Time to Think Differently About Performance Management

Is behavior influenced by the treatment given? If so, do the standard operating procedures help or hinder performance? Does a manager's compliment or sarcasm impact an employee? If people are trusted do they respond in kind? If the boss is insecure and fearful of how they are perceived will it impact their ability? Do we really manage performance or the conversations that influence performance?

While the answers to these questions may seem obvious, I challenge you to consider the underlying principle: People will measure up to the expectations given them (Ex: If we don't trust people, they won't be trustworthy in our minds regardless of actual performance).

New rules, stricter policies, punitive threats, and stronger punishments all get created to curb bad behavior. Rules are created only when we can’t trust people to do the right thing on their own, but in creating the rule we simply communicate another form of mistrust. So, why are we surprised when all we get is more of the same bad behavior?

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the role that social norms and rules play every time I stop at a red light. However, I think we can go overboard and we trick ourselves into thinking that in creating more processes, approvals, and procedures somehow things will get better.

It is time to think differently about performance management. Raise expectations and performance by reducing the bureaucracy. Give people the space to perform and trust that they can do it well. Follow-up with compliments and praise when the job is accomplished, and your employees will begin to feel new hope and meaning for the work that they do.

Above all: Treat people with respect and they will respond in kind.