Direction. Clarity. Input. Guidance. Coaching. Advice. Mentoring.

These tools are the driving force behind a strong performance management process. By setting clear expectations, providing feedback and guidance, and coaching to develop skills for growth, you are ensuring that employees can thrive. Unfortunately, the words “performance management” or “feedback” sometimes leave employees in a state of fear and burden managers with onerous processes that interfere with their ability to maintain strong interpersonal connections and drive for execution.

It doesn’t have to be that way. People need feedback, and providing valuable, timely coaching creates an environment where both businesses and people can flourish.

PeopleFirst Performance Management

Organizations that encourage a PeopleFirst approach to performance management value recognizing great work, correcting issues early, and developing the skills and knowledge that the business needs for future growth.

These organizations follow a simple set of guidelines:

1. Performance starts with the individual.

2. Focusing on the future inspires progress.

3. Timely conversations have impact.

When this approach is deployed, the conversations become easy for both the managerand employee because, ultimately, there are no surprises, and it’s the surprises that create the difficulties in performance management.

Putting the Guidelines into Action

Managers don’t have to wait for their employers to embrace the PeopleFirst approach; you can implement it yourself right now:

1. Performance starts with the individual. As a manager, you aren’t responsible for setting all the goals, deciding what development actions need to be taken, or even for providing all the feedback. Instead, recognize that the individual you’re working with is an independent adult, and they know more about their accomplishments and goals than you do. Start your conversations by asking your team members for their input:

a. Tell me about your work on that project. What went well for you, and how can I help you improve?

b. How do you think things are going this year? Tell me what you think the highlights are. Have you had any “lowlights” or issues that you wish you could change?

c. As you look out a year from now, what do you think will be different? What kind of progress do you want to make? What initiatives do you want to work on?

d. If you could develop one or two skills in the next year, what would those be, and what can I do to support you?

You’re not totally off the hook; you’ll need to provide coaching and guidance and share your perspective, but more often than not, you’ll find that the individual says the things you were going to say and accepts your input more openly in a two-way conversation.

2. Focus on the future. While feedback is a core part of the performance management process, it provides a perspective on the past, and the past cannot be changed. It’s important for managers to shift the narrative to think about the future. Use the past to inform ideas for setting clear and challenging objectives and encourage people to do their work in a way that’s more impactful in the future. Some ways to approach this include:

a. I think you did a great job writing that report, but I didn’t feel like I had enough time to review and make edits. As you go forward, what could you change to ensure there’s more review time?

b. Your coding skills are improving, and I’d like to see you take on some new projects and attend a class next year. What initiatives do you want to work on?

c. If you think back on the last year, what’s one thing you want to do differently next year?

By focusing on the future, managers can drive their team toward making an impact on the objectives that matter while opening opportunities for growth and development by learning from the past.

3. Timely conversations have impact. Performance is not a once-a-year activity.

Great managers provide regular input, and they work on developing their team members during every interaction. Praise has a deeper impact when it’s shared in the moment it’s earned, and so does constructive feedback. When you have a team member who makes an error, breaks policy, or could just be doing their work better, tell them when you notice the changes needed; don’t wait until a formal review. When people tell us that they dread the performance process, it’s often related to the “surprise” factor—the idea that a manager needs to share bad news, or an employee doesn’t know what they’re going to hear. By building a regular, two-way rapport that looks toward future success, you can eliminate the fear and focus, instead, on putting your PeopleFirst.

Putting your PeopleFirst means creating a sense of accountability while giving people the clarity, support, and feedback they need to succeed.

That is good for employees—and good for business.

I challenge every manager to start their performance reviews with one question: How are you feeling about your progress?

When you take a PeopleFirst approach to providing feedback, the feedback starts from the perspective of the individual. Employees know what they accomplished this year, and they have feelings about their own performance. They know their successes, and they know their challenges. When managers give them an opportunity to talk openly, a conversation emerges that is much more productive for driving actual performance.

That conversation creates the most value.

Sometimes, the individual says exactly what you want to say, as a manager, and you get to agree and reinforce. Sometimes, they don’t recognize their value, and you get to boost them up. Rarely, you encounter an employee who overestimates their impact, requiring you to have a direct conversation about their actual performance. Regardless of which situation you face, you can have an honest discussion that considers both perspectives.

To make this conversation even easier, managers should be taking this approach on a monthly basis; by doing so, there will be no surprises during a formal review process.

It’s much easier to keep people focused on executing effectively when they receive regular input on their progress and are able to make course corrections before challenges arise.

Perhaps now is a good time for you to consider the question: How are you feeling about your own progress?

