Performance Management Beyond The Annual Review
Performance management, when limited to annual reviews, is frequently a source of great frustration for supervisors and their reports. Annual reviews may feel forced and superficial. Yet, when performance management is done in a comprehensive manner, employees become more productive and annual reviews less stressful.
Through extensive research, the Gallup Organization found that supervisors account for at least 70% of employee job satisfaction, effectiveness and engagement. One Gallup study revealed that one in two had left their job to get away from their supervisor, thus supporting the maxim, “people don’t leave jobs, they leave supervisors.”
Gallup studies further show that effective supervisors engage in ongoing performance management activities that help employees reach their full potential. Specifically, these are activities that create high levels of engagement and affirmative employee responses to the following statements:
- I know what is expected of me at work.
- I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right.
- At work, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day.
- Recently I have received recognition or praise for doing good work.
- Someone at work seems to care about me as a person.
- There is someone at work who encourages my development.
- At work, my opinions seem to count.
- The mission of my work place makes me feel my job is important.
- My fellow employees are committed to doing quality work.
- I have a close friend at work.
- In the last 6 months someone has talked to me about my progress.
- In the last year, I have had opportunities at work to learn and grow.
To determine your employees’ level of engagement and job satisfaction, ask them to indicate beside each of the above statements where they would place themselves on a scale of one to five, where “1” equals Strongly Disagree, and “5” equals Strongly Agree.
Survey Tabulation Grid
| Total of 1’s | Total of 2’s | Total of 3’s | Total of 4’s | Total of 5’s | Total |
Survey Key:
1 – 24: Conditions That Discourage and Inhibit Employee Engagement
25 – 36: Conditions That Encourage and Promote Employee Engagement That Is More Miss Than Hit; Working Mostly Against Employee Engagement
37 – 47: Conditions That Encourage and Promote Employee Engagement That Is Hit or Miss; Working Both For and Against Engagement
48 – 60: Conditions That Encourage and Promote Employee Engagement
Performance Management Follow-Up Questions
- What performance management activities can you devise to increase the number of Strongly Agree responses among those you supervise?
- What can you do to make these activities a habitual part of your performance management process?
- How are you going to hold yourself accountable?
Posted on April 25, 2017
