Performance Management

Q: As a manager with five direct reports, I struggle to manage poor performance in my team. Any quick tips on how to do it better?

A: It’s so important that as mangers and supervisors feedback is given to staff on a regular basis. This feedback can be given informally via regular weekly one-on-one sessions or via formal performance appraisals. The importance of coaching our staff cannot be overlooked as this not only improves performance also increases job satisfaction which in turn aids retention of staff.

Odyssey Training offers a range of professional development courses focusing on these areas, including our popular Feedback and Coaching Skills to Develop Staff that aims to arm participants with techniques and coaching tools to utilize back in the workplace.

Q: What are some of the root causes of poor workplace performance?

A: Thorough initial on-the-job training is imperative to the overall performance of any employee. If the support and guidance is not there initially we are almost setting our staff up for failure. Professional development training in the area of identified weakness can also assist in cases where poor performance has been identified. Perhaps the person can be trained on how to do things differently or maybe that skill set wasn’t initially required for the job. By retraining in areas of communication, management or conflict resolution we can often increase performance on the job. Without investigating further where the gap in performance is, we can’t identify and effectively rectify the problem.

In the current employment market it’s more important to retain existing knowledge and expertise than let it walk out the door when some additional support, training or coaching could be the solution to the existing problem.

Q: How important do you think it is to discover what motivates or drives an employee?

A: Without knowing what motivates your employees you will never have a high performance team working with you. At there recruitment stage a great question to ask is – What motivates you on a day to day basis to come to work? If the answer is something you can’t provide in the workplace than you know that person is not necessarily going to be the right fit.

Discovering what motives your employees through understanding their basic needs at work enables you to draw on those motivators and use them in times of lower performance. Money is not the only motivator, gone are the days we used to say – throw some money at the problem to solve it. Now staff  are looking for achievement, recognition, an opportunity for advancement and a great working environment. If we aren’t able to provide those things for the workers we need to identify what we can provide. Often a simple thank you or job well done goes a long way to bridging that gap.

[Source: Human Capital, Issue 6.11]