Employee Performance Management Principles

Performance management and performance appraisal is the single most important “window on the soul” SLHRM practice. An appropriate performance appraisal analogy is the tending of a garden. In securing a bountiful harvest, the most difficult work is at the beginning as we toil in clearing the land of rocks, brush, stumps, and trees. Then we must plow, sow, and weed. The harvest comes later. The great daily demand placed on managers through “fire-engine management” reduces the available time for employee development. This creates a vicious cycle as poorly trained and managed employees generate increased downstream problems. The answer is patient, long-term investment in employees. A major solution to the time dilemma is promoting a culture of delegation and empowerment. Hence, supervisors devote less time to micromanagement responsibilities and more time to the value-enhancing goal setting, problem solving, and communication augmenting activities that increase quality, efficiency, and effectiveness. When managers possess more time to plan, they can invest more time and effort in “management by walking around,” thereby cultivating relationships.