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Thursday, December 4, 2014

How To Develop A Successful Business Performance Assessment Program

By Claudine Hodges


Having the most qualified employees in your organization is not a guarantee that they will deliver. They require performance assessment programs that review their work with the aim of guiding them and offering insights in areas where weaknesses have been detected. The success of any business performance assessment program depends on the strength of several key pillars. The pillars touch on the management and personnel at all levels.

Target selection and continuous as well as conscientious development of your workforce- only employees with a realistic chance of delivering should be hired. The opportunity to improve their skills must be provided. No effort will produce results if the employees have little aptitude or are not trained for the job.

Free circulation of ideas and actions throughout the organization- every individual must be aware of the expectations from those above him and those below. It is these expectations that enable supervisors to provide necessary tools to their juniors and the juniors to meet targets set by their supervisors. This level of awareness creates a common goal which everyone works towards. With clarity of expectations, appraisal is easy to conduct.

Inclusion of regular assessment among supervisory responsibilities- the organization must assign resources to assessment through setting of targets and giving feedback. Supervisors and the workforce must embrace this as part of their responsibility. This appraisal must, however, be assimilate instead of appearing like a disruption. Such an attitude will lead to its complete failure.

An objective criterion for appraisal- the method used to assess output needs to be clear and open. The targets must be spread uniformly and include all workers in the same category. Ambiguity becomes a source of disgruntlement and makes other people to feel as though there is favoritism.

Positive link between hitting targets and reward- the organization must reward well performing employees in monetary or non-monetary terms. This is a clear signal that hard work and delivery of targets is recognized and appreciated. Employees who feel unappreciated are not motivated to make extra effort in achieving the targets of the organization.

Recognition of extraordinary and exceptional cases- in every organization, there are extreme cases of excellent and poor performers. The best performers are rewarded accordingly while poor performers are reprimanded. Poor performers who do not respond to motivation should be released.

Upper management that appreciates the appraisal tools, processes and products- the active participation and recognition of the program by management is crucial for its success. They must not ignore it or appear to be cynical. Failure to recognize it leads to laxity and demoralizes the entire team. Actions on employees must be based on the outcome of this process.

At the point of hiring employees, each of them should be given a role based on expected behavior and competence. Five or six competencies should be used to define success in his role. The employee should clearly understand the responsibilities and skills required to perform a certain role. Review will be based on these competencies.

A review period should be set to legitimize the results of the assessment. These are limits within which certain results are expected. It should be made as frequent as possible so that weaknesses are identified and corrective measures taken. Delivering on organizational goals requires the active participation of all parties.




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