In part six of the Employee Life Cycle, you hired and onboarded a new employee, and now you want them to become a high-performing member of your organization. To achieve this, you need to be a supportive leader who allows the employee to self-manage while guiding the person with your leadership.
Keep your promises
Don’t make promises you can’t keep, and keep the promises you make. It’s better to live up to your promises than to disappoint someone by not doing so. Don’t pull a “bait and switch” routine by selling your company as one thing when it’s something different. If you sell someone because your company is a great place to work and there are lots of opportunities to learn new things and grow, then make sure they have access to training and classes to develop themselves. Don’t hire them and expect them to tow the line if you don’t give them what you said you would – given that it’s an employee’s market, they’ll be gone faster than you can imagine.
Set clear performance expectations
There are usually aspects of a job that aren’t disclosed when an employee goes through the interviewing and hiring process. The job description says one thing, but the reality is a whole alternate world. As a manager or leader, you must make your expectations clear from day 1. If you expect an employee to keep a specific schedule, or be available during certain hours, say so. If you have job responsibilities that need to be completed every week, give the new employee a checklist. The key is to make sure that what you expect is clearly understood. If the new employee gets no guidance from you other than a one-page job description, then you might be disappointed in your new hire. Set them up for success, not failure.
Cancel the annual performance review
OK, I know this isn’t realistic or feasible in some organizations. However, when my former company did away with this dreaded practice, it was the best thing ever! In my opinion, this exercise is a total waste of time for everyone involved. It’s a human resources relic that I think should be abolished. Unfortunately, many companies still cling to the way they have always done things, and this is a sacred cow that often cannot be touched. It’s an obligatory “check-the-box” activity to justify managers having jobs and giving token pay raises each year. If you can’t get rid of annual reviews entirely, I suggest making them as simple as possible – don’t spend more than a few minutes filling one out, and don’t put much thought into it.
Provide immediate and actionable feedback
Instead of the annual performance review, practice giving immediate and actionable feedback to employees. If you’re not doing this already, then you’re doing a poor job anyway. Like with children or pets, feedback needs to happen right after the behavior, whether good or bad. If it’s positive, then give them their deserved praise. If it’s negative, take the employee aside, ask them questions about what happened, and allow them to introspect and present their perspective. Don’t tell them what to do but guide them into finding a correction on their own. If problem behavior continues… that’s another topic for a separate blog.
Train teams to hold each other accountable
If your organization is agile, this behavior is probably already baked into your company’s DNA. But if not, it’s your job to train teams to self-manage. Teams should do everything they can to address any problems themselves before escalating to anyone else. If the team can’t solve a problem, they can escalate it, but this should be rare. To build high-performing teams, you need them to develop trust in one another. You put the power in their hands by allowing them to be the arbiters of remediation rather than relying on managers.
Allow the employee to own & drive their development plan
Put your new employee’s performance development plan in their own hands. Every person should have a vision and goals for their future and career. If an organization dictates the goals, it won’t drive the employee to accomplish them. It’s OK to provide a new employee with a template to follow but allow them to choose their path. My development plan typically includes the following components:
- Short and long-term goals and objectives (SMART)
- Needed competencies or skills development to achieve my goals (SQL, Presentation skills, etc.)
- Desired experiences to help accomplish my goals (Speaking, conducting webinars, etc.)
- Education, certifications, or training plans that support my objectives (CBAP®, PMP®, etc.)
- A list of planned activities for the upcoming year that enable me to realize my plans (Presentations, blogs, professional meetings, conferences, books to read, classes, etc.)
Don’t think of a performance development plan as “one and done” because it’s a moving target. Employees should constantly update and revise their plans as things change. They might decide to pivot into a different career or choose to pursue a slightly different area of expertise in their current profession. Whatever happens, though, the employee should own the plan.
Support the employee’s development goals
Assuming your new employee went through the trouble of creating their performance development plan, it’s your job as a manager or leader to do what you can to support the achievement of those goals. Generally, this means providing funding for educational opportunities such as conferences, classes, books, professional organization membership fees, exam costs, etc. It’s also crucial to support any activities your employee does while representing your organization. For example, if your employee is giving a public presentation, be sure to advertise it to spread the word. Sharing their expertise helps not only the employee in their development, but it also gets you some low-cost advertising and establishes your company as a thought leader in your industry.
Make sure goals are SMART
The concept of SMART goals should not be new to most professionals. However, to reinforce its meaning, it stands for:
S – Specific – don’t be ambiguous, be detailed and clear about your objective
M – Measurable – if you can’t measure it, you won’t know if you succeeded, so make it measurable
A – Attainable (achievable) – don’t include crazy stretch goals; choose goals you can reach
R – Relevant (realistic) – choose goals that align with your chosen career, not something unrelated
T – Time-bound – by putting a date or a deadline on it, you’re more likely to accomplish your goals
Using SMART as a guideline for your goals is a best practice that ensures you pick activities that can be done and verified. Some may scoff at this, but in my experience, it’s a sound approach that drives success.
Provide mentors and coaches, or be a mentor or coach
New employees often don’t feel confident in their skills and abilities, especially if they accepted a job with an ambiguous title (Business Analysis, anyone?). Having a mentor or coach can help people gain the expected competency and confidence to navigate their new positions. Asking more seasoned professionals to be mentors is also a recognition of their experience. And, it provides an opportunity for them to give back and train up the next generation of professionals.
Conduct “get-to-know-you” show-and-tell sessions
It’s nice to do a formal announcement or introduction to a new hire when they start, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. People are much deeper and more complicated than a couple of paragraphs describing their lives and interests. I love a practice that my last leader introduced: the employee “show-and-tell” session. Everyone on a team may share something about themselves for a half hour. It could be a professional or personal topic – the choice is up to the employee. Opening up and sharing about oneself can feel vulnerable, but that’s the whole idea – to understand the person in a holistic way, not just as a “human resource.”
Final Thoughts
For your new employee to be successful, they need your support. Let them lead their development plan, and provide them with the tools, training, and mentoring to enable them to achieve their goals. Provide feedback quickly, and abolish the annual performance review (if possible); you’ll have more engaged and performant employees.
If you missed the first half of this blog series, check out the other installments:
- How to Understand the Employee Life Cycle
- 10 Ways to Attract Potential New Employees
- 10 Ways to Recruit Potential New Employees
- Top 10 Tips for Interviewing Potential New Employees
- Top 10 Tips for Hiring New Employees
- 10 Tips for Successfully Onboarding New Employees
Next up in the series is the topic of growth and development; this topic is tightly tied to one covered in this blog. In the upcoming blog, I’ll cover what really motivates people and why a growth mindset is important.
Now, for your thoughts. How do you help your new employees to become high-performers? Is there anything I missed or that I should consider for the future? Do you struggle with unmotivated employees who don’t even want to have a performance development plan? Please let me know in the comments below!