Ever Wonder Why We Should Implement Performance Management / Appraisal / Performance Review?

Let’s take a look if the following reasons are what you look for:

  • Communication and Feedback
  • Microscopic View on Company’s target
  • Delegation of Duty and Authority
  • Career Planning
  • Foundation of HR decisions

Communication and Feedback

It is not uncommon in Hong Kong or Asian cities where employees are hustling for long hours without getting a pause. While hard-working is always treasured, it should be noted that regular appreciation is the key to reinforce positive attitude and behavior, and feedback is needed to intervene misbehavior.

Meanwhile, to avoid staff members focusing on individual tasks only, supervisors must spare 30 minutes or an hour to discuss with sub-ordinates so as to ensure everyone understand the big-picture of company’s operation.

While town-hall meeting can serve the purpose of disseminating corporate message to staff members, one-on-one communication offers opportunity for staff member to further understand the company through their supervisor.

Microscopic View on Company’s Target

The so-called "big-picture" must then be cascaded into individual staff members' interest.

It does not make sense if company’s priority is, for example, quality of service, but such quality on individual basis is not appraised or reviewed regularly. Quality of service or level of inter-department collaboration are examples of intangible target that is usually evaluated during performance review.

The same applies to quantitative targets, such as sales target, that supervisor can evaluate and examine reasons for outperformance or underperformance.

Delegation of Duty and Authority

Meanwhile, some managers feel frustrated why their subordinates cannot complete their tasks on their own, but have to seek help from managers before making every tiny step.

As a result, these manageres are fully occupied by answering subordinates' work-related questions in office hour, and have no time left for more management-oriented or planning-oriented initiatives.

This is a typical symtom when performance management was ignored in the first place.

Performance management means clarifying the authority and job scope of your subordinates by understanding their strength and weakness, in order to allow your subordinates to make decision and implement solution within their scope, on manager's behalf.

Career Planning

Let’s not only focus on benefit to the company or to the management, but also what performance management means to the employee. Some of us wait for supervisors or senior management to offer opportunity for career advancement. However, there are also pro-active people who take the lead to voice out what they want to achieve in their career, and what that brings to the company’s development.

Career planning means clarifying one’s strength, weakness and aspiration, and at the same time explore how it fits into company’s development.

Foundation of HR Decisions

Finally, it helps HR to form the following decision based on objective evidence:

  • Post-Review on Hiring Decision
  • Promotion and Salary Review
  • Resources Optimization by Rotation
  • Termination

In fact, for SME, you wonder if it is company’s objective that drives the utilization of human resources, or the company owner determines the company's objective based on the amount of human resources available.