Committing to goal achievement
A manager's desires and requirements do not become goals until employees or teams choose to expend the time and effort to achieve it. When goals are clear, worthwhile, and challenging, the greater the chances that the employee will be motivated to achieve them.
Goals are not tasks, but results – Outputs. Goals shift focus from tasks and work habits to work outcomes.
Soliciting performance feedback and coaching
Actively seeking feedback and making use of the data to improve performance. Example: reviewing plans with manager in advance, describing actions to be taken and soliciting assistance. Manager should have something to contribute: prevents surprises and helps eliminate the possibility of the manager’s later complaining that an obvious problem was not anticipated
Communicating openly and regularly with manager
Schedule times to just “visit” to discuss performance and projects – put them on your calendar, if it helps, at regular intervals
Collecting and sharing performance data
As projects are completed and goals are achieved, the individual needs to advise the manager of the current status of the objectives that were set at the beginning of the period.
Preparing for performance reviews
The review meeting is a dialogue. Employees are expected to prepare for the meeting and to be an active participant.
Creating conditions that generate motivation
The results of high motivation are job satisfaction, drive, enthusiasm, and achievement.
What motivates your employees? Ask them. Motivators usually deal with job content and demotivators deal with job context.
- opportunity to achieve
- chance to accomplish
- recognition
- feedback
- ‘real’ responsibility
- learn and grow – stretched
- discretion
- autonomy
- stimulating and worthwhile work
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- out of date policies
- administered unfairly, haphazardly
- inept or incompetent supervision
- inadequate salary
- working conditions
- bad benefits
- interpersonal relationships
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Managers have control over the motivators by delegating tasks valued by the organization, increasing opportunities for achievement, increasing the number of decisions an employee is allowed to make, and assigning projects that will cause learning and growth.
Observing and documenting performance
Make a brief and informal note, recording date, the facts and details of the incident, the specific behavior or the employee and the effect on the work or the people involved.
Update, revise initial objectives, performance standards, and job competency areas.
Successful performance management must be dynamic: conditions change over the course of the performance cycle, standards of performance expected of managers and individuals also need to change.
Providing feedback and coaching
"Feedback is information that has the ability to assist the performer to make midcourse corrections that increase the probability of goal attainment.” Dick Grote
Without an objective and standards that define success in accomplishing the objective, feedback is useless data or opinion.
Performance problems require examination of objectives, standards, and feedback the individual is using to assess his or her performance; if one is defective then it is impossible to achieve a good result.
Coaching for improved performance is critical.
Providing developmental experiences
Individuals are responsible for their own development, although managers can make developmental opportunities available. Developmental experiences can range from participation in workshops to opportunities “in place” that offer occasions for genuine development.
Reinforcing effective behavior and progress toward objectives
We seek information concerning what activities are rewarded, and then seek to do those things, often to the virtual exclusion of activities not rewarded.
“For an organization to act upon its members the formal reward system should positively reinforce desired behavior, not constitute an obstacle to be overcome.” S. Kerr