Focusing managers and staff on delivering business goals

An effective Performance Management System motivates & empowers the team to deliver business goals & targets whilst simultaneously reducing poor performance

Performance Management Systems and managing by objectives are not new concepts but many organisations have yet to implement these standard business practices. Many senior managers and staff still consider performance management to be solely concerned with disciplining or controlling staff.

In reality, Performance Management offers modern organisations an essential framework that enables managers and staff to define and understand their contribution towards their organisations’ key result areas. This one day course explains how a well thought through and implemented performance management system provides clear guidance to all staff where to focus and maximise their efforts and realise their potential.

An effective Performance Management System motivates and empowers the team to deliver the goals the business needs and through the use of clear unambiguous targets enables self- monitoring and actually minimises under-performance. It provides clarity on how their individual efforts contribute to overall business success and provides the mechanisms for them to measure and track their own performance. Regular structured supervision, performance reviews and appraisals will provide opportunities to praise recognize personal and professional contribution and reward success whilst simultaneously providing an effective platform to review barriers and agree new approaches where there is a performance short fall.

This highly practical and pragmatic workshop provides participants with the framework, skills and knowledge to introduce and use an effective performance manage system, one that motivates and empowers staff to focus on the issues that matter and to help them contribute to success.

Whilst the approaches and techniques considered in this workshop deliver optimum returns when applied across the whole organisation, they are equally applicable to an individual department or team. This approach will enable a system to be duly piloted prior to being mainstreamed within an organisation, consortium or business.

For Whom
This workshop will be of benefit to all managers who have the authority to agree overall and individual goals with their subordinates and are looking for effective ways to better achieve personal and team success. Directors, CEOs, strategic and senior operational managers who need to empower and motivate their workforce to achieve corporate and strategic objectives effectively, economically and efficiently will also derive significant benefit from this course. This workshop will also be of interest to those working in human resources, strategic and senior operational management who need to understand better what an effective performance management system looks like and how it can link business strategies and plans to appraisals, promotion and even pay review.

Aims and Objectives
By attending these workshop participants will understand or understand better

• how to cascade business plans, goals and objectives to subordinates and staff more effectively
• How to focus management and staff time on the areas that deliver results
• The links between effective performance management and business results.
• Ways to monitor and measure performance against agreed goals
• How to run regular performance review meetings that
• encourage staff to reach agreed goals
• identify barriers to success
• realign pick up any development opportunities
• Recognise when to give formal and informal motivational feedback.

Content

1. An Introduction to Performance Management
   The first session provides and overview of what effective performance management is and what it looks like in practice. This session identifies both positive and negative features of Performance Management – explored later in the day through practical exercises.

2. Establishing and Cascading Goals
   Effective Performance management is based on agreeing a wide range of SMART objectives and resultant tasks at all levels across the business and providing the necessary tools to enable individuals and their managers to benchmark, measure and track performance against them.

• Goals and Objectives
• Divisional
• Departmental
• Teams
• Individual
• Making Objectives SMART
• Define tasks which are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, time-bound?
• Making SMART targets SMARTA – the importance of and achieving agreement

3. Measuring Performance
   Measuring performance is pivotal, if those involved are unable to measure and track performance the whole system will fail. We will explore good practice in formulating and designing key criteria and performance indicators that measure performance accurately and reliably. We also explore criteria for effective functioning including task analysis, customer satisfaction and attitudinal progression.

4. The Performance Review
   Session 4 considers what an effective performance review consists of, how and when they should take place and places emphasis on the need to focus on overcoming barriers and achieving results. This session also considers what to do on the rare occasions that task and result objectives are continually missed. In doing so it provides a framework that ensures fairness and robustness to any disciplinary action that may ultimately become necessary.

5. Annual and Performance Appraisals, Pay Reviews and Promotion
   This session explores how outputs from Performance Reviews feed into appraisal and potentially impact upon pay reviews, promotion and management of under-performance.

6. Overcoming Obstacles and Barriers
   Using the issues flagged up as the day has progressed as a starting point this session considers what barriers could slow or hinder implementation and how these are best overcome.