Establishing Performance Expectations for Your Team

Setting clear and concise performance expectations for the members of your team is not only a great idea, it is your obligation as a leader. When you think about it, how ridiculous is it to expect an employee to have a clue about what is expected of them, if you don’t take the time to tell them? But, before you are in a position to communicate your expectations to your team, it is critical that you thoroughly educate yourself on what is required of your employees in their roles.

TOOLS OF THE PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT TRADE

Listed below are several key documents that can help you establish performance expectations for your team:

• Job description
• Annual performance review form
• Documentation that summarizes specific metrics that are required in the role
• The formal training plan

JOB DESCRIPTION

You Have Read of The Job Description…Right?

One of the first things I do when starting a new job is scrutinize my job description. I want to make sure I fully understand the expectations of the role, along with I will be reviewed on. I also keep my job description in a safe place where I can review it as needed. Throughout the course of the year I try and conduct my own personal self assessment to ensure I am making progress on my goals. Although I would not expect front line employee’s to necessarily go to this extreme, I think it is fair for you to expect your employees to be able to clearly articulate the requirements of their role and what they are doing to achieve these expectations.

The performance management process starts the day an employee begins working for you. Whether they join your team, or you join theirs, it all begins with setting clear and concise expectations. The first step in setting expectations is thoroughly reviewing the job description. I’ll bet many supervisors have never even seen the job description(s) for their department. Unfortunately, I have not worked in many environments where the job descriptions were easily accessible, let alone a key element in the performance management process. Nonetheless, the job description is critically important for building a foundation for successful performance, so get acquainted with it.

Why is the Job Description So Important?

Not only does the job description outline the expectations of the role, but it typically describes the physical environment that the employee will be working in. Not all jobs exist in ‘cubeville’; many take place outside or in work spaces that expose employees to extreme temperatures. Other positions require significant time spent doing repetitive tasks such as keyboarding, while others are physically demanding and have lifting requirements. It is important for all employees’s to know the full scope and expectation of their jobs.

What if the Job Description is Outdated?
Considering the pace of change that exists in the workplace, it is not uncommon for job descriptions to become outdated. It is important to have accurate descriptions that outline the tasks that your employees are expected to complete each day, therefore, you will want to ensure that accurate job descriptions exist for those positions that report to you. Now you may be thinking- Is she on crack? I don’t have time to take on yet another project. Unfortunately, if your company thinks it’s important enough to have job descriptions, then it should be the leader’s responsibility to ensure the accuracy of the documents. Getting dialed in to the details of your team’s daily routine allows you to ensure that all the key elements are represented in the document. It also helps you to better understand what you should be overseeing every day. And look on the bright side, it’s a great opportunity to spend quality time with your associates while you are gaining additional exposure to the work that is done in your department.

PERFORMANCE REVIEW FORM

What is the Value of Reviewing the Performance Review Form with my New Employee?

Reviewing the job description and performance review form with your employees is like giving them the answers to the year-end exam. Why wouldn’t we want to arm our associates with the tools they need to be successful? Many performance review forms break down performance criteria into various categories. You should be able to take the job description, along with the performance review form, and easily describe what is expected of the employee to receive acceptable ratings in each category.

The other important element of discussing the performance review form is to clarify how your company’s rating system works. Be honest with the employee and make sure they understand what it takes to be considered for the various ratings. If you cannot clearly articulate this, then you have some homework to do before meeting with your team. Your manager should hopefully be able to assist you with any questions related to the performance review process.

OTHER PERFORMANCE RELATED DOCUMENTATION

Many companies have specific performance related metrics that must be met for various roles. Whether it is keystrokes per hour, claims processed per day or a certain accuracy percentage that must be met, this is critical information for your employee to know upfront. If there is nothing formal that can be given to the employee, then I highly recommend you create something that outlines the required metrics. The more relevant performance related documentation you can provide an employee, the better.

THE DREADED DETAILED TRAINING PLAN

I am the first one to admit that creating a detailed training plan for your department will be an absolute pain in the booty. In order to bite the bullet and make this a priority, you need to understand the importance of a comprehensive training plan. Not only does the plan keep your new hires moving in the right direction, but it shortens the time it takes to get them up to speed in their role.

Another benefit is that it gives you a sense of the new employee's adaptability, ability to follow instructions and a glimpse into their potential future performance. Are they able to keep pace with the plan? Are they taking their training seriously? Are they asking good questions of the trainer? If someone is assigned to review their work each day, what is the quality of the work they are producing?   Finally, training plans will also come in handy when you begin focusing on cross training employees on additional responsibilities the department.

