Dear Entrepreneur,
Management or tracking of an employee’s performance can be very challenging for businesses. However, monitoring employee performance is essential to successfully achieving the strategic goals of your business. It is also crucial to measure employee performance in order to monitor their progress and development and identify areas that may need improvement. After the COVID breakout era, many businesses have adopted various styles of working such as physical, hybrid, or virtual mode. Regardless of the mode of working, the absence of an effective tracking system could be disastrous to your business.
Most business owners wonder how to track the performance of their staff member without being a burden. This article shares few tips to guide on tracking the performance of an employee.
- GOAL SETTING: It is important that you set clear and actionable goals for your business. Your business objectives and expectations must be well defined. This will in turn create a proper understanding of what is required of your employees and the roles they must play, which in turn helps employees perform better. If your business goals hinders an employee’s productivity, it might be time to reconsider your goal-setting procedure. The best course of action is to define attainable long-term goals and objectives for your employee. You can also set goals such as Key Performance Indicators (KPIs); KPIs are quantitative metrics like revenue per employee and capacity utilization rate. KPIs are pertinent and significant to your business objectives; they are great for comparing changes in performance on a monthly, quarterly, or annual basis. Moreover, you must take into account that each employee has different goals and expectations. You must inquire of your staff about how they plan to coordinate their goals and objectives to benefit the company.
- CREATE FEEDBACK CHANNELS: It is easier to track the performance of an employee when there is a proper feedback and review structure in an organization. Any business that aims to enhance employee performance and development must incorporate employee feedback into its strategy. It should be constructive, timely, fully descriptive, and truthful. In order to reduce confusion, be sure that your staff fully gets the message you intend to deliver. Also, let them know how the 360-degree feedback system will increase their productivity levels. Set quarterly appraisals to know about their struggles and what needs to be improved on.
- UTILIZE PERFORMANCE TRACKING SOFTWARE AND TOOLS: You can track employees’ progress through various tools, such as time-tracking software, CRM systems, and project management tools such as Trello. Another way to track performance of employee is by the aid of self-monitoring tools; with self-monitoring tools like project plans, checklists, and activity logs, you may also ask staff members to assist you in monitoring their actions. Workers can keep track of whether they are achieving the objectives and dates outlined in a project plan, make notes within checklists, and submit periodical reports to the management. When using activity logs, employees can make daily diaries that capture everything they do, including breaks and interruptions, in real time.
- ARRANGE ONE-ON-ONE MEETINGS: One of the ways to track an employee’s performance is by seeing an employee’s performance firsthand, which is one of the most reliable methods. An employee’s customer service skills can be better assessed by witnessing how they interact with customers for a short period. Ask each employee in a one-on-one meeting what they have done since your last talk, such as, “What specific activities did you take? Have you met the demands that were very clearly stated? Next, listen carefully when making important decisions and asking more direct questions. The best way to make someone answer for his or her conduct is to ask for an account. Next, talk about the next steps. This aspect of performance monitoring will become automatic as long as you continuously carry out your one-on-one management interactions with every individual on a regular basis.
- INVEST IN CONTINOUS LEARNING: Providing employees with the right resources and training to develop their skills is crucial to performance tracking. You should invest in employee development programs, such as training seminars and professional development sessions. This helps to improve employee skills and knowledge, which in turn will improve their performance. Investing in development programs also helps keep employees engaged and motivated.
Parting Thoughts
Employee performance tracking will help you identify the strategies or programs that are working and the ones that are not. It is important because it ensures that employees improve in their performance and increase productivity. It should never be done for the sake of monitoring your employees. While the performance tracking tools may be of great use, it is important for each employee to have the traits of accountability. Another thing you must note is that your business is unique and different in its own way and so, you should track employee performance to reflect that. Your employee performance tracking is determined by your business’s goals, values and needs.
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