Performance Management: Sustaining Optimal Performance

Organizations are currently facing increasing demands and challenges in a highly competitive marketplace. Today's business environment demands that both companies and individuals perform at much higher levels than in the past. Given the highly competitive and rapidly changing landscape of today's marketplace, organizational leaders are under tremendous pressure to produce significant and sustainable results in their businesses. How employees are managed plays an important role in an organization's ability to successfully meet future challenges. Employees must have a clear understanding of what is expected of them and how to measure performance in terms of quality, safety, productivity, and customer service.

Performance Management is the on-going process by which employees' work accomplishments are linked with the goals of the business. One of the key elements in performance management is establishment and review of important job requirements and expectations pertaining to employees and their jobs. Having a clear understanding of expectations gives employees direction, helps set priorities, and serves as a focal point for discussion as conditions change. Thus, good performance management helps optimize the utilization of the workforce to improve overall productivity, quality, safety and customer satisfaction.

At WMC, our focus on Performance Management is more than just an annual performance appraisal. WMC works with it clients to develop and implement a systematic, results oriented approach to managing people at work. The Performance Management systems designed by WMC provide the organization with an on-going process of planning, directing, observing and reinforcing performance to achieve business goals. It is essentially a process and tool to be used to facilitate two-way communication about performance. At WMC, our goal is to develop Performance Management systems that help managers and employees work together to promote successful performance on the job. A Performance Management system that is well designed helps managers and employees clarify job functions and objectives, recognize accomplishments, and plan future development. This is achieved through formal methods, including the performance planning and evaluation processes as well as informal methods such as frequent feedback and coaching.

It is important to keep in mind that Performance Management is a process that must be used throughout the year; it is not just for documenting and evaluating performance at the end of the year. Effective performance management requires both the employee and his/her manager to monitor performance. One cannot expect behavior to be modified effectively if performance is addressed only once a year. At WMC, we believe that performance management is an active process, with employees and managers working together to help achieve important goals and provide quality products and services.

At WMC, we have extensive experience in working with organizations to develop effective Performance Management systems for a variety of positions including management, first level supervision, sales, information technology, customer service, and more. WMC specializes in system design, competency model development and performance management training.

Performance Management Workshop: Getting the Most Out of Employee Appraisals

Performance Management Workshop: Getting the Most Out of Employee Appraisals This workshop helps managers understand that performance management is a process to guide and develop effective on-the-job performance and just not an annual end-of-the-year event. It will help managers meet the challenge of change and how effective performance management practices can spell the difference between success and failure. Participants will learn to:

• Enhance employee performance through on-going feedback and coaching
• Objectively evaluate performance against performance standards and expectations
• Comply with the legal aspects of performance reviews and documentation