities, and accordingly establish plans for performance development and career development.