What does an effective performance management system look like?

I have worked in multiple organizations, and I have served as a business advisor or executive coach to many others. Each used some type of performance management system or set of practices, whether formally instituted or (often in smaller organizations) just by the way things got done. So, what are the hallmarks of effective performance management?

**Note: I use the term “role” for “job”, and “role description” for “job description”

**Note: I use the term “accountable manager” to describe the one person in a managerial role who is ultimately accountable for the performance and performance results of team members. This is the one person who decides on hiring, termination, pay raises, reviews/appraisals, etc.

Define Expectations

Step One: Review With Your Own Manager

Upon being assigned to a managerial role, one of the first things a manager should do is to review all assigned roles and role descriptions with their own manager. After all, it is the senior manager who provides the context and resources for these roles and responsibilities. Here are some things to discuss:

• Is each role still required? (Sometimes managers inherit a team that has roles that are no longer required) Need to validate that all roles are still required.
• Do all required roles have a role description? (Sometimes organizations don’t even have them) Need to have role descriptions for all roles; the two managers will create them if needed.
• Does each role description clearly describe the work/tasks required? (Sometimes role descriptions are woefully out of date, unclear, wordy, incomplete, etc.) Need current, easy to understand role descriptions.
• Does the organization require all employees to adhere to certain values, behaviors or expectations? (Sometimes organizations have these, but they are not tied to role descriptions.) Need values and expectations for all employees identified on role descriptions. (more later)

After they have reviewed all required role descriptions with their own manager, accountable managers need to review them with all team members.

Step Two: Review With Team Members

One of the very first meetings new accountable managers have with individual team members is to review their role description and to clearly communicate expectations. Some pertinent questions managers should ask include:

• Is there anything on this role description that you don’t do or haven’t done? (sometimes it occurs that people have not yet been in a role long enough to perform all assigned tasks or maybe they just don’t do certain tasks anymore) Need to validate what is in and out of scope; may need to revisit with their own manager to confirm required work.
• Is there anything you are doing that is not listed? (sometimes previous managers have asked people to do certain repetitive tasks that just never got included on a role description) Need to validate what is in and out of scope; may need to revisit with their own manager to confirm required work.
• Is there anything else you think you could be doing or might wish to do in this role? (sometimes people have great ideas that could benefit the company or customers) Need to validate what is in and out of scope; may need to revisit with their own manager to confirm required work.

The answers to these questions can sometimes enable enlightening discussions, especially when there are multiple people assigned to a single role and the manager receives different interpretations about what’s required. Most times, the manager should be able to discern what’s going on and move forward; other times the manager will need to seek clarification from their own manager. Regardless, the objective of Step 2 is for each employee to have reviewed their role description with their one accountable manager and for them to clearly know their managers’ expectations.

In the next post, we’ll discuss how managers can use role descriptions to coach employees to success.