By PAUL GRUNAU
Chief Operating OffiCer api grOup, inC.
4 steps to improving employee Performance
Define success, be honest and clear, and provide details and benchmarks.
Nothing you are about to read regarding employee performance will be original or groundbreaking. Most of it
is widely known and based on common
sense. Starting is just a matter of making
a commitment.
1) Have a candid, detailed
conversation about areas where
the employee’s performance is
unacceptable, deficient, does not meet
expectations, or is inconsistent with
company objectives. This is the step
the discussion. It’s about the employee’s
performance in the context of what
success looks like for that individual’s
future, not about how I would do the
job, or elements of the individual’s
personality.
transferring much of the responsibility for performance improvement to
themselves. This is very dangerous and
is a significant impediment to a healthy
process. As Bob Prosen, author of Kiss
Theory Goodbye so aptly put it, “we are
responsible to people, not for people.”
Working with your team to
systematically improve employee
performance can be challenging,
frustrating, and rewarding all at once.
But it is one of the most important
leadership responsibilities you have. To
be successful, a leader needs to have two
important prerequisites: a well-defined
vision of success that is communicated to
everyone all the time; and a step-by-step
system to propel individual performance
supporting that definition.
Working with your team to systematically
improve employee performance can be
challenging, frustrating, and rewarding all
4) You and the employee can build
a list of action items that you both
agree, if accomplished, will elevate
the employee’s performance toward
the agreed-upon definition of success.
The list should be clear, measurable, and
aggressive.
at once. But it is one of the most important
leadership responsibilities you have.
A vision of success is a detailed
picture of what success looks like,
whether for an individual, a group,
or an organization. Leaders need to
articulate the organization’s definition
of success to employees every chance
they get. This includes how it applies
in a singular instance (a project, a
proposal, a customer