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To remain ahead of your competitors you need to stay at least one step ahead of them and you can do this through continual improvement of your team and yourself… doing so will result in improvements to your business. 

Following are some suggestions as to how you can develop yourself, your team and your business: 

Ongoing Performance Management

Do you just do an annual performance review and base your salary reviews and the entire performance on each employee within your business on this momentous annual event?  If the answer is yes, then you could be missing some valuable opportunities to develop and really get the best out of your team. 

Weekly/fortnightly catch ups

These do not

need to prolonged meetings and can even be conducted whilst in the kitchen having coffee with an employee or whilst perched on their desk. The key of these brief catch ups is to find out how your team member is getting on with their work (daily and more specifically their KPIs); to find out any barriers that they are encountering and how you may be able to support them and guide them over any hurdles; it is also an opportunity to show that you care about what you are doing and showing that their contribution is of value to your business. 

Quarterly/six monthly reviews

These are an extension of the weekly/fortnightly catch ups though much more focused on the achievement of agreed KPIs and targets.  If you have been meeting regularly with your team members the results of the reviews should come as no surprise and if a team member has been struggling, hopefully you would have been mentoring them and helping to facilitate their success towards any goals. 

These reviews also provide you and the employee with an opportunity to discuss whether training and/or development would be appropriate.  In addition, they can be a useful milestone for identifying who the high, average and poor performers are with quantitative results and qualitative feedback.  Therefore, providing valuable information to be considered during the annual salary reviews (if applicable) and/or when determining bonus allocations. 

Annual performance appraisals and performance development plans

An annual appraisal gives both the employee and their line manager an opportunity to reflect on the employee’s performance.  All being well, this should be a simple process as weekly/fortnightly catch ups and quarterly/six monthly reviews will have taken place – so it need not be an arduous process, but simply a review of previous information and confirmation of how the employee will move forward in the next 12 months.  The appraisal process should cover off major successes in the previous 12 months, achievement or otherwise of goals, areas for further development and an action plan which includes SMART goals for developing the employee further in line with the business goals.