Have you ever experienced the inheritance surprise? You inherit an employee who has a history of performance challenges, and the previous manager has not addressed and/or documented the behaviors. As a result, you are “starting from scratch” with the employee—unable to use any performance examples from the past to help the employee improve their performance. […]
Who gets excited about being told what to do? Not many of us. We all want to participate in conversations that impact our work life. One opportunity to engage employees in a conversation about work is to mutually develop performance goals. Performance goals can provide direction and motivation to employees, providing measurable targets on which […]
Managers and employees alike dread that annual ritual of performance evaluations. In some agencies, the event is postponed for as long as possible. In others, it is just avoided – sometimes for years. Performance evaluations offer the opportunity for enhanced communication and feedback, which has the potential to improve performance and increase morale. Yet, the […]
“A ‘five’ rating in my work group is not the same as a ‘five’ rating in another group.” When you design a performance evaluation system you want it to be fair. Yet, fairness is often an elusive characteristic in public sector employee performance evaluation systems. A common request I get when asked to redesign a […]
Hierarchical organizations, like traditional public agencies, have developed structures, policies, and rules that minimize risk taking and encourage standardized work processes. Governments have traditionally rewarded those who “play by the rules.” This approach seems to have worked in times of stability or expansion. However, today’s challenges related to funding and resource allocation require innovative, creative […]
If you are rating employee performance on a five-point scale, it may be time to rethink your process. The traditional approach to employee performance management, which scores employee performance, is being replaced with an increased focus on coaching and development. According to Bersin and Associate’s High Impact Performance Management Report, seventy percent of organizations say […]
J. Michael Wilkes, City Manager of Olathe, Kansas recently facilitated a fascinating session on organizational culture at the Alliance for Innovation’s Transforming Local Government Conference. The event brought together the best and brightest local government leaders to share ideas for making cities and counties better. Wilkes asked workshop attendees how they engage their employees to create positive […]
Creative, motivated public leaders say interesting and thought provoking things when you put them in a room together. I have the privilege of eavesdropping in on many conversations between public sector leaders at the conferences and meetings where I speak. At a recent gathering of local government innovators, sponsored by the Alliance for Innovation, I […]
In a recently released report from the Center for State and Local Government Excellence on State and Local Government Workforce Trends, staff development and employee morale were listed as the most important workforce issues facing government agencies today. To me, staff development and morale are directly tied to the performance management practices of an organization. […]
The regularly scheduled one-on-one (O-o-O) has been called the most powerful management tool available. Yet many managers are not having regular one-on-one meetings with employees, and it impacts the work environment. To make the O-o-O effective, it should be regularly scheduled (every other Tuesday at 9AM or every Monday at 4PM or whatever works). It should […]
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