The processes of informal day-to-day management of staff and the formal framework within which their performance is assessed and improved, are mutually supportive. They depend on the same factors for success and involve:
- Monitoring individual or team performance against accepted benchmarks or standards.
- Giving feedback on performance - both praise (positive reinforcement) and feedback highlighting unsatisfactory performance.
- Ensuring that negative feedback is delivered in an objective manner, with an explanation of why the performance is unsatisfactory. This affords an opportunity for the staff member to provide an explanation as well as the means to improve in the future.
- Coaching, training or other support to address poor performance.
- Follow-up monitoring to check that the performance has improved, with the improvements reinforced with positive feedback.
- Support from formal procedures such as the disciplinary or capability procedure where the poor performance continues and represents serious cause for concern