Blog
In my work with HR professionals, I hear that their internal customers -- both managers and employees -- wish they had better performance forms, ones with content customized to better describe an employee’s job. They are finding that the generic approach lacks useful, concrete information, making it virtually impossible to effectively plan and evaluate employee performance or to provide useful coaching feedback.
If you’re seeking to improve your performance evaluation forms, the answer may be found in job descriptions that are robust and include descriptions of job responsibilities written as performance expectations, and job competencies that reflect detailed behavioral anchors that support development coaching.
Unfortunately in far too many organizations, job descriptions are often so generalized in describing performance expectations and competencies that performance reviews end up being a boring, frustrating and even futile exercise.
Job descriptions that are written as job responsibility statements can operate very effectively as performance expectations. They describe what must be done and the results that must be achieved. And for coaching purposes, it's helpful to have a companion set of job competencies that reflect the skills, technical knowledge, behaviors, and approaches to work that are required by an employee to successfully execute job responsibilities.
Ultimately, the quality of an employee’s performance planning, evaluation and coaching experience, as well as job success, depends on the quality of the information used in the process. Effectively identifying and describing desired job performance expectations and competencies from the beginning is the key to effective performance management. And a job description is the ideal medium to record and maintain this vital information.
