PRODUCE RESULTS-BASED PERFORMANCE PLANS Included with this Participant Workbook is the following guidebook, published by Richard Chang Associates, Inc. Planning Successful Employee Performance Planning employee performance provides you and your organization more efficient and effective resource allocation, including time, talent, and money. Expectations are clarified up front. Stress and disappointments are reduced. Problems are anticipated and avoided. Unanticipated changes to priorities are better managed with the bigger picture (of current commitments) in mind. Performance plans can result in individual and organizational success, since they re all directly linked to your shared priorities and targets. You can t coach and evaluate describing that they are on or off track if you don t have a track! Planning provides the track. Yet, there are no guarantees. Your plans must influence your dayto-day operations, and vice versa. Performance planning, therefore, is a continuous and dynamic process, not a static event! Learning Objectives Upon completion of this unit, you will be able to: 1. Incorporate inputs (e.g., organizational, new requirements, current Position Descriptions, etc.) into Performance Plans 2. Draft Performance Plans (Position Descriptions, Individual Scorecards, and Performance Action Plans) Agenda Incorporating Inputs Into Individual Performance Plans Communicating Inputs To Organization Members Drafting Individual Performance Plans Finalizing Individual Performance Plans 1
Incorporating Inputs Into Individual Performance Plans (cont.) Once you understand your organization s direction and your workgroup objectives, strategies, and measures, the next action is to understand new requirements, initiatives, and needs facing your business. Examples of new requirements might include: New market trends New customer expectations of your current products Advances in technology New customer segments Recent new discoveries and patents Finally, you will want to gather the previous year s Position Descriptions, Individual Performance Plans, and Performance Evaluations for each of your employees. Oftentimes, the Position Description will need to be updated to reflect current demands on the job. Organization Scorecards/ Measures/Objectives Workgroup Scorecards/ Measures/Objectives New Requirements/ Needs Expectations/ Directions Last Year s Position Description/Individual Performance Plan/ Performance Evaluation Individual Performance Plans Position Description Individual Scorecards Performance Action Plans 4
Drafting Individual Performance Plans (cont.) 2. Individual Scorecards Individual scorecards help to link individual performance to business unit, workgroup, and team scorecards. Individual scorecards describe conditions that will exist after work is performed. You should be able to quantitatively measure objectives and targets on the individual scorecard. Each employee s individual scorecard will have three main elements Performance Objectives, Action Steps, and Results. Individual Performance Objectives To: + What: + By: + When: = SMART Objective S pecific M easurable A greed-upon R ealistic T ime-bound The five types of objectives are: Financial meets a defined financial target Project completes a specific project Process improves a specific process Business-As-Usual improves regular performance Core Values support your organization s guiding principles Performance objectives should include identification of measures and targets. When completed, these form the basis for individual scorecards and development plans. Much like business unit and team objectives, individual performance objectives should be SMART. Performance objectives are often stretch or developmental objectives. Stretch = Projects, often related to specific organizational objectives, for employees (with complementing Position Descriptions) to complete in addition to regular job responsibilities as described in their Position Descriptions. Developmental = Projects, often challenging and complex, requiring employees to acquire new knowledge and skills to more successfully perform job responsibilities as listed in their Position Descriptions. Managers and employees may be clearly in agreement on what they want done (Performance Objectives) but not necessarily on how to get it done (Performance Action Plans). NOTE: If you are unfamiliar with scorecards or would like a quick refresher, see Pages R1 R6 for a brief description of scorecards and their linkage and alignment through the organization. For a more detailed description of scorecards, read Performance Scorecards Measuring The Right Things In The Real World, available from Richard Chang Associates, Inc. 10
Drafting Individual Performance Plans (cont.) 3. Performance Action Plan Performance Action Plans, much like project plans, help employees delineate key actions related to achieving their Performance Objectives. They are used when the complexity of the objective demands a more detailed plan than the Action Steps section of the Individual Scorecard. The Performance Action Plan outlines milestones, deliverables and results (measures), key resources required, the risks involved, and any contingency plans related to achieving the Performance Objective. The Performance Action Plan allows expectations and concerns to be clarified up front before valuable resources are allocated. Guidelines For Using The Performance Action Plan 1. A comprehensive Performance Action Plan is optional. However, each performance objective on the Individual Scorecard will at least have a set of Action Steps. A full plan may be completed at the request of the manager or employee. If the Performance Objective statement does not have built-in measures, a Performance Action Plan is strongly recommended. 2. The Performance Action Plan can supplement any Performance Objective (i.e., one action plan can be done for one selected objective or five action plans can be done for five selected objectives). 3. It is advisable to use the Performance Action Plan under any of the following circumstances: Any affected party (e.g., organization leader, employee, senior management, customer, supplier, etc.) is unsure about how to approach achieving an objective. This process will help prompt a discussion and agreement on key actions, expectations, and concerns. One of the Performance Objectives is viewed as highly complex, vague, critical, politically sensitive, matrix management-oriented, and/or resource-intensive. This process will ensure the proper care and attention is provided, especially regarding deliverables/results (measures). The employee has not achieved past Performance Objectives. (Note: Using this supplemental worksheet does not necessarily suggest the employee performed undesirably. ) Planning Successful Employee Performance Chapter Six 15
Exercise # 4 DRAFTING COMPREHENSIVE PERFORMANCE ACTION PLANS Following the guidelines for using the Performance Action Plan, pick one of your Individual Performance Objectives from Exercise #3 and develop a Performance Action Plan. PERFORMANCE ACTION PLAN EMPLOYEE: POSITION: DEPARTMENT: SUPERVISOR: PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVE: ORIGINATED: REVISED: 1. ACTIONS/MILESTONES DELIVERABLES/RESULTS REQUIRED RESOURCES 2. 3. 4. RISKS, IMPACTS, AND LIKELIHOOD (HIGH, MEDIUM, LOW) OPTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS RISK: IMPACTS: LIKELIHOOD: RISK: IMPACTS: LIKELIHOOD: RISK: IMPACTS: LIKELIHOOD: 17
PRODUCE RESULTS-BASED PERFORMANCE PLANS Personal Action Plan Key learnings: I need to contact and involve the following: Name How When The specific action steps I will carry out on the job include: What When 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Additional issues/concerns I need to address: 19