Let’s start this post by emphasizing how important it is to conduct annual IT performance reviews. If you haven’t made this a priority, there is no truly effective way to judge the performance of your team. You may think they’re doing well, but until you’ve established performance metrics and performance benchmarks and actually studied the data, there is no way to know for sure. However, if you have been conducting performance reviews, it’s just as important to follow up with them. Here are three tips to help you get the most out of the process:
Stay on Top of Goals and Targets
Too often, a review happens once a year and then the content of that review gets forgotten by both the employees and their supervisors. That does both of you a disservice and calls the whole point of the process into question. During the review, you likely identified goals for the coming year and pointed out aspects of performance that needed to be worked on. Send each of your employees and your team as a whole occasional emails to remind them of those goals. These gentle reminders help to keep performance targets at the front of everyone’s mind.
Follow Through on Your Promises
If you promised some sort of reward in exchange for improvements in performance, be sure that you offer it once it’s earned. Stay on top of the metrics, and get excited about the prospect of your team members doing better. Conversely, if you have identified some sort of punitive course of action if improvement doesn’t happen, don’t go back on your word. It’s easy for everyone to be dismissive of the performance review process. If you link it to positive/negative consequences in a serious way, your staff will focus a lot more closely on daily performance.
Make Yourself Available
It’s not enough to simply tell a team member “This needs to improve by X amount” or “You are weak in A, B, C areas.” If you want them to actually improve on these things, you need to give them the tools to do so. That starts by making any necessary resources available, from new equipment to additional training. But even more so, it depends on you being available as manager. There are lots of factors that can compromise performance. You should be aware of the factors affecting your team members and provide any kind of support necessary to overcome them. Review them once a year and then manage them the rest.
How did your performance reviews go last year? How do you expect them to go this year? If your team is falling short, the problem could be a missing piece of staff. Find the addition you need to meet your goals by partnering with Unifound Staffing.
One Comment
very nicely written