Employee Performance Improvement System Shifting the Performance Appraisal to a Positive Performance Improvement Tool Business Success Coach Donna Price Compass Rose Consulting Real World Leadership Institute

Compass Rose Consulting Donna Price, Founder & President 25 years of working with people to achieve their goals and live their dreams. Author of “Launching Your Dream”, “Coaching Staff for Success” and contributing author of Big Bold Business Advice Developer of Bizology.Biz a Small Business Development System

Compass Rose Consulting Focus on leadership development, team development/team building Certified program leader of Best Year Yet™ Co-Founder of the Real World Leadership Institute

CRC Mission: To provide quality services to organizations and to individuals that enables them to function with clarity, to operate in life nourishing ways, and to improve their own abilities to organize, grow and learn.

Goals for Today: 1.Briefly Discuss the Current Appraisal Process 2.Review What Interferes with Success 3.Shifting the Paradigm 4.The Components of a Performance Improvement System

Current Performance Appraisals Do you do your performance reviews? Do you stress for weeks ahead of time, avoid, procrastinate and just put it off?

Managers hesitate – they don’t want to have difficult conversations. Time Demands of Day to Day Operations Lack of a System Not a Priority for the Company What Gets in the Way

For managers and leaders. They get put off, not done at all or ignored. Some companies don’t even use them at all, failing to see their value in performance improvement, while other companies do them but with negative impacts on their employees. Performance appraisals and reviews are one of the biggest stressors

People are uncomfortable with direct conversations Often the conversation is only happening annually and that makes it more difficult Things are saved up for THIS conversation Direct Face to Face Conversations Are Hard

For many companies performance appraisals are the tool that use to fire or terminate employees. But fail to use it first as a performance improvement tool. This becomes a misuse of a powerful tool for improvement and success. A Tool Misused?

With the rising cost of turnover to the company you really CANNOT afford to fire people that you have invested in. Of course, sometimes that seems the only option and that is true, BUT often it is not the best option because the employee can participate in an effective performance improvement program and become one of your BEST employees. Rising Costs for Companies

It is time to change your paradigm about the performance appraisal and perhaps even shift how and why you do them.

What if you took that appraisal and instead of it being the once a year time when you delivered bad news you shifted it to be a positive plan for performance improvement? What do you think would happen to employees; to your company productivity and results? Shifting the Paradigm

And how would the manager’s experience change? Perhaps they would focus more on the performance improvement plan…

When the performance appraisal is used as an effective tool for enhancing employee performance improvement the conversation is happening throughout the year and the employee and the supervisor are both engaged and committed to the plan. Direct Face to Face Conversations Become Easier

The Performance Improvement Paradigm suggests that you shift performance appraisals to performance improvement plans. There is still room for feedback and room to improve in areas where there needs to be improvement. The Big Paradigm Shift is in the Approach. Shift the Paradigm

The Performance Improvement System takes you to a positive planning process, teaches coaching skills to managers and tracks goals throughout the year. Positive Planning Process

Through monthly Gold Time meetings employees are able to discuss with their “coach” and manager what is going well, what is still not going well and the road blocks to success. When managers learn to coach staff through the barriers and road blocks then performance can continue to shift and improve. Gold Time

The Performance Improvement Plan is conducted in employee groups with an outside facilitator that takes the burden off of managers and leaders. Their role is to provide input into areas of focus and need, but the employee and facilitator create the actual plan. Performance Improvement System

By teaching coaching skills to managers, employees begin to benefit from a positive coaching approach.

WHEN MANAGERS SHIFT THEIR MINDSET FROM A TOP DOWN PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL TO AN EMPOWERED PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT PLAN THE RESULTS ARE SOLID BUSINESS RESULTS.

SHIFTING TO COLLABORATION AND IMPROVEMENT A New Model for Appraisals

Shift From Telling to Collaborating But what would happen if the mind shift went from telling to collaborating, from planning for success instead of fixing “bad” behavior and one of empowerment and mastery. 23

Performance appraisals are usually the leader or manager telling an employee what they did well and what they didn’t do well. The employee dreads this as does the manager. Telling people that they are not doing well in their job is hard work and uncomfortable for all. Telling Not Coaching….

