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Home >> Motivation Initiatives >> Performance Management >> Stage 2

Yes, there is logic to on-going performance management. The chart shows how supervisors can use this logic to deal with employee performance problems as well as opportunities.

The vertical scale represents level of performance and the horizontal scale represents time. The solid line across the middle marks the level of performance that meets expectations — the "should" line. The dotted lines represent hypothetical employees' actual performance levels.

Counseling and Corrective Action Planning

When the employee's actual performance falls below "should," slumping into the lower part of the chart, you need to engage in a little active performance management to get the employee's performance moved up to "should." To do this, hold counseling discussions with the employee. As a result of these discussions, one of four possible outcomes occurs.

• Improvement — In the counseling discussion, specify the gap between "should" and "actual" and agree on the steps the employee will take to close the gap. You may initiate a corrective action plan. Some follow-up discussions may also be required (the two extra red circles on the chart. In this first and most desirable outcome, the employee eventually closes the gap and "actual" performance rises to the point where expectations are being met.
• Termination — If the employee is not able to bring performance up to "should," take the necessary actions to (a) let the employee go and (b) support the action you have taken. Whether or not this route is taken depends on the employee's performance. If this route does have to be taken, you end up closing the performance gap by replacing the poorly performing employee with someone who is capable of performing at the "should" level.
• Redeployment — In counseling the employee, it may become apparent that there is a mismatch between the person and the job. The "perfect mismatch" is the case where none of the employee's strengths are required by the job but all of the employee's weaknesses are. Can the employee be reassigned to a position that is a better match? Can the selection process be adjusted to prevent this type of placement error in the future? A second type of mismatch has less to do with skills and much more to do with the "chemistry" between employee and supervisor. This is a very common type of mismatch. If the employee has the required skills but performance is suppressed due to the poor relationship with you, can the employee be reassigned to a similar position under a difference supervisor?
• The fourth possible outcome, not shown on the chart, is continued poor performance. This is not the outcome you want!

Coaching and Development Planning

When the employee's actual performance meets or exceeds expectations, you have the pleasure of engaging in coaching. Through coaching discussions, you can help employees achieve any of the following three outcomes:

• Maintenance — Through coaching, you can help your employees remain engaged in their work and maintain their solid performance levels. This is especially beneficial when employees have been in their positions for a long time, their jobs are relatively routine, and they are not interested in advancing. Under these conditions, you are likely to see your employees' interest in their work diminish and their performance decline. Coaching is a way to combat these natural trends.
• Growth — Through coaching, you can help your employees kick their performance up a notch. Many employees are motivated to become masters of their work and to perform at an exemplary level, or simply to work smarter and learn more effective ways to exceed their performance expectations. Employee growth produces happy outcomes for both you and your employees. With higher performing employees, you are better able to meet your unit's goals. With track records of exemplary performance, employees increase their value to the state, making themselves more marketable when there are openings in higher-level jobs.
• Advancement — Coaching can lead to exemplary performance, and a track record of high performance is one criterion that is looked at when considering employees for promotion. (The other criterion is qualifications for the job.) Some supervisors do not coach their employees or support their development plans primarily because they do not want to lose employees through advancement. This is short-sighted, however, in that state government benefits from employee development and advancement, even though advancement means you end up having to replace the advancing employee and bring a new employee up to speed. Supervisors should be rewarded for successfully developing people and for "losing" their employees through advancement.