Companies that are present in the top league follow a set of procedures, planning, strategy, monitoring, etc. to stay ahead of their market competition.  Companies delegate their responsibilities, optimize an individual’s performance, and align with organizational strategic goals. 

Organizations create a performance management system to achieve the set of goals 

But is the Performance Management cycle only applicable to a few industries? Or should start-ups also follow this and will they benefit from this? 

To answer those questions, we shall dig a little deeper into Performance Management. 

What is Performance Management? 

Performance Management is a tool and metric that allows you to monitor your employees’ performance and work. Performance management’s goal is to create an environment where people can perform to the best of their abilities and produce the highest-quality work most efficiently and effectively. 

This Performance management cycle consists of  

• Planning: Setting goals for groups and individuals to achieve their organizational objectives. Prioritizing and delegating their work responsibilities to ensure that the team understands What needs to be done and How to achieve their objective. 
• Monitoring: Constantly monitoring the employees will help us to mitigate any obstacles that may arise soon. Monitoring effectively entails regularly gauging performance and giving staff members and work teams feedback on how they are faring in terms of achieving their objectives. 
• Reviewing: At the end of the year, the management and the employees have a meeting to discuss and review whether our previous year’s goals have been met. This improves collaboration among management and the employees and can also help us understand where the problem lies and how to overcome it in the future. 
• Rewarding: The final stage of the performance management cycle plan is the reward. This stage is important to boost the morale of the employees who end up achieving. Conversely, when employees see a high-performer get a handsome reward, it demonstrates the value of putting in that extra effort.

Does a start-up need to implement Performance Management? 

Most start-ups are unaware of the benefits of a performance management system and how it can help their closely-knit teams. Start-ups are also unaware of the benefits the performance management system offers in helping them conduct performance feedback. They are mostly based on result-oriented systems rather than process-driven systems.  Result Oriented system doesn’t guarantee our necessary outcomes and isn’t effective in the long run. Rather than result-oriented, a Process-oriented system focus on the process the employee follows to achieve their objective. The process-driven system must therefore ensure exceptional results.  

Without a strong performance management system in place, start-ups set up dynamic goals and expect immediate results from them. Without a robust yet adaptable performance management system in place, it is challenging for an organization to match its goals with the personal goals of its workforce. This is so that they can assist both small and large organizations in setting performance objectives for their staff. This process aids in enhancing overall productivity, delivering on business objectives, and improving employee performance when it is in line with organizational goals.  

The following are the services that are offered when Performance Management is implemented: 

1. Formulating business objectives:  

Before setting goals or objectives for employees or teams, the company must need to formulate clear and well-defined business objectives that need to be achieved within a specific period. A robust performance management system ensures that the business’s goals are either SMART or FAST GOALS. Setting organizational goals ensures clarity on where the business heads for the next quarter or annually. However, start-ups need to ensure that the process is flexible enough to work effectively in the dynamic business environment in which they are operating. 

2. Setting clear and precise goals for employees: 

Start-ups setting goals for their employees must be precise and clear for the employee to understand. Employees should be able to clearly understand their daily deliverables, the standards by which their performance will be evaluated, and the knowledge and skills needed to complete the work. This enables the employees to understand where they lack in the terms of skills and knowledge and improve themselves. The primary objective of performance management is setting clear goals for employees. 

3. Regular check-ins and meetings: 

Regular check-ins and meetings must be mandatory to ensure that there are no roadblocks to the employee achieving their objective. This also bridges the gap between communications and ensures a proper flow. Effective communication between the team members also ensures that the issues are resolved quickly so that it doesn’t hamper the progress of work.  

4. Obtain and Attain regular feedback 

Regular feedback exchanges between managers and teams can contribute to the development of a more open performance evaluation and management system. The development of employees’ personal and professional lives can be aided by regular feedback from their superiors. 

Additionally, providing feedback to their superiors gives them a chance to share their thoughts and strategies for achieving business objectives on time. Additionally, two-way feedback can support the development of a cooperative and coordinated workplace culture.   

5. Rewards and Recognition: 

After a good quarter or year, to boost the employee’s morale and motivation, the management must plan a reward ceremony for those who have excelled in their performance. This not only boosts the morale of achieved employees, but others who have missed this opportunity can also aim to achieve it in their next quarter or year. Since these rewards and recognition are based on individual performance and not bias, every employee will focus on improving themselves. 

6. Identify employee training and development needs. 

All the employees are evaluated on the basics of their performance so every employee must be ready to develop themselves. A regime of training and development must be implemented to increase the overall output of each employee and organization.  The company has a chance to thoroughly assess the skill set of each employee by providing consistent feedback on their performance. It allows managers to determine whether a worker needs to brush up on specific skills or needs to learn a completely new set of skills to perform the job well. The performance management system is crucial in closing the skill gap among employees. Consequently, they can perform better thanks to their newly acquired skill set. 

Conclusion: 

Start-ups should start utilizing the Performance Management system to improve and increase the overall effectiveness of all employees. Implementing a performance management process in the workplace early on will better equip start-ups to develop and motivate their employees and ultimately improve their success and growth.

Talk to our coaches to learn how to implement performance management in your company.