Performance Management and Employee Development

 

8.1.	Personal Developmental Plans Personal developmental plans specify courses of action to be taken to improve performance. Achieving the goals stated in the developmental plan allows employees to keep abreast of changes in their fields or professions. Such plans highlight an employee’s strengths and the areas in need of development, and they provide an action plan to improve in areas of weaknesses and further develop areas of strength. In a nutshell, personal developmental plans allow employees to answer the following questions :
	-	How can I continually learn and grow in the next year?
	-	How can I do better in the future?
	-	How can I avoid performance problems faced in the past?
	Developmental plans can be created for every job, ranging from entry level to the executive suite. No matter how high up the position within the organization and how simple or complex the nature of the job in question, there is always room for improvement. Information to be used in designing developmental plans comes from the appraisal form. Specifically, a developmental plan can be designed based on each of the performance dimensions evaluated. For example, if the performance dimension “communication” is rated as substandard, this area would be targeted by the developmental plan. In addition, however, developmental plans focus on the knowledge and skills needed for more long-term career aspirations. In addition to improved performance, the inclusion of development plans and, in more general terms, the identification of employee strengths and weaknesses as part of the performance management system have another important benefit: employees are more likely to be satisfied with the system.2 For example, a study including 137 employees at a production equipment facility in the southern United States showed that the greater the extent to which employees believed that the system was being used for developmental purposes, the more satisfied they were with the system. On the other hand, perceptions of the extent to which the system was used for evaluative purposes did not relate to employee satisfaction with the system. In other words, using the system for evaluative purposes did not relate to employee satisfaction with the system, but using the system for developmental purposes had a positive relationship with satisfaction.

8.1.1.	Developmental Plan Objectives   The overall objective of a developmental plan is to encourage continuous learning, performance improvement, and personal growth. In addition, developmental plans have other more specific objectives :
	-	Improve performance in current job. A good developmental plan helps employees meet performance standards. Thus, a developmental plan includes suggested courses of action to address each of the performance dimensions that are deficient. This is an important point given that recent surveys have shown that about 25% of federal employees and between 11 and 16% of private sector employees in the United States are not performing up to standards.
	-	Sustain performance in current job. A good developmental plan provides tools so that employees can continue to meet and exceed expectations regarding the current job. Thus, the plan includes suggestions about how to continue to meet and exceed expectations for each of the performance dimensions included in the appraisal form
	-	Prepare employees for advancement. A good developmental plan includes advice and courses of action that should be taken so that employees will be able to take advantage of future opportunities and career advancement. Specifically, a good plan indicates which new competencies and behaviors should be learned to help with career advancement
	-	Enrich the employee’s work experience. Even if career opportunities within the organization are not readily available, a good plan provides employees with growth opportunities and opportunities to learn new skills. These opportunities provide employees with intrinsic rewards and a more challenging work experience, even if the new skills learned are not a formal part of their jobs. Such opportunities can make jobs more attractive and serve as a powerful employee retention tool. In addition, the new skills can be useful in case of lateral transfers within the organization.

Consider the employee developmental plan used by Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas (http://employees.tamu.edu/employees/training/online/pd/pdForms.aspx). Since the developmental plan is a formal component of the university’s performance management system, the developmental plan is included within the appraisal form. The appraisal form used by Texas A&M first lists the six objectives of the performance management system :
1.	Provide employees with feedback to improve or maintain job performance
2.	Outline areas for employee development
3.	Set standards for the next review period
4.	Recognize job-related accomplishments
5.	Enhance communication and working relationships
6.	Identify job performance deficiencies (any factor “Does Not Meet Expectations”), and report to the next level of supervisory responsibility
Based on objective 2, the employee developmental plan is an important component of the performance management system. The inclusion of this objective up front sets the tone for the developmental process by helping managers understand that this is an important issue.

After the sections in the form in which the manager rates employee performance, the following material is included :

Section B : Professional Development Plan   Please list professional development activities to be completed and resources needed to support these activities, if applicable (link to examples of suggested employee development: http://hr.tamu.edu/ed/suggest.pdf)
Professional Development Needs	Resources/Support Needed	Time Frame

 The inclusion of this information after performance ratings allows the manager and employee to focus on developmental areas identified as weaknesses in the performance review process. In this way, the developmental plans created for employees at Texas A & M are directly related to performance dimensions important for the unit and the overall organization. In addition, including the developmental plan at the end of the review and after setting annual performance goals allows the employee to determine whether there are areas he or she needs to develop in order to attain the specified goals.

Why does goal setting work? In other words, based on studies of more than 40,000 people in eight countries, why have “stretch” goals led to better performance than “do your best” or easy goals? 5 There are four basic reasons. First, when an employee commits to a goal, he or she diverts attention away from activities that are not relevant to the goal and toward activities that are relevant. Second, challenging goals are energizing and lead to higher levels of effort. Third, stretch goals lead to persistence (e.g., tight deadlines lead to a faster pace than do loose deadlines). Finally, stretch goals motivate employees to use the knowledge they have to reach the goal or to search for new knowledge that they may need.

8.1.2.