It's an Enormous Project- How in the World Can I Get it All Done?
Creating this documentation is not something you should do on your own. I suggest assigning various aspects of the training outlines to different employees in your department. Not only does it allow your employees the opportunity to work on a value-added project, but stretch assignments always allow you see what your employees are capable of. If you choose the team involvement route (which I highly recommend), you will need to set up frequent follow-up meetings to ensure the entire team is making process on their training outlines. These meetings can also help deepen the communication and cohesiveness you have with your team. If you keep the project on track, you will be amazed at how much your team can produce in such a short period of time. You will also feel like a million bucks knowing that you have a long term training plan in place- and your boss will likely be impressed as well.

 I HAVE ALL THE PIECES TO THE PUZZLE…NOW WHAT?

Once you have all of the pieces together and have familiarized yourself with everything, you are ready to present it. You have two categories of employees that need this information, and the meetings should be structured differently for each.

The New Hire

If you are dealing with a brand new employee that was hired after your project is complete, it will be a piece of cake. The new hire is probably a bit nervous about their new job and has no idea what to expect; so anything you give them should be a hit.

Although I will go into greater detail regarding employee integration and acclimation in a later blog, I suggest the meeting go something like this:

• As the employee’s supervisor/manager, make sure you are the one who greets him/her when they get to the workplace. Starting a new job is very overwhelming and the leader must make a significant effort to ensure the environment is welcoming. Your job is to set the tone for what the employee will experience going forward. Remember…first impressions are everything.  
• Do not greet the employee and immediately pass him/her off to another team member to begin their training. BIG MISTAKE!! Again, you need to show that you are taking an immediate interest in the employee’s success. Throwing a new hire to the wolves is flat out unkind and uncaring. Is that the message you want to send?
• If possible, meet with the employee in a casual environment like a conference room or training room. Try your best to keep disruptions to a minimum.
• Offer your new hire refreshments (coffee, tea, water, etc.) even if you have to buy it out of your own pocket.
• Tell the new employee that you would like to review some important information with them that will help them to begin understanding their role and the expectations of the position.
• Then begin reviewing each of the documents outlined above. Tell the employee they should feel free to take notes and ask any questions they may have.
• Employee’s should clearly understand the performance management process that exists in their company, so be prepared to clearly explain the process, including when and how performance reviews will be issued
• Then conduct a thorough review of each line of their job description and any other documents that highlight performance requirements of the position.
• Emphasize that it is extremely important that they keep you informed of any questions or concerns they have throughout their training period and beyond.

Once you have completed a thorough review of all of the documentation, you shoould take your new employee on a tour of their work area and introduce them to the team they will be working with. Following the introductions, you should spend a little time with the employee and their trainer. This will help break the ice and get the training plan rolling in the right direction.

Your Existing Team
Having performance management related discussions with an existing team can be tricky. If you involved the team in elements of the ‘project’, you should have a much easier road. If you drop it on them out of the blue, you will have to present the information in a manner that does not set off any alarms. There are many employees in the work world who are constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop, so any type of sudden performance related meeting with their direct supervisor could send them into a major tizzy!

I suggest that you set up one-on-one meetings with each employee and proceed as follows:

• Thank the employee for taking time to meet with you
• Explain that you have undergone a project to review and validate a number of performance related documents. You are now to the point of meeting with each employee to review the documentation
• Explain that this provides an opportunity to validate the accuracy of the information, as well as getting all team members on the same page with regard to the basic performance expectations
• Make sure to reiterate that you will be meeting with each member of the team
• Proceed with reviewing the job description and performance review form with the employee
• Ask the employee if they have any questions, comments or concerns
• Before the meeting concludes, ask the employee to sign the job description
• Reinforce your commitment to providing ongoing feedback regarding their individual performance as well as the collective performance of the team
• Ask the employee to keep you in the loop as any issues arise related to the quality or productivity of the work performed in the department
• Communicate your appreciation for all of their efforts

Although pandemonium is likely to break out in the department during your first few meetings, things will calm down as you continue the discussions. Someone along the way will inevitably decide that you are not actually out to fire the entire team, but are doing this for the good of humanity. Ok…that is not what they will conclude, but they will see that you are being consistent by talking to every employee about the same things.

SUMMARY

As you can probably see, performance management takes a ton of time and effort, at least initially. There are no acceptable short cuts when it comes to creating a solid foundation for your employees to grow from. Remember…the performance of your team is an immediate and direct reflection of your performance as a leader. The team’s performance will make your job easier or make it a living nightmare. Their performance will either create significant job satisfaction for you or leave you pondering the likelihood of getting unemployment benefits. It will leave you feeling successful or like a miserable failure. So which do you want?

Some of the greatest and most memorable moments of my professional life have come from seeing my employee’s achieve success they never thought possible. It is even more awe-inspiring to see an entire department raise their level of performance and become a true team in every sense of the word. These experiences can be absolutely transformative in the life of a leader.

So we are off and running down the road to successful performance management. Check back tomorrow and we will review the process for evaluating and providing ongoing performance feedback.