Do you “do” performance management or do you manage performance? What’s the difference?

Many leaders think of these as synonyms, but they aren’t. Performance management is a formal HR process. Over time, the performance management process and its associated outputs have been co-opted, combined with, and re- purposed for many other HR processes (e.g,. succession planning, compensation, etc.). While all critical most of these additional processes don’t improve people’s performance. They are either backward looks to reward past performance (compensation) or forward bets on capitalizing on it (succession planning). But none actually change it. As a result, many performance management processes have evolved to serve needs other than helping people improve.

Managing performance is a day-to-day role for a leader. Its a mindset not a process. Managing performance is about moving people from their current level of performance (whatever it is) to a higher level of performance. The problem is that too many leaders believe they don’t have the time for this and simply rely on the HR process.

Before talking about how to manage performance, it’s important to dispel some common myths.

Only low performers needs to be managed.
Low performers need the least management. Often, they need instruction, “Show up on time”, “Take this training class”, etc. Most of the value in your organization is coming from your middle and high performers. That’s where your main focus should be.

High performers will always be high performers.
That’s true only if they are never being stretched. Your job is to know when to harness high performance to get the job done and when to place the person into a new roles to grow and develop (and perhaps not perform quite as well for a while). Having the same people on your “high performer” list could be a symptom that you are not stretching them enough.

Managing performance is a “soft” skill.
Only if you do it wrong. Managing performance requires the same level of diagnosis, analysis, planning, execution, and monitoring as any critical initiative in your organization. In fact, it’s more complicated because each individual has a unique set of needs to be served.

The rewards system encourages people to perform at their best.
Yes and no. It encourages those people for whom your current rewards structure is relevant. But if your reward structure is based on compensation and promotion, it might actually be discouraging the right behavior . (For a more detailed analysis of how traditional reward systems may not work in a the new workplace, see Daniel Pink’s book, Drive.). Even those who buy in to your rewards system may not be performing well. Desire is just one of three critical components of performance; the other two being ability and information.

Its time to break away from the performance management process and start managing performance. There are three keys to managing performance. But don’t treat these as a linear process. They all work together continuously.

Set clear expectations.
Do your people specifically know what is expected of them? Expectations fall into four categories:

1. Their role in your department or organization
2. Results
3. Behavior
4. Culture/attitude

Do people understand what it specifically looks like to fall short, meet, or exceed your expectations in all of these areas?

Provide on-going, constructive feedback on how well people are meeting expectations.
Right now, how many of your people have a clear understanding of how they are doing against those four areas of expectations? When was the last time you provided feedback on each area? Make this part of your every day discussions. You are constantly reviewing people’s work, interactions, and results anyway. Expand your conversations beyond what they need to correct on their latest deliverable and include how their work on that deliverable compares to your expectations.

Provide a plan for moving forward.
Do your people know how to improve? Do they have a plan? Are you holding them accountable to a plan? Help identify the experiences, support, and feedback they need to improve. You don’t have to provide all of them, but you can recommend and help facilitate the process. Make this plan OUTCOME focused. Most development plans focus on activities (take a training class, shadow an expert, develop a mentoring relationship). Instead, tie the activity to the result (the performance issue the activity is intended to resolve and the subsequent increase in performance). Assess the plan’s effectiveness not on how well the individual executed the activities, but on how well they are performing as a result.

Most of this isn’t new. The key to managing performance isn’t in the tools or processes. They key is simply to do it consistently and to change your mindset. Every interaction that you have with another person affords you the opportunity to manage performance. Take advantage.