The Three-category Approach to Performance Management: Effort, Ability, or Environment

Performance Management is the act of managing personal or organizational performance. What can complicate this process are all the factors that can arise where a textbook process meets the situations and people that exist in your world. As an effective director, manager, or supervisor it is your job to ensure the success of the organization by achieving of all key performance indicators.

These targets or goals are accomplished through the implementation and execution of a solid Performance Management Process (PMP). The objective is not to discuss the building or maintenance of the process, but focus rather on the end result.

What do you do when your employees have not met the standards or expectations and their performance needs to be addressed? It is your job to protect the business while trying to be sensitive and support your employee's, and maintain a positive work environment. Sometimes both can be accomplished, sometimes they cannot.

So with the success of the business as the prize, how do you protect the prize, and decipher all the incoming data. You have to consider some general factors:

The business factor?
? These factors can include but certainly are not limited to: policy violation, policy interpretation, human resource approval, unemployment law, litigation, intent, staffing, tenure, and training.

The employee factor?
? On the employee side you must consider, anticipate, and listen to the barrage of employee "personal" issues that will be used to justify their substandard performance including divorce, child-care, abusive home life, rehabilitation, court dates, illness, poor training, no training and etcetera.

I'm going to provide you a process that allows you to increase your decision-making accuracy and velocity with 3 words. They are the three most spectacular words given to the modern manager:

Effort, Ability, or Environment

100% of all performance issues fit effortlessly into one of these three categories.

Effort

Effort Issues are defined as performance issues that arise when an employee knows how to perform and makes a decision not to.

How to identify?

Effort issues are usually inconsistent performers. The reps or associate is at goal or below goal based on how they feel or some other factor that is within their control. If you can hit goal once, there is no reason why you shouldn't be able to do it again.

How to handle?

There are many options when dealing with this segment of the population. You can provide, coaching, counseling, initiate documentation, corrective action, and even separate them from the organization.

Don't waste time on effort issues- Progressively coach and counsel these associates. Your time is too valuable to spend with someone who knows how and chooses not to when you have other reps that want to and don't know how.

Ability

Ability Issues are defined as performance issues that arise when an employee wants to perform, but doesn't have the skills or training needed to accomplish the task at hand.

How to identify?

Ability issues can be found in newer reps or neglected tenured reps that have never hit goal.

How to handle?

These reps need to be trained. Ongoing coaching and development will prevent these employees from falling short of goals and developing effort issues.

Environment

Environment Issues are defined as performance issues that arise or rather result from an environmental factor that is beyond the control of the associate.

How to identify?

There are different ways to diagnose these issues. You could have a performer that begins to fall short on active listening after she was moved to a more rowdy team.

How to handle?

If possible, try to alter the environment to ensure the reps success. If you can correct the environmental issues by relocating the employee do so.

This three-part identification process allows you to collapse all the circumstances, factors, and tenure into a very precise method. It allows you to train those that need to be trained, address environmental factors if needed, and not waste you time on effort issues.

Note: People are judged on what they actually do and not on their potential.

Once you have identified that your issue is effort, ability or environment you may take the appropriate steps to improve your employees performance, increase your business success and maintain your key performance indicators.

Aubie Pouncey is a contributing writer for http://www.righttolead.com. He has been in management for the past several years and has worked cloesly with leading performance management consultants. If you are interested in learning more about the performance management process then visit: http://accountabilityprocess.righttolead.com/

In The News:

---

Why Good Enough... Isnt

About a year ago, I had an opportunity to have... Read More

Innovation, Idea Selection, Valuation

There is no sure fire route to commercial success, but... Read More

Poor Employee Performance: How to Deal

KEEP WRITTEN RECORDS: "Document !Document! Document!" Keep a record of... Read More

Narcissism in the Boardroom

The perpetrators of the recent spate of financial frauds in... Read More

Employee Discipline: How to Nip Problems in the Bud

Are you uncomfortable with delivering disciplinary action, even involving employees... Read More

Want to Manage Your Time? Get Real!

You know the drill - the ridiculous deadlines, the relentless... Read More

Your Organization Is Only as Good as Your People

Let's begin by singing the jingle from an old US... Read More

7 Essential Elements To Every Organizational Change

[This article is based on excerpts from the special report... Read More

Innovation Management ? Measuring Failure!

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

Competion or Cooperation?

It has been said, there is no better way to... Read More

CEOs And Boards Are Locked In A Spiral Of Doom

American CEOs are dropping like flies. Boards, armed with new... Read More

Diversity in the Workplace: Benefits, Challenges and Solutions

Workplace diversity refers to the variety of differences between people... Read More

Project Management - Are You Done Yet

What happens when a Project Manager asks one of his... Read More

Time Management Tip: Stop Micro-Managing Employees

If I was a fly on the wall what would... Read More

Learn How To Get The Most From Your Team

Being a leader isn't easy. Every one looks to you... Read More

Outsourcing Quiz: Cheap Vs. Good

Someone can say, 'Why do you oppose this?' So I'd... Read More

6 Shared Factors of Successful Executives

These factors where determined by interviews with and books from... Read More

Indiscretion Can Kill Your Business

The quickest way to cancel out all the thought, work,... Read More

Tap Employee Passion For Business Success

Meriwether Lewis set the stage for the Corps of Discovery's... Read More

What Makes a Crisis a Crisis?

If you're old enough and were living in America about... Read More

Negative Self-talk is Too Expensive

I'm always fascinated by the people who lift huge weights,... Read More

Think Before You Talk

What you say to other people can make or break... Read More

Manufacturing Capacity as a Commodity

Excess capacity in an automobile plant at Ford, Chrysler, Toyota,... Read More

Make Change Easy - Get Involved!

There are wild variances in how much involvement organisations are... Read More

Why You Should Hold One More Meeting

If you are completely happy with where you and your... Read More

Five Ways to Increase Profitability By Doing The Right Thing

1. Base your business in the Magic Triangle. Honesty, integrity,... Read More

The How-Tos of Firing Incompetent Employees

CATEGORIES OF OFFENSES: Most organizations have two categories of offenses... Read More

My Companys Leadership Sucks!

Maybe it's the season or just a more buoyant job... Read More

Is Your Employee Newsletter Management Propaganda?

It should not be. If it is an effective newsletter,... Read More

Effective Multi Cultural International Business Meetings

Of the many areas in international business where cultural differences... Read More

Terrible Meetings - Ten Ways to Spot Them!

Sometimes, better than giving advice about how to run things... Read More

Creativity Management - The Value of Being Prolific

When asked his secret to success, the author Graham Green... Read More

What We Have Here Is A Failure To Communicate

Today's successful organizations are the ones which carry on open... Read More