What is performance management?

Performance management is a process that focuses on results and examines individuals, teams, departments, and organizations to determine if they are working together optimally.  While performance management is a process that can be used to analyze sub-systems within an organization, it is most powerful when examining the entire system itself.

It is important that performance management begins with a group’s or organization’s goals.  This can be difficult when one is trying to examine a multicultural team, for example, where the goals might differ across various cultural frameworks and markets.  Once goals are established, then performance management investigates the preferred results of the group.

Once results have been determined, performance management also takes into account how results are aligned throughout the organization as well as how they are weighted.  Results can be prioritized and assessed depending on what is of greatest value to the organization.  Again, this process can be very rich when using performance management across cultures.  There can be tremendous variance depending on cultural points of view.

It is also critical that a set of standards and a performance plan are also investigated and agreed upon.  Once those are in place, a process of observation and measurement occurs to track performance.  If performance is met, then rewards are distributed.  If there is a gap in performance, then a development plan should be enacted to help attain the desired results.

Performance Management Training