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Raising Employee performance

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by ttate 1 view

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It's that time again for an annual employee review for one of my employees. It's not that this employee is a bad employee (he definitely is an "average" employee), but that I don't feel he is growing professionally in the position. Last year the employee completed CNE certification so he showed that he is capable of growth in knowledge.

More detail on this issue: This employee has been here for over 7 years. I have only been here 3. This employee wanted my position as manager and felt that Iwas an outsider at the beginning. Fortunately, the company realized that this employee was not ready for the position technically and managerially. He and I have overcome that issue during the past 3 years. We are now at the point where I need this employee to grow managerially because my focus has expanded to cover needs outside of this physical office to other global locations. I cannot focus on the local issues quite as much because my role is more global.

I am struggling with how to tellthis employee that he needs to have more initiative in identifying future issues and solutions rather than just reacting to a situation. I have made this observation in the past two reviews as well, but somehow I need to get this point across more deeply and address the problem. I see it as a problem because I feel that I am doing part of this person's job since we are a small group and if something is not covered then the whole group looks like a failure. Should I be like a parent and "let" the child fail and learn a lesson? I think that could be pretty costly, but failure is the best teacher I know.

Thanks for your support.

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by james r linn

Different people react in different ways to failure - some will take it personally and get demoralised, others will simply withdraw. It takes a mature person to learn from their failures and apply the lessons learned to their career, but thats whereyour guidance comes in.

A better option is to do a behavioural competancy study. Take some time to analyse what behaviours you want to see in your ideal of this employee - things like - takes initiative, works independantly, solves problems well,is creative etc. Think about how this person could demonstrate those behaviours on the job - what htings could they do to stretch what they currently do and visibly demonstrate those behaviours.

Then sit down with your employee and talk about itas a development exercise. Be positive and supportive, but lay out your expectations clearly, including timeframes. I'd also suggest that you have some interim meetings, perhaps quarterly, to review progress.

Be prepared for feedback - you are elevating the job, so if this person is sucessful there should be some reward.

Hope that helps.

James

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