When utilised well, performance management can be a powerful tool to drive your professional development while making a valuable contribution to the goals of your team and those of your organisation. Commitment from both employees and managers, together with ongoing meaningful feedback conversations, are essential to successful performance management.
As an employee, you can get the most out of your participation in your organisation’s performance management process by doing the following:
- Familiarise yourself with the strategic and operational planning objectives that are relevant to your work, e.g. plans for your team, work unit, and the broader organisation’s strategic planning documents.
- Ensure you understand your position description, job competencies, responsibilities, priorities and performance expectations. How you can contribute to these objectives?
- Consider what it is that you are expected to produce or achieve in each of your key responsibility areas over the coming performance review period. This will help you to formulate your work goals.
- Meet with your manager for performance planning purposes – to collaboratively agree on goals for your work, professional and career development for the coming review period, that are appropriate for your position and contribute in some way to the goals of your work unit and the broader organisation.
- Ensure you have role clarity – an understanding, agreed with your manager, of what’s expected of you, by when and to what standard.
- Regularly monitor and track your progress against your goals, communicating their status to your manager, especially when there are obstacles or challenges threatening your goal achievement.
- Work to establish and maintain a positive relationship with your manager.
- Proactively seek feedback on your performance from your manager and others you work with, such as colleagues, direct reports, customers and suppliers.
- Regularly exchange constructive, informal 2-way performance feedback with others at work.
- Be receptive to feedback, accepting constructive feedback and taking the initiative to improve.
- Seek support as required.
- Take responsibility for your own professional and career development by proactively seeking learning opportunities both at work and through external learning resources.
- Keep your performance plan ‘alive’ and meaningful through regular maintenance activities such as reviewing it, discussing it with your manager and team, monitoring and tracking your progress against it, and updating it when required.
- Keep a portfolio of quantitative and qualitative evidence to substantiate your performance achievements, outcomes, successes and challenges. This could consist of feedback received, work outputs, survey results, reports, awards and training certificates.
- Self-assess your own performance prior to meeting formally with your manager to review your performance. Be honest and objective about your performance but don’t underestimate your abilities.
- Meet formally with your manager as required to discuss and review your performance over the past review period.
Consultrain provides training for employees in how to participate effectively in performance development processes, including how to set effective goals for their work and professional development, and how to exchange performance related feedback.
For more information, contact adele@consultrain.com.au or call 0412 683 759