The Leading Edge - Winter 2008 - 14

Q&A in a nutshell by Chris de Santis EXPANSION LEAdS TO FORMAL PERFORMANCE REVIEW PROCESS Q: i started a small business with only a handful of employees. We never had a formal review process, but did have informal check-ins periodically to talk performance, goals, etc. now that we have about 30 employees, should i continue with the informal check-in or should i consider a formal review process? What tips do you have for evaluating an employee’s performance without causing stress and panic to the employees? My first recommendation is to step back and look at the company as a whole. Typically organizations grow organically, which is fine, but it’s probably not optimum in terms of the ideal structure. you have an opportunity to step back and look at your business. Ask yourself, what’s our rate of growth, where is my business headed, where are the opportunities, and how can I address them? you might consider meeting with your most trusted lieutenants and brainstorm what you will look like as a company in three to five years and then what you need to do to get there. Keep in mind this is your company and your future. I would suggest you hold onto the decisions as to what you will do. Listen to your most trusted employee, but the authority still rests with you. Once this plan for the future is in place, you can consider job descriptions appropriate to your growing business. Keep the job descriptions fairly general as you are a small business and employees probably have to do multiple tasks across several disciplines. The next step is to set up goals for the roles you have identified. Individuals will be evaluated on these goals. Create a few critical goals that are clearly measurable. There is an acronym, SMArT— Specific, Measurable, Attainable, relevant, and Time bound—that should help in determining if a goal is a clearly written one. With written goals, determine what kind of scale you will use to rate the individuals. Typical scales go from 1 to 5. Finally, determine how you will reward people who achieve or exceed their goals. Also, detail repercussions for not meeting goals. you asked whether you should continue periodic check-ins. yes, you should still do informal check-ins. Good leaders stay involved with people who work for them. But, resist the temptation micromanage their work or their performances. your other concern relative to panic can be allayed if you are clear about why you are creating a performance management system and include your employees in the process. remember, the point of managing performance is to grow the business and reward those individuals who have contributed to it. People ultimately want to know what is expected of them and how they will be rewarded if they meet and/or exceed expectations. you can do this. Best of luck. e Do you have a workplace question you want answered? What do you want to know to make work a better place? Send your questions to DeSantisCP@aol.com to get Chris DeSantis’ two cents as to what he thinks you might want to do. Chris DeSantis uses his 20 years’ experience in training and development as an independent consultant. He specializes in the design and delivery of management and organization development interventions. A presenter at Leading Edge Alliance seminars, DeSantis focuses his work on assisting individuals or groups in identifying obstacles to effectiveness and subsequently works with them to create user friendly solutions aligned with the company’s strategic initiatives. He earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame, an MBA from the University of Denver and an MA in organizational development from Loyola University. a: First, let me congratulate you on growing your business. While you do not specify the nature of your business, I will respond as if you are a service-oriented company with management professionals counted among your employees. Even if you are not a professional services business I suspect the tone of my suggestions will be appropriate to your needs. So where are we? right now you have a pretty good idea of what needs to be done to pay the bills and grow the business. What you may be starting to lose sight of is on who exactly is doing what? And, how well are they doing it? Once we expand beyond a certain number of direct reports, roughly 10, it becomes more difficult to track the actions of our employees. For the sake of argument, I’ll assume you have fewer than 10 direct reports and the 30 employees are probably leveraged in a tiered structure with a few reporting to you and the majority reporting to your direct reports. If that is the case, you need to establish basic job descriptions before you start any kind of evaluation process. 14 VOLUME 8 n ISSUE 2 n WINTER 2008

The Leading Edge - Winter 2008

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Leading Edge - Winter 2008