In order to build an empowered and skilled workforce, companies need to do more than assess employee achievements. For instance, they should work towards a management cycle where evaluation isn’t the sole focus, but instead focus on offering ongoing support and improvement. This can be termed as performance management. Performance management simply means the act of engaging with an employee to review their ongoing workplace performance and development. In a nutshell, it’s a process that combines information gathering through monitoring goal completion, feedback and discussions. Performance management comes with many benefits including boosting employee engagement and productivity. Mathias Nkeeto, an educator believes that any manager should ensure evaluating members of their team, understanding their skills and experience and putting them in positions where they are fully utilised. By doing so, it can also mean addressing any performance problems by coming up with a development plan and discussing negative behaviour, which is important as far as achieving the company’s goal is concerned. “It’s important to analyse successes, strengths, learning from mistakes and examining the potential of the individuals for growth and development,” he says. By doing this, Nkeeto says it can help an enterprise develop talent, enhance individual performance and solve problems that exist. Ways to achieve this To create a conducive working environment for everyone, Nkeeto says effective management is needed, and this is all about leadership, interpersonal relationships, constructive feedback, and teamwork. Emmanuel Ndayambaje, the director at ‘Ready for Reading, a community library in Rwinkwavu in Kayonza District, Eastern Province, says that setting expectations for work performance and planning ways to meet these expectations is also important, as well as monitoring employee performance with meetings. Also, he notes that to ensure performance management, offering rewards and praise for good performance and addressing poor performance is important. He explains that this is so because it helps improve the performance of a company, since it’s through this that one is able to learn and understand what is required of them. Ndayambaje further notes that it’s essential to regularly develop a culture of rating performance of each and every employee, and that this could be done through reviews. “Employees need a clear understanding of expectations for their work. They also need context, which includes an understanding of where they fit into the company and how they contribute to the overall success of the organisation,” he says. By doing this, it means an individual will be able to know what they are required and can, therefore, easily come up with goals that can guide them towards their achievements. Nkeeto says providing proper training and development programmes that address performance and skill gaps is also necessary. Research has shown that employees that receive opportunities for learning and development are more engaged at work. He notes that besides this, constant feedback and coaching improves employee performance and engagement, therefore organisations should consider adopting this vital approach. “Employees need regular, quality feedback on their performance and specific details on how they can improve. Once skill gaps are identified, employees have a clear insight into the skills they need to develop if they wish to progress in their career,” he adds. Also, to ensure performance management, rewards and recognition should be adopted, for this helps employees receive a balance of positive to negative feedback. Overall, it’s believed that rewards and recognition can improve employee retention and engagement, which creates ambassadors of your organisation and its culture.
