As a leader in a company or organization, it’s important to make sure your team members are staying on track and doing the job to the best of their abilities, but this can sometimes be difficult to gauge unless you have a strategy in place to effectively measure the performance of your employees. There has probably been a company that you have worked for in the past that measured how an employee is doing by conducting a semi-annual or annual performance review. While you’re likely to take notice of whether or not an employee is doing their work in between the reviews and these reviews do have their merit, it is not entirely effective on its own.
Instead, there should be an understanding throughout the workplace that feedback between manager and employee is welcomed and encouraged. Agile Performance Management attempts to give the employee more open lines of communication to voice their concerns, areas they need to work on, and suggestions for the company in general. Having an Agile Performance Management plan in place allows the workplace to be more collaborative and the conversations between manager and his or her employees to happen organically and the goals of the employee to be more fluid and less restrictive. The following are some of the specific aspects that are normally exercised in Agile Performance Management teams.
Weekly Meetings
One on one weekly meetings between manager and employee allow several great things to happen. First of all, the manager/employee relationship is likely to be less strained than in a more traditional workplace where meetings only happen if there’s a problem or performance review. More feedback is going to naturally be given to the manager on a consistent basis, and the employee will be able to voice their concerns regularly. These meetings also allow the employee to set short-term goals, ask questions, provide feedback, and grow more into their position. Employees will have a better sense of where it is they fit in the organization and how they are making an impact.
Goals are Kept Flexible
In a typical semi-annual or annual review, the manager is looking at one thing specifically: did the employee meet all of the goals for their position in the specific amount of time allotted? With this type of review system, an employee’s personal growth is not considered. Each person on the team works a different way then the next, and quantifying whether a person met these very rigid set of goals can belittle the employee. With Agile Performance Management, an employee’s goals are adjusted frequently so that they can track their own progress and find ways to improve. With Agile Performance Management, goals for the employee aren’t necessarily restricted to a calendar year span, as they can be longer or shorter and tailored to the areas the employee needs to work on.
Growth of the Individual
Companies that practice Agile Performance Management want their employees to develop their skills and have the ability to grow within the company. This could mean growing into another position that is better suited for them or even just having the ability to perform at their position to the best of their ability.