The best managers don’t have all the answers. Rather, the best managers are the ones

who have all the questions. Questions, when asked with a sense of true curiosity, can

help your team think bigger, solve their own issues, and reconsider set ideas. Managers

who ask questions take a coaching approach to driving performance, which, in turn,

inspires authentic relationships that allow for growth.

When faced with an addressable performance challenge, such as a team member who

is struggling to meet objectives, try using a coaching approach. Ask questions to

understand:

 What challenges have you faced?

 What kinds of solutions have you tried to address the situation?

 Why do you think this issue is coming up?

 What else do you think you can try?

 What support do you need to solve this problem?

 If you could wave a wand and fix this, what would need to happen?

You may be surprised. People often know what they need to do to resolve their

challenges. They wish they had taken different actions. They know how things could be

different, but they get caught up in their own difficulties and find them hard to solve

without support. By asking the right questions, you can help them identify solutions and

feel a sense of empowerment while also determining how you can help them succeed.

Solving their problems for them might be expedient in the short term, but it won’t help

when they face the same problem in the future. Coaching through performance issues

is an investment of time today that can pay off later.

There is one point to keep in mind: Sometimes, you’re facing a bigger challenge in the

form of a performance problem, such as inability to do the job, a policy infringement, or

insubordination. When there are disciplinary issues that need addressing, coaching is

likely not the best approach for improving performance. Instead, this is a time for more

direct feedback, when managers will need to articulate clear expectations and identify

behavior changes that are required. When facing potential disciplinary situations, talk

with your human resources partner, who can help you with scripting the conversation,

documenting next steps, and building a plan for improving behavior.

Managers have a fairly simple job; they need to get a number of individuals to work,

either together or independently, to solve business challenges, execute on operations,

and meet the needs of their clients and partners. Super simple.

“Hah!” you’re thinking. “That’s not simple; that’s like herding cats!”

But what if it were? Here’s the thing: People need direction. In fact, they crave it. They

want to know your goals and how they can contribute to making the team and the

business successful. And then, they want to be unleashed to perform.

We can let that happen if we take a PeopleFirst approach to setting objectives.

The objective setting process benefits from both a top-down and bottom-up approach

that ensures that company goals are addressed in a way that allows people to do what

they do best. Try this:

1. Figure out what success looks like. Identify the company’s objectives and the

metrics that define success. If you haven’t been explicitly notified of the

objectives, ask your manager, or their manager, or read the strategic plan or

investor deck. They’re out there. You can tell what they are because they’re the

things that matter most to your organization.

2. Figure out how your team contributes to that success. Identify the areas in which

you and your team can make the biggest impact and how you contribute to the

success of the business.

3. Discuss, document, and refine. Start a conversation about the objectives. Ask

your team what they can contribute, and share your thoughts on what you want

to accomplish. Assign initiatives and challenge your team to take on more. Ask

each person to establish and share their metrics of success.

Then, release your team to perform. Ultimately, objective setting is clarifying WHAT we

need to do. If you do that well, you show your team that you trust them to know HOW to

accomplish those goals in a way that uses their skills and knowledge.

When people talk about performance management, they often discuss the challenge of

giving reviews, and they sometimes think about the importance of setting clear

objectives. The third step in the process, which is often forgotten, is building and

implementing development plans.

We, as humans, are always learning and growing. We pick up new ideas from the world

around us. We have valuable discussions with people who change our perspectives,

and we read interesting books and articles that help us rethink our commitments. We

take classes and participate in workshops to add new skills.

That learning is going to happen, and organizations can benefit from putting structure to

the process so that team members can learn in ways that benefit their teams.

A PeopleFirst approach to development always starts with understanding the individual

and what they want to learn. It is nearly impossible to teach someone if they don’t have

any interest in learning the material, so managers will always benefit from asking their

team members to identify their own learning gaps. Think about it in a couple of different

ways:

 What are the areas in which you think you have gaps that keep you from doing

your best work?

 When you think about your career in the next two years, what skills or knowledge

will you need that you don’t have now?

Once you identify these gaps, provide your perspective and agree on one to two areas

for focus. By keeping the list of learning areas small, there’s a much better chance of

achieving the development goals.

Once goals are identified, it’s important to consider the activities that will then support

development. We at PeopleFirst Advising often recommend deploying the 70/20/10

approach to development:

 70% of development activities are experiential—stretch assignments, new role

opportunities, job shadowing, and learning from daily work decisions.

 20% of development happens in social interactions—through coaching,

mentoring, and collaborating with others.

 10% of development takes place in structured learning

opportunities—workshops, online courses, and conferences.

This allows for an ongoing partnership between managers and team members. The

team member is responsible for driving their learning, while the manager is responsible

for providing support and resources as needed.

Done well, this learning will feel natural, and having the focus on building the plan gives

you an opportunity to strengthen the team’s capabilities.