The Art Of Performance Management

As a manager you need to manage the performance of your staff. Just the thought of having to do this can cause a lot of anxiety, so it's important to know how to prevent this. This article provides some great tips to do just that.

Manchester (I-Newswire) March 10, 2011 - For many managers it's very easy to tell someone that they are doing a great job, but very difficult to tell someone that they are doing a bad job. However, performance management is a key part of any manager's job description, so you can't afford to suffer from performance management anxiety.

In the article below, the author of Suddenly In Charge: Managing Up, Managing Down, Succeeding All Around (Roberta Chinsky Matuson) provides some simple techniques for preventing this problem.

Overcoming Performance Management Anxiety by Roberta Chinsky Matuson:

It’s very common to feel anxious when you have to do a task that you dislike or when you don’t feel fully prepared to do something. Performance reviews usually fall into both these categories for both new and experienced managers. But it doesn’t have to be this way if you follow this time-tested advice:

Collect documentation along the way:

It’s difficult to remember what someone did last week, never mind last April. Now add ten or more employees to the mix and see how well you do! It’s actually impossible for managers to remember all the details needed to put together an accurate performance review.

That’s why I recommend creating individual folders for each of your direct reports, which should be kept in a locked drawer. (Note: if you don’t have a locked drawer, keep the files at home.) Every time an employee does something worth noting, either good or bad, or whenever you have a conversation with an employee regarding her performance, write a brief note and slip it into the file. Remember to date the note, in case an employee asks you for specifics regarding a situation that you may be discussing again.

Pull this folder out when review time rolls around and you’ll be good to go. Your stress level has probably dropped two levels just knowing that you have everything you need to get started.

Visit the link below to read the full article:

http://www.managementnuggets.com/2011/03/art-of-performance-management.html