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As a lifelong learner of business management and student to the art of growing companies, I find it ever increasingly important to focus on performance and its relation to profits. Unfortunately, many managers get wrapped up in business intelligence reports, data and accounting. But, they forget all about what could truly change everything about your company today.
Performance Effects Profits
What could change your profits so dramatically? It is the performance executed by your employees, staff and executive team. When performance and productivity increase, the numbers which you are looking at on your balance sheet will completely change. That’s because, balance sheets are a one-time snapshot of the company. It does not help you forecast what is going to happen in the future unless you account for all of the non-financial variables like performance and productivity.
Increase Productivity, Increase Profits
Of course, the balance sheet, income statement and cash flow statement are all very important to a sound business strategy. To clarify, we are only suggesting that while they are necessary, managers must focus on improving performance to increase productivity and profits. That’s why, today we will take our heads out of the books and explore what is happening right in front of us.
Performance management starts with proper employee evaluation systems. However, evaluating employees is not always a pleasant activity. Often times, it is swept under the rug and skipped if possible.
People Are Our Greatest Resource
If people are our greatest resource as a small business, company or corporation, it would make sense that we should be monitoring them and helping them to grow as much as possible. They deserve the most attention because they have the greatest potential to make an impact on the business positively or negatively. Needless to say, it is very important to have proper employee evaluation systems in place in order to have effective team management overall.
Performance Appraisal Training
If at all possible, you should consider taking performance appraisal training courses. This is something that should definitely be done before implementing a new performance management system at any organization, especially ones that practice lean management. Performance appraisal courses and help you develop the skills you need to evaluate employee performance and then deliver feedback appropriately. This is a learned skill. It is not something you will innately be good at. Consider asking HR to provide performance evaluation training for you and anyone else who needs it before you dive into creating a new plan.
Painless Performance Management
To make your performance management strategy as painless as possible, you can implement an ongoing employee evaluation requirement. By creating a new policy for employee evaluation, their performance can be measured more accurately in order to have a benchmark for improvement. The key difference is that it is a requirement. That means, employee evaluations cannot be skipped or missed. They are mandatory.
Regular Evaluations
Secondly, it is important to have these evaluations regularly. By making it a routine, it clears the air on issues that are currently existing and improves employee engagement. Additionally, it will open up communication channels so that issues do not build up to the point where it can be a major problem.
The First Step Is Planning
If you really want to bring proper performance management into your workplace, you are going to need to plan first. This is true of almost everything in your career, but it is especially so in the case of effective management of employee performance. Before you start to call your employees in for meetings, there is some preparation work you are going to have to do. Make sure you review the job descriptions of each and every worker’s position that you will be evaluating. If the reality of what some employees are doing is different than that list of responsibilities, update the job description. Then, be sure to notify the employee of the change during your preliminary evaluation meeting. This will greatly improve the performance management strategy foundation so that you and your employees are happy and productive.
Undoubtedly, these performance management tactics maybe painful in the beginning. But, as you create a habit for proper employee evaluation and performance improvement, you will see the initiative take traction. Do not give up and be firm about your new policy. Before you know it, you will have a painless performance management that operates just like any other part of the company and helps you get closer to figuring out how to become a CEO.
Image from http://articles.philly.com/2015-04-25/business/61497801_1_human-resource-director-systems-managers
