Improving Employee Performance
Just because someone has been on the job twenty years does not mean that the employee is seasoned to every task. You might have a new employee who is already seasoned to tasks that a long term employee has yet to learn. So, we look at the necessity to supervise and resource employees in terms of where they are in learning a task.
A key responsibility of the supervisor is to stay in contact with the employee in order to determine developmental needs, level of performance, and to provide guidance and direction. One major shortcoming seems to be the lack of formal on-going contact with the new employee - even during the probationary period. Seasoned employees often find that they are having their first supervisory conference of the year during their Performance Evaluation conference.
This is often termed "negative" feedback or "criticism." It isn't, if delivered professionally. There are only two kinds of feedback that have any place in either social or professional life: Confirming and Corrective. Confirming is designed to provide sufficient specific information so that the performer is aware what he or she did right, what to continue, or what is completed. Corrective feedback is an essential part of the redirecting, guiding, or re-programming of an employee. This is essential supervising. And it is also an essential part of the supervisory conference.
Mid-level managers get so embroiled in the day to day urgencies that they may not take on this fine point of leading, involving their employees in promoting their own ideas, projects, or programs, or in advocating for those very ideas, etc. to those higher in the organization. This teaches the employee that you can lead from anywhere.
This "no surprises" session with the employee is designed to sum up and evaluate accomplishments while determining direction for the future and professional practices to improve. Made easier by on-going contact through out the year, this conference can be greatly facilitated by developing and agreeing upon clear goals for the year, together the means to be used to measure success.
© Paul O. Radde, Ph.D., The Thrival Institute, (303)543-3846, Paul@Thrival.com