Content of Developmental Plan   What does a developmental plan look like? Plans should include a description of specific steps to be taken and specific objectives to reach. In other words, what is the new skill or knowledge that will be acquired and how will this occur? This includes information on the resources and strategies that will be used to achieve the objectives. For example, will the employee learn the skill from a coworker through on the job training? Will the company reimburse the employee for expenses associated with taking an online course?   The plan’s objectives should include not only the end product, such as the new skill to be learned, but also the completion date and how the supervisor will know whether the new skill has indeed been acquired. For example, in the case of the online course, the objective could state that the course will be completed by July 23, 2012, and the employee is expected to receive a grade of B+ or better. Overall, objectives included in the developmental plans should be practical, specific, time oriented, linked to a standard, and developed jointly by the supervisor and the employee. An additional important feature of developmental plans is that they should keep the needs of both the organization and the employee in mind. The choice of what specific skills or performance areas will be improved is dictated by the needs of the organization, especially when the organization is investing in the plan. In addition, the plan created is dictated by the needs of the individual. The supervisor and the employee need to agree on what development or new skills will help enrich the employee’s work experience as well as help accomplish organizational goals now or in the near future.   As an example, consider the content of the developmental plan at Texas A & M. First, employees are directed to a Web site that includes examples of possible developmental activities (http://hr.tamu.edu/ed/suggest.pdf). This list includes workshops ; certifications; local, state, and national conferences; on-the-job training; and other activities. This information presents employees and managers with various options they can use to achieve the developmental objectives. Second, the form includes space so that each professional developmental need is paired with a description of resources or support needed and a time frame for completion. For example, the developmental plan for an administrative assistant in the business school may look like this :   Overall, the Texas A&M plan includes all of the required components. There is a description of developmental objectives, activities that will be conducted to reach these objectives, and dates of completion. One important piece is missing, however. The plan does not include specifics of how the accomplishment of each objective will be measured. Specifically, how will the supervisor know if the administrative assistant has a good working knowledge of Excel after she has completed the online course? How will the supervisor know if the administrative assistant’s customer service skills have improved after she has attended the workshop and has undergone on-the-job training? The Excel training could be measured by the administrative assistant’s performance in the course or by examining answers to questions about knowledge of Excel that faculty and others giving Excel assignments to the administrative assistant answer in filling out appraisal forms. Regarding customer service skills, the accomplishment of the objective might be measured by questioning those customers served by the administrative assistant (i.e., faculty and students).

Section B: Professional Development Plan   Please list professional development activities to be completed and resources needed to support these activities, if applicable (link to examples of suggested employee development : http://hr.tamu.edu/ed/suggest.pdf)
Professional Development Needs		Resources/Support Needed	Time Frame
1.	Knowledge of Excel  (spreadsheet program)	Reimbursement for  online    course	Course to be completed by August 1, 2012
2.	Customer service skills in dealing with students and faculty	Reimbursement for 1 day workshop. Time to receive on the job training from administrative assistant in psychology department.	Workshop to be completed by October 15, 2012. Onthe  job training completed by November 8, 2012.

a good working knowledge of Excel after she has completed the online course? How will the supervisor know if the administrative assistant’s customer service skills have improved after she has attended the workshop and has undergone on-the-job training? The Excel training could be measured by the administrative assistant’s performance in the course or by examining answers to questions about knowledge of Excel that faculty and others giving Excel assignments to the administrative assistant answer in filling out appraisal forms. Regarding customer service skills, the accomplishment of the objective might be measured by questioning those customers served by the administrative assistant (i.e., faculty and students).

8.1.3.	Developmental Activities  There are several ways through which employees can reach the objectives stated in their developmental plans, including
	-	On the job training. Each employee is paired with a coworker or supervisor who designs a formal on the job training course. The design of these mini training programs includes how many hours a day or week training will take place and specific learning objectives
	-	Courses. Some large organizations such as McDonald’s, Motorola, Capgemini and Ernst & Young offer in-house courses given at their own corporate universities. Other organizations may provide tuition reimbursement. Given the proliferation of online courses, employees have a wide variety of options from which to choose
	-	Self guided reading. Employees can read books and study other resources on their own. Once again, it is important that an objective be set regarding what will be read and within what time frame as well as what measure will be used to assess whether learning has taken place.
	-	Mentoring. Many organizations have mentoring programs. In general terms, mentoring is a developmental process that consists of a one on one relationship between a senior (mentor) and junior (protégé) employee. For such programs to be successful, it is best to allow the mentor and protégé to choose each other rather than arbitrarily assigning who will be mentoring whom. In general, mentors serve as role models and teach protégés what it takes to succeed in the organization. In more specific terms, mentors can help protégés gain targeted skills.
	-	Attending a conference. Another way to acquire required knowledge and skills is to sponsor an employee’s attendance at a conference or trade show. It is useful to require that the employee provide a written report or even deliver a presentation upon returning from the conference. In this way, it is easier to assess what has been learned and, in addition, the knowledge gained can be shared with other organizational members.
	-	Getting a degree. Some organizations provide tuition reimbursement benefits for their employees to obtain additional degrees or certifications. For example, the organization can sponsor an employee’s MBA program or an employee’s taking a course with the goal of earning a certification designation (e.g., Certified Novell Administrator, Professional in Human Resources). In most cases, employees commit to continuing the relationship with their employer for a prespecified amount of time after completing the degree. If the employee leaves the organization before this time frame, he may have to reimburse the organization for the cost of his education.
	-	Job rotation. Another way to gain necessary skills is to be assigned to a different job on a temporary basis. This is the model followed in the medical profession in which residents have to rotate across specialty areas for several months (e.g., OB-GYN, psychiatry, pediatrics). For example, residents may be required to rotate across the various emergency medicine services for a 19 month period.
	-	Temporary assignments. Aless systematic rotation system includes the opportunity to work on a challenging temporary assignment. This allows employees to gain specific skills within a limited time frame.
	-	Membership or leadership role in professional or trade organizations. Some employers sponsor membership in professional or trade organizations. Such an organization distributes publications to its members and holds informal and formal meetings in which employees have an opportunity to learn about best practices and other useful information for their jobs. For example, this could include the Society for Human Resource Management (www.shrm.org) or the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (http://www.cipd.co.uk/) for human resources (HR) professionals. Also, presentation, communication, planning, and other skills can be learned while serving in a leadership role in a volunteer organization outside of work.