Performance Management – “What’s Engagement Got To Do With It?”

If you haven’t heard the two words, “Employee Engagement” lately, you have got to get out more. As managers and HR professionals, we need to understand how our traditional systems can reflect one of the top management concerns today, Keeping and Engaging Talented Employees. Check the multitude of workplace surveys today and analyze the results as it compares a non-engaged to an engaged workforce. Simply put, engaged employees know how to make a difference every day they come to work.

So what does being engaged have to do with Performance Management……Talent Management? Everything. The pendulum is swinging towards meaningful conversations characterized by coaching and mentoring employees. When employees leave their performance evaluation with their manager, there are three ways to tell that “engagement” was a priority of the overall conversation.

1. The employee understands how their contribution fits in the big picture and how they add value.
When a manager takes the time to give genuine feedback about employee performance, what they did well and how they can improve, it paints a visual goal of company connection. Silo management is not an option. Employees must know they are connected to each and every department, that each email they send or customer call they answer makes a difference in the boardroom. No insignificant efforts.

2. Successfully completed development goals discussed with the employee are rewarded.
If the previous conversation requested ways for the employee to gain additional skills and they had those experiences, new feedback and constructive comments, to get better, will be well received. Employees will know that their personal investment in their skills and knowledge will allow them to be placed on special project teams or assume interim positions of leadership as a reward for completing their developmental goals. They have confidence that management has kept their word. Trust is invaluable.

3. The employee seems truly vested in company success by assuming personal ownership.
Most employees want to do a good job and are willing to live up to the expectations managers set for them. When employees take their roles seriously and demonstrate their drive to “Exceed Expectations”, you have a key player that will drive your company in the right direction. Employees want clarity so they can take smart risks to execute their jobs successfully. More than my career, it’s my organization.

Think about your interactions with your employees. Do they want to keep pushing towards company goals or get away as soon as they can? The leadership team makes the difference in shaping the culture. Are you reinforcing, during your coaching sessions throughout the year, that your employees matter? Do you look for ways to delegate responsibility to employees who expressed, during their performance evaluation, the desire to grow and move up in the company? Most importantly, are YOU having that experience with your manager? Many times we duplicate what we experience.

As you complete your performance evaluations of your team, think about what you are reinforcing. Remain on the effective end of “Engagement”. Don’t sugar coat feedback, that doesn’t help. Be meaningful, be respectful and be sincere.

After all, engaged employees are much easier to manage and that makes a happily engaged, You!
Do you have some tips on how you Engage Your Employees? – share some thoughts with our readers.

About Bullseye Evaluation: Looking for a system to make Performance Management a strategic advantage? Bullseye Evaluation offers a web based solution to help shift the culture of expectations for your company. At Bullseye Performance Management Systems, we believe HR Professionals are operational and strategic partners when managing an organization.