5 Strategies for Effective Business Performance Management {Updated}
Performance management is all about employee satisfaction and performance. Its primary task is to help employees align with the company’s values and goals.
To build a consistent company culture, it is not enough to set yearly targets or create annual reports. Business performance management focuses on ongoing communication between managers and employees.
Here are a few business performance tactics to implement right now.
1. Keep the Finger on Employees’ Pulse
Employee satisfaction correlates with workplace engagement and retention. However, only 40% of employees say they are very engaged at work.
To keep your employees engaged, you need to stay on top of employee needs, problems, and expectations.
Start by conducting employee satisfaction surveys. These surveys are vital to managers who want to measure employee satisfaction in specific business areas, such as coworker relationships, time management, career advancement, workplace anxiety, etc. All survey questions should be simple and unambiguous.
You should also schedule regular one-on-one meetings with staff members. While they are not as reliable as anonymous feedback, they can still help you build honest and transparent relationships with your team. 1-on-1s can serve as a foundation for understanding each employee – their concerns, needs, emotional states, obstacles, and long-term goals.
2. Conduct Peer Reviews
Peer reviews, or 360-degree employee performance reviews, play a fundamental role in your company culture. They provide a well-rounded view of employee performance, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses. Most importantly, this practice encourages team members to work together. It improves their communication and helps them understand how they can perform at their best.
In this type of appraisal system, each employee is assessed by their colleagues, supervisors, or customers. When performing peer reviews, it is essential to interview the right people – those who work in the same department and collaborate regularly. Employees themselves participate in the 360-degree assessment through the process of self-evaluation.
3. Invest in Business Efficiency and Transparency
Effective and transparent business processes are the backbone of your performance management strategy. They build trust with employees and boost their satisfaction.
Now, to improve employee communication, invest in a solid internal communications plan. It should combine different tools, such as instant messaging software, task management platforms, and intranets. These channels enable seamless communication among your team members, regardless of their location.
Project management tools increase project transparency and enhance collaboration. Employees can easily add new projects, delegate tasks, share files, and track relevant communication threads. All interactions happen in real-time, via multiple devices.
With cloud-based employee scheduling tools, you can set clear expectations and communicate them to employees. They eliminate the need for Excel spreadsheets and boost the visibility of employee activities and rosters. Employees can clock in and out seamlessly, either on-site or via mobile apps.
The example of Hotel Grand Chancellor, four-star hotels in Australia and New Zealand, backs me up on that. Before investing in a scheduling tool, they created employee rosters manually and printed them. Managers were unable to track employees’ shifts and overtime. To prevent massive time theft, they invested in Humanforce. According to their case study, this scheduling software from Australia has helped the hotel boost roster transparency and reduce labor costs.
4. Provide Regular Performance Feedback
Your organization is not limited to comprehensive annual reports. To boost employee performance and engagement, you can also create annual, semiannual, or quarterly reviews. Some companies even provide employees with weekly performance reviews.
When creating performance reports, build them around relevant metrics. They should affirm employee skills and positive behaviors, as well as highlight areas for improvement. Above all, they should provide helpful tips on improving career and performance.
Timely and consistent feedback is a proven way to show your employees that you care about them. It affirms their effort. Most importantly, it helps them understand the company’s expectations. That way, they can improve their performance to align with your company’s values and expectations.
5. Practice Preemptive Management and Recognition
One of the most effective ways to boost workplace morale is to practice preemptive management and provide regular employee incentives.
Preemptive management is all about transparency. It eliminates guesswork from employee management. Employees should always know what your company’s goals, values, and missions are. They should understand what is expected of them so they can meet the company standards.
Employee incentives are a powerful way to show employees that you see their efforts and appreciate them. Research studies back me up on that. Namely, when asked how to boost workplace satisfaction and morale, 58% of managers highlighted employee recognition as the most effective strategy.
To level the playing field, consider investing in employee recognition software. It makes the process transparent, making reward criteria the same for everyone.
Keep Performance Management Employee-Centrics
These business performance management strategies may seem tedious. However, they can give your company an unexpected boost when implemented strategically.
- The goal is simple – build a company culture that focuses on your employees.
- Keep communications transparent.
- Collect employee feedback and provide regular performance reports.
- Set clear goals and communicate them.
- Make sure employees’ behaviors align with company values.
- Recognize employees when they shine and give them a hand when they need it.
- Only that way will you create an employee-centered business performance strategy.
What tactics do you use in performance management?