Coaching skills and performance tracking give the manager tools that they can use to help employees to stay on track. By shifting to a positive framework, employees see that the company is interested in them beyond their work performance because the planning can also include their personal goals. Manager as Coach

As a manager, when you know your employees personal and career goals, you are in a position to support them in their goals. This positive strategy results in better work performance, company loyalty and overall company results improve. More Info, More Positive…

The performance improvement system is implemented in conjunction with the overall company vision and strategic plan. It brings the entire company into the fold of working in a focused and performance based way. Tracking goals and providing regular feedback and coaching accelerates results for individuals, teams and the company. Company Vision

Having employee performance improvement plans that each tie to the overall strategy of the company; increases the results that the company can achieve. No longer are employees working on non-essential tasks that don’t better the company’s vision. Company Improvement

By shifting to a positive performance improvement focused appraisal instead of a punitive appraisal system shifts the entire outlook of the team and workforce

So, in addition to increased performance results the company saves money in turnover, retraining, rehiring etc. The company has created a positive energy that runs throughout the entire workforce. Positive Outcomes Are Numerous And Turnover Costs Reduced.

The shift is vibrating results throughout and the overall company vision comes to life for the entire company instead of just the leaders.

Performance appraisals come with a certain mindset. 32

Coaching/Collaboration. It also shifts from a “telling” and top down management style to one of coaching and collaboration There are several steps to take in making the shift. – Know that there is a need to shift – Commit to collaboration & empowerment – Continuous improvement 33

Become a Master of Results It works to shift the mindset of the manager or supervisor to one of empowering employees to become masters of their results, in charge of their own plan and their success. 34

Empowered Staff Staff are empowered to set goals, take action and in collaboration with the manager. Now, this doesn’t mean that managers are not involved and can’t say no to new ideas. It’s not an open season on making changes. 35

Manager Expectations Managers set out their expectations for staff and then staffs establish their plan to meet expectations and exceed them—in essence their performance success plan 36

Autonomous Plans When staffs create a well-rounded plan with their manager then managers learn more about the staff, their vision, their personal goals and desires. 37

Golden Nuggets This information is invaluable to the manager. 38

Fully Engaged Workforce Using an effective employee performance improvement system is another strategy for developing a fully engaged workforce. Staffs that meet with their manager in a positive improvement system are responsive to manager coaching and feedback. When coming out of an environment that has not been positive or acknowledging managers will need to build trust and rapport.

Employee Performance Improvement System The employee performance improvement system works with employees to develop a goal plan to improve performance and focus on top goals for the company. Managers shift their management approach to one of coaching staff. This shift begins a full company culture shift. A positive engaged employee work culture improves overall business results. The benefits to the organization are tremendous.

The employee performance improvement system involves:

1. Performance improvement planning workshop

2. Manager training in coaching skills

3. Plan review with manager

4. Online tracking of goals and goal progress

5. Monthly coaching with manager, scoring of goals and review of goals.

Improved This results in increased performance productivity and results. It also results in decreased stress around performance appraisals through the monthly coaching process.

MONTHLY COACHING GIVES MANAGERS AN OPPORTUNITY TO Provide regular feedback, appreciation and acknowledgement. Teams become highly productive and responsive.

A Coaching Environment Allows for more engagement with the employee. Positive Engagement! 49

Insights It can also provide insights into employee’s personal desires that are helpful to the manager in providing needed supports. 50

Regular Coaching Meetings occur at least monthly and perhaps more frequently. They focus on the plan and the results. 51

Performance Success Plan The performance success plan is the center of the meeting. It keeps the plan alive and moving forward and keeps the focus on the top priority goals. 52

Manager as Coach The manager uses coaching skills to work with the employee to improve results. 53

Safe Environment Challenges are easily shared because a safe environment has been developed. This allows the employee to share what their challenges are and receive feedback from the manager. 54

Disservice… So often during appraisals goals are set and then never talked about until the following year’s appraisal. This is a disservice to employees and to the company. 55

Sharing Employees have to no opportunity to share what road blocks or obstacles they are facing. Managers have no opportunity to give feedback, share resources, ideas, or revise goals. These actions are what make goals achievable. 56

Empower Success It empowers employees to succeed, and empowers managers to support their staff in success. 57

Improved Overall Results When a performance improvement system is used that focuses on top priority goals, collaboration between manager and employee, empowerment of employees and action --- the results are seen in the company’s overall performance. 58

Learn More About the Performance Improvement System: Business Success Coach Donna Price Compass Rose Consulting, LLC

To Learn More About the Employee Performance Improvement System visit: Compass Rose Consulting Donna Price Learn More