In order for employees to excel at their jobs and advance in their careers there needs to be a source of Guidance. Supervisors and Managers should form close relationships with the employees they oversee in order to properly gauge employee strengths and areas in need of improvement.
It is important for Supervisors or those in an authoritative position to conduct regular discussions with their employees in order to address their concerns, offer suggestions for improvement, point out what’s working and ultimately foster their growth. Supervisors working cooperatively with junior staff to promote improvement both personally and for the company constitutes the key to developing a legitimate Employee Evaluation system.
Relationship & Rapport Building
It is of the utmost importance to ensure that a positive interaction occurs between Supervisor and Employee from the employee’s start date if possible. The Supervisor should reassure the Employee that he/she has the employee’s best interests at heart and will be their Mentor for success. The more trust that is established at the beginning of a Supervisor/Employee relationship, the more beneficial in the long run. The initial meeting should be used to outline the basics of job function with an emphasis on what the employee’s specific responsibilities will include. The Supervisor’s responsibility is to clarify what the expectations are and to assist the individual through the steps needed to provide them with their own tool kit for success.
The Partnering-for-Performance Meeting
This meeting between Supervisor and Employee should ideally take place daily at the beginning of employment for approximately 2 weeks. The meeting should have a comfortable feel and should not be used as a form of threat or intimidation. Employees should feel free to use Meeting time as a forum to discuss what is going on in the workplace, conflicts they may be having, something they do not understand and what their goals are/what they hope to accomplish within a set time frame. Documentation is an essential tool to the Partnering-for-Performance meetings. A bullet-type list or narrative format can be used to summarize what was discussed during the meeting. Next, should be a performance rating system. For example, an employee at Level 1 would need lots of instruction & assistance and is at the very beginning stages of the learning process as far as their job duties go. I suggest 4 Levels to keep it simple and clear. A Level 4 Employee would be the person who a supervisor may delegate the most important or urgent tasks to as this person has proven mastery of their job skills. Once a Rating is established based on that specific point in time, a Supervisory write-up should follow with reasoning behind the rating using concrete examples as well as provide information on how the employee can improve his/her future performance. Newly hired employees may be placed on a 3-month Orientation Period where they are then Re-Assessed for job match appropriateness based on past documented Partnering-for-Performance Meeting notes.
Employee Evaluation & Assessment
Partnering-for-Performance notes should be written up quickly and efficiently by Supervisors following their discussions with employees so the information remains fresh and accurate. Once written up, they are then given to the employee for immediate review so questions can be answered on the spot. The employee signs at the very end to acknowledge that they accept everything written on the Partnering-for-Performance note. All documentation should be organized and placed in individual employee files as these notes are an essential tool for Assessment. Once the initial 2-weeks conclude, the Supervisor should continue to meet with the Employee on a consistent basis–at least once a week and then every other week for more seasoned employees. This allows a constant flow of communication between Supervisor and Employee. Supervisors can access past information in employee records to then compile historical information and compose a thorough, precise and strengths-based performance evaluation at specific time intervals:3 months, 6 months, 1 year and then every 6 months thereon. To ensure the best overall critique for Employee performance it is important to utilize other sources besides Partnering-for-Performance notes such as teammates and other employees to obtain information.
The structure of the Partnering-for-Performance employee evaluation system provides a predictable and reliable means for Supervisors and Employees to communicate and improve both themselves and their work environment. Both supervisors and employees are expected to adhere to time deadlines and other commitments/responsibilities in order for all expectations to be met. It is possible to review and develop employee performance in a measurable manner with a proven system such as this.