How to Raise the Bar on Employee Performance

Employees are the greatest asset to your business. Therefore, your success is contingent on more than just hiring the best people; it’s also contingent on ensuring your employees are continually developing and improving.  Investing in your employees is a significant step in building a successful business. 

You can inspire all employees to realize their true potential by continuously creating an environment that allows for innovation, ownership, and appreciation for their skills and efforts.  When employees feel acknowledged for the value they bring, their performance soars. 

Value of High Employee Performance 

Employee performance directly affects customer satisfaction and company reputation, workplace atmosphere, and, ultimately, profitability. Employee performance is also related to employee happiness, job satisfaction, and retention  rates.

High employee performance generally correlates with a work environment that’s conducive to company success – one with shared trust, collaboration, innovation, clearly defined expectations, and paths for growth. Conversely, a work environment where employees don't feel valued or are not encouraged to innovate and share their ideas for improvement can create an atmosphere of both distrust and disinterest, which can lead to poor customer experiences, missed deadlines, decreased productivity, low morale, employee turnover, and loss of revenue.

Measuring Employee Performance

To help employees evolve in their roles, start with the classic business maxim that you can’t manage what you don’t measure. Measuring employee performance helps you clearly identify what areas an employee is excelling at and where there is an opportunity to help them improve.  Constructive, well-delivered feedback helps you put an action plan in place and reward progress. Three key measures of employee performance you may wish to consider are:

• Productivity: the output an employee achieves over time.
• Quality: the accuracy and completeness of an employee’s outputs.
• Consistency: an employee’s ability to reliably perform tasks.

It’s important to measure these aspects of employee performance quantitatively and qualitatively. Quantitative measurements focus on numbers-based metrics and are generally considered to be objective. Qualitative measurements focus more on descriptive, word-based assessments and are usually considered subjective. By combining both methods, you can get a more comprehensive understanding of employee performance. The more holistic the view, the stronger the impetus for action.

When employees feel acknowledged for the value they bring, their performance soars. 

Quantitative methods to measure employee performance include:

• Key performance indicators (KPIs) such as sales figures, revenue per employee, and the ratio of total cost of the workforce to total operating costs.
• Attendance and punctuality records.
• How often tasks and projects are completed within deadlines.
• Number of errors or defects in work.

Qualitative measurements generally rely on employee performance reviews. Performance reviews might include:

• Employee self-evaluations.
• Manager evaluations and feedback.
• Peer evaluations and feedback.

These evaluations should offer observations of the employee’s behavior, attitude, and work ethic.

Raise the Bar 

To inspire your workforce to reach the next level, there are a variety of ways to raise the bar and boost employee performance. Here are five to get you started:

1. Foster a positive work environment

Create a supportive work environment that tends to morale and allows employees to be themselves. An authentically inclusive workplace culture that recognizes the unique strengths and perspectives of each employee empowers everyone to express their ideas, questions, concerns, and even mistakes. It can inspire employee confidence, as well as a sense of ownership and pride in their work.

A strengths-based organizational culture takes advantage of people’s unique differences to boost overall productivity. In such a workplace, employees understand their individual strengths and are given opportunities to do what they do best every day. Managers use these insights to connect employee’s strengths to their role and to set meaningful goals for everyone – all of which can boost employee engagement and performance.

2. Encourage innovation

Even the best employees can lose motivation if not given the space to grow and thrive.

Tap into enthusiasm by encouraging employees to think outside the box and share their ideas. Asking for well-considered, innovative thinking and feedback can help create a workplace culture that values experimentation, rewards risk taking, and supports performance.

For employees yearning for greater autonomy, don’t be afraid to demand a higher level of intellectual engagement. Up the performance ante by asking them to develop and present ideas. If employees want to contribute but are unsure where to begin, consider using the following framework (or one similar) as a springboard for idea development:

1. State the idea in about 50 words – the elevator pitch.
2. Describe how the idea solves a problem or capitalizes on an opportunity.
3. Explain how the idea aligns with the business’ strategic direction and what makes it stand out from other solutions.
4. Share expected results, along with costs for implementation and ongoing maintenance.

Establishing a formal process for research and presentation gives employees guidelines they can use to elevate their thinking and boost their performance.

3. Use data to set measurable goals and track results

Establish individual goals for each employee that sync with the company’s strategic plan and annual objectives. Differentiate goals from day-to-day tasks, which should be specified in employees’ job descriptions. For example, a sales rep’s job duties may require them to make and document five sales calls per day, but their goal may be to generate $1 million in sales this year or increase year-over-year sales volume by 15%.

Track results.  If employees are doing the work but not hitting goals, don’t let them flounder. Regularly review performance data to identify areas for improvement and use that data to guide them to success. And don’t forget to celebrate successes – a little recognition can boost morales big time.

4. Invest in professional training

Set aside funds in your annual budget and time in each employee’s schedule to participate in training and skill-building sessions. Offer staffing coverage so that time away from the workplace won’t translate into missed deadlines or below-standard service levels – or force workers to put in extra hours.

Identify appropriate training programs by creating a professional development plan for each employee. Hold one-on-one sessions to discuss career- and company-related interests as well as areas of performance that could be improved through greater skill proficiency and knowledge. Consider a full scope of opportunities that may include free webinars sponsored by vendors, low-cost community college courses, or premium-priced industry certifications.

Training that equips employees with the skills and knowledge to complete certain tasks ensures that they perform at baseline levels. Advanced training can raise their intellectual capacity and confidence in tackling complex problems, causing performance to skyrocket.

5. Enforce workplace standards and correct any deficiencies

Be clear about workplace standards before addressing noncompliance. Establish attendance policies, timelines for responding to customer requests, and standards of personal conduct. Communicate rules via employee manuals, orientation sessions, and company meetings. If standards aren’t clearly set, it’s unfair to expect employees to fully comply.

Once expectations are clear, regularly monitor employee performance to address any areas of concern and take appropriate corrective action. If certain staff members persistently eschew standards, bring it to their attention before disciplining them. Emphasize that success depends on the entire team’s adherence to certain protocols.

Fixing these types of problems can collectively raise the performance of all employees. Fellow employees may notice improvements, realize that standards have been raised, and step up their efforts to differentiate themselves.

Leaders Play a Key Role in Employee Performance

To help your employees be outstanding, it’s important for managers to set clear expectations, encourage feedback, provide resources, recognize success, and, above all, lead by example. Here’s how:

• Set and communicate clear expectations. Employees need to understand what’s expected of them and how their work contributes to the organization’s overall goals and success.

• Encourage open communication. Open and honest feedback from employees is key to a leader’s ability to identify areas that need improvement and opportunities for growth.

• Provide employees with the resources they need to succeed. To perform their jobs effectively, employees need resources: training, technology, tools, and equipment – not to mention guidance from leaders.

• Recognize and reward success. Public or private recognition, financial incentives, and opportunities for advancement all go a long way toward boosting employee morale.

• Lead by example. Leaders should also be continuously looking for ways to improve themselves, their performance, and their organization. So, seek feedback, stay up to date with industry trends, be open to innovation. Employees will notice that you walk the walk.

The Bottom Line

High employee performance is crucial for company success. It’s defined by the quality of work, productivity, and consistency of each worker.  Measuring these aspects allows you to understand how to help employees operate optimally.

By developing workforce standards, fostering a positive work environment, encouraging innovation, setting and tracking goals with data, and providing opportunities for development, your leaders will create an environment where employees can excel, customer satisfaction will increase, and your business will flourish.  

A previous version of this article was published on March 11, 2011.

Photo: Getty Images