Eira Consulting Ltd
Performance Management
One of the first things a manager can do to ensure he or she has an efficient and high performing team is to identify and monitor the individuals’ performance in order to understand and fulfil the training requirements of the team. This really should not be confused with setting objectives for staff. You may have objectives in place for your team, but that does not actually mean your team is providing a good service to your customers or fellow employees.
A successful department will typically start by identifying and agreeing specific standards and consider how best to measure them. Once you have these measures in place, the next step will be to establish target performance levels for all the chosen standards (KPIs) using information gained from benchmarking exercises, past performance or experience. Examples could be; How many errors in the payroll are acceptable? How quickly do you answer telephone calls? How promptly do you respond to payroll queries? How quickly can you rectify an underpayment to an employee? When are leavers issued with their P45? And for integrated HR/payroll teams, when do new starters receive their contract of employment? How long does it take to recruit a new employee? Can an employee register on a training course quickly and simply?
A professional department is not only dependent upon its ability to attract and retain staff, but also on its ability to manage and utilise these employees fully. Common sense argues strongly that a company should encourage all members of staff to undertake their individual responsibilities to the best of their ability. To achieve this, a company will need to apply effective personnel management techniques with a view to motivating its people and encouraging teamwork.
Once you know what your performance looks like, it’s very important to ensure you give appropriate feedback to your teams.
If your team is going to improve its performance – or even maintain it at its current level – they need to know how they're doing. Feedback is an essential aspect of motivation and also of performance management and improvement. Unless people know how they are doing, as well as what they are meant to be doing, they have no way of judging their own performance and take corrective action where necessary. Any system or measure you set up to monitor and control performance standards must include some means of letting people know how well they are doing.
Eira Consulting will work with you to understand where your strong performers are and establish ways of ensuring that they are challenged sufficiently to continue the high level of performance. We will also support your team member who may need a little more encouragement and work with them to set appropriate targets, managing their improvements along the way.
By using simple but effective tools to monitor individuals on a regular basis and ensuring the process you use to develop and manage your team is consistent, you will end up with individuals that are motivated and working towards a common set of goals within a unified team.