In a recent survey from market research company Gallup, just 2% of chief human resource officers said they strongly agree that their performance management system is effective in motivating employees to improve work performance—and employees agree, with just 20% saying that their performance reviews are transparent, fair or inspire better performance.
Gallup’s survey of 18,665 U.S. workers identified three opportunities to improve performance management systems. First, clear expectations are vital, and they begin with effectively setting goals. This means a manager should collaborate with an employee to talk over tasks, responsibilities, roadblocks and outcomes.
Secondly, employees and their managers need to review the goals quarterly, ensuring that they are still meaningful and realistic. Gallup’s data shows that workers are 90% more likely to be engaged and 2.1 times as likely to feel like the performance management process is fair and transparent when quarterly progress checks are conducted.
Finally, managers should review performance using multiple metrics, both subjective and objective, as well as include developmental goals as part of an employee’s performance goals. Skip the pay and promotion conversations during performance reviews, as it distracts from the discussion about feedback.
