The Best Way to Hold Employees Accountable for High Standards - Measuring and Rating Performance

Between Good and Great

"Hey Boss, how's this look?  Did I do a good job?"

Measurement is a tough subject to cover in just a few paragraphs; without being there to facilitate discussion. If I lose you, feel free to call 888-215-8532 we'll set-up a time to go over this one on one (for a fee of course, the boss gets mad if I work for free).

Grab a few important people, get to a dry-erase board (all of life's problems can be worked out on a dry-erase board) and work through the following for at least one position in your company.  Walk with me....talk with me.....

First...before we get to steps 1 2 3...for the position we'll work on ...

Why was this POSITION (or job title) created?

What is the expected financial return of the position?  In other words, how does the position profit the company?

If you've still decided to keep that position, let's proceed.

 

1.  Identify WHAT to measure.

Think Job Knowledge; supervision required; level of expertise:  Ask:  How can I measure the expertise required to perform the tasks of this position?

A Job Knowledge measurement can be tough; it may require observation by a supervisor while the employee is on-task (via monitoring phone calls with customers, or even role-playing work situations with the employee).

Think Productivity; efficiency; how long does it take the employee to complete assignments?  Ask:  How can we measure the rate of output?

Productivity measurements are the easiest to identify. Almost all employees have deadlines to meet, or widgets to make...that's what we're talking about.

Think Quality; error-free work: Ask: What are the output defects for this position, and how can you measure the number of defects produced by an employee in this position?

In a production environment, this one is easy, in other areas such as hospitality, don't simply rely on the number of complaints an employee receives; you should have some type of inspection in place.

Think Customer Service; satisfied customers:  Ask: What is the indicator that an employee in this position is making customers (both internal and external) happy?

Unless you have some type of customer survey in place - you'll need some type of method to observe an employee's customer service skills.  I'll say it again, do things like monitor phone calls, tag along somehow, or do role plays when you are meeting with them 1 on 1.

 

2.  Set Standards and Ratings for Each Measurement

The areas for evaluation we have identified are: Job Knowledge, Productivity, Quality, and Customer Service. For all of the areas identified, you should now have at least one measurement for each. Try to limit your inspected/managed standards to two per area.  This will keep oversight from going into overkill or micro-management.

The next step is to create ratings.  For each of your measurements, set ratings/scores that indicate 3 levels of performance: MEETING STANDARDS, NEEDS IMPROVEMENT, and EXCEEDS STANDARDS.

For example, let's say that your response the question related to productivity was: "One way of measuring the productivity of a person in this position is to look at the number of packages labeled for shipment."

Example ratings for that response are:

• 10-15 Per hour = MEETS STANDARDS

• 1-9 Per Hour = NEEDS IMPROVEMENT

• 16+ Per Hour = EXCEEDS STANDARDS

 

Now ..go ahead and create ratings for all of your measurements...

 

3.  Test your work

Now...let's put your work to test and see if you've created objective standards.

To test your ratings ,consider an employee that is performing the job that you have used to do these exercises, then rate their productivity.

1. Could the employee logically or reasonably disagree with your ratings?  In other words, were any of your ratings subject to opinion?  "Good" is subject to opinion; "99%" is not.

2. Are your standards Meaningful, Achievable, Clearly Stated, and Measurable?

 

Written by Darin Hanks - HRIT Inc.

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Links to all articles on this topic....

What do you need to begin managing and evaluating performance? Follow the links below for a how-to article for each point......
	Job Descriptions: A concise summary of primary job duties for each position.
	Meaningful, achievable, clearly stated, and measurable Job Performance Standards.
	Formal Job Training, and a commitment to a "drip system" of continuing education.
	A commitment to coaching; monthly Informal Performance Evaluations.
	Firm, fair, and consistent Progressive Discipline practices.
	A managed, company-wide standard Formal Performance Evaluation system.

 

 

Other Topics ...   Writing Company Policy for an Employee Handbook   Employee Discipline & Correction Action

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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