Ten Ways to Improve Business Performance

  

1. Show leadership from the top

Those at the top of the organization must be committed to a performance culture and be prepared to change their behavior if necessary to reflect this.   The performance management framework  must be operated throughout the organization from top to bottom.

2. Develop business plans

Business planning must be realistic – what can be delivered with the resources available?  How will those available resources change over time?  Take into account the people management implications – if you invest in training – how will that effect your business plan?   Once plans and priorities have been established, they need to be translated into department, team and individual performance plans through out the organization.  Can you see the the organization’s objectives reflected in the most junior employee’s performance plan?

3. Establish what good performance looks like and how it can be measured

All performance indicators and other criteria used to measure performance must be clearly communicated to staff and all in the organization. Think about what really matters and focus on measuring that.  Keep the number of measures to a minimum. 

4. Monitor and evaluate

Systems need to be set up to ensure that performance, and its effect on service delivery, can be monitored and evaluated throughout the year.

5. Agree specific performance objectives

The organization’s plans and priorities must be translated into department, team and intividual perforamnce objectives, usually by using performance appraisal and staff devlopment processes.  Individula plans are most effective when both manager and employee agree them.  Objectives should be SMART

• Specific
• Measurable
• Agreed
• Realistic
• Time bound.

6. Develop an internal communications approach

Effective messages should target the intended audience in the whole range of ways available to you.   Develop a plan for how you will use them to target different communities within the organisation using for example:

• email
• intranet
• newsletter/house magazine
• notice board
• team brief
• video and in-house TV.

In addition, regular surveys and suggestion schemes are important ways of ensuring that employees have the opportunity to feedback on a wide range of issues that impact on  performance.

7. Ensure that performance framework systems are truly in place

A performance review/appraisal system is traditionally used to set objectives, identify support needs and measure progress against objectives. For it to work effectively, it must be clearly understood by both managers and employees. This requires that:

• managers have access to guidance and training to ensure they manage performance effectively throughout the year
• all employees have the necessary support, guidance and training to actively engage in the performance appraisal process.

If you don’t have these in place it is unlikely that you can become a high performing organisation

8. Support employees to succeed

Effective induction and probation processes for new employees are extremely important in setting the right expectations of performance for both the employee and the manager. Personal development plans (PDPs), resulting from the performance review process, should explain how development needs will be met.

9. Encourage performance improvement

Occasionally, performance does not meet the required standard. At organizational level, this should be addressed by identifying what the barriers are to effective performance and putting in place a plan to deliver improvement.

The principle is the same at both the team and individual level: there must be clear procedures for dealing with inadequate performance.

10. Recognize and reward good performance

Good performance needs to be recognized and, where appropriate, rewarded.

Recognizing performance is also about sharing success stories and knowledge across the organisation and highlighting how good performance helps the organisation as a whole.

If you would like to know more about how your organisation is performing follow this link to find out more about Making Performance Meaningful Reviews