by Ed Barkum

Created on: May 14, 2008

Putting together an employee performance management plan involves the process of setting and defining goals that are supportive of an organization's overall objectives, and directly contributes to its success. Therefore it is essential to have a clear understanding of what the organization's objectives are, before embarking on an employee performance plan to meet those objectives. As a wise man once said, "If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there." An understanding of where the organization is going will enable the manager to develop effective employee management plans to help achieve desired results.

The establishment of appropriate job standards is an important first step in the process of employee performance management. Employee awareness of what is minimally required to maintain an acceptable level of job performance is crucial to the performance management process. In other words it is vital for all employees to know what amount of output is needed in order to remain employed. Job standards are different than performance goals discussed below, because they are required to be met, whereas performance goals are or should be challenging targets for which the individual must aspire to achieve.

After management has established the baseline for performance, it is now time to discuss targeted performance with the employee. Managers should understand that no employee performance management program would be completely effective, without the employee's bye-in and acceptance. After all, performance management is nothing more than getting people to do what they should be doing, in an efficient manner, and in a timely fashion.

The way to get bye-in is via the objective setting meeting where the employee is encouraged to provide input and feedback. Objective setting is where employee performance management begins. When meeting with employees to discuss individual or team objectives, managers should keep in mind the five key elements of objective setting as outlined by Management Consultant, Dr. Peter Drucker, in his book "The Practice of Management", 1954. Drucker tells us that managers and subordinates should strive to set SMART objectives during the objective setting process. The acronym "SMART" is cleverly used to aid managers in remembering the five key components of objective setting. Objectives should be; Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-based.

Specific: Who, what, how, where, and when are topics that should be consider

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