Introduction
It is important that there is a clear connection between the company’s goals and each employee’s development and performance goals. Then the company’s goals and the changes required to achieve the goals become a common thread throughout the company.
The target hierarchy, from management level to employees, forms a coherent body. The goal of employee reviews is to increase each employee’s performance, which leads to the company reaching its overall goals. The aim is to see and clarify the connection of the goals from the management’s long-term goals to annual goals, departmental goals and finally employee goals.
Create maximum benefit from the annual performance appraisals!
One or two employee interviews a year do not create top performers. A structured follow-up is needed for the desired changes and performance targets to have an effect. Especially if these are qualities employees need to develop. Employees need to practice desired behaviours and gradually phase out unwanted behaviours.
Man is a creature of habit and therefore finds it difficult to change. Therefore, support, encouragement and feedback are needed for employees during the change process.
Make sure employees break their annual goals down into manageable chunks.
Trying something new and different takes practice. To make the annual goals easier to achieve, they should be divided into smaller parts. Let whoever is responsible for achieving the goals set the milestones themselves. This increases motivation and creates commitment.
Use individual meetings as a forum to follow up on annual goals.
Regular one-on-one meetings (for example, one per month) are a highly effective forum for talking about what was decided at the annual development meeting. There, the manager can push the employee’s development forward by encouraging, supporting and giving feedback on the employee’s development process.
For each one-on-one meeting, the employee sets interim goals in line with the annual goals that were decided at the development meeting. As a manager, you are the process driver who coaches the employee in their development, and it is the employee who is responsible for their development process.
The manager drives the employee’s development forward by regularly encouraging, supporting and giving feedback to the employee’s development results.
Ulla Lilliehöök
