Linking Employee Performance to Results – How it Works

You want your employees to consistently and continuously perform at high levels but they are not.  You find that performance issues vary. Some employees do a great job of communicating with customers while other employees do better at managing time.  In other instances, the same employees perform well in one area and not so well in another. As for inconsistency, that happens as well. You cannot always depend on the same employees to deliver the same level of performance on a continuous basis.  

Unfortunately, your performance discussions are not effective.  When you talk about performance improvement, employees become defensive.  You even find yourself on the defensive as you try to explain the changes you want. So what do you do?  You identify mutually positive reasons for improving performance by linking performance improvement to: results that are important to employees and to results that are important to the organization.  Follow these three steps:

Step 1: Identify the Performance you Want

Start by identifying the areas where you want each employee to improve his or her performance.  You may want some employees to stop doing certain things, while you may want others to start doing certain things.  Or perhaps a small change is necessary. Consider the behaviors that are important to you and your organization.  

For example, if your focus is communication, then determine specific communication behaviors.  If your focus is teamwork, then determine specific teamwork behaviors.  The operative word is specific.  Employees cannot deliver the kind of performance you want if you are not clear about what you want.

Step 2: Identify Results of Performance

Once you have identified the performance you want, determine what happens if the employee performs satisfactorily or does not perform satisfactorily.  For example, if an employee completes all assignments timely: he or she could receive an improved performance rating; other employees might be able to complete their assignments more timely; or the office might receive fewer complaints about product deliveries.

Go beyond the traditional results by thinking about who and/or what is impacted by employee performance.  For instance, a change in performance could impact the organization mission, external customers, workplace accidents, team profits, internal departments, community groups, and others. Do not just consider what could happen to the employee or to his or her workload. Consider what could happen to other employees and to the organization as well.

Step 3:  Link Performance to Results

Here, you want to link the performance you want to the results that will be achieved if employees deliver the performance you want. For instance, improved time management could affect customer service, individual productivity, or office goals. The more results you can link to performance the better. Just make sure the results are meaningful to employees.  That means if you link performance to goals in the organization strategic plan, employees need to know about the goals in the strategic plan.  On a personal level, if employees are interested in more time off, offering opportunities to do more exciting work may not be very motivating. 

Go For It!

You have identified areas for performance improvement, you have identified workplace results, and you have made meaningful links between performance improvement and workplace results.  Now, you are ready to talk to your employee.  This approach gives you a whole new way to handle that performance discussion.  You have multiple ways to explain the importance of cooperation and contributions.  So the discussion is not just about the performance you want.  The discussion is about how the performance you want can lead to positive results for the employee and for the organization where the employee works. Go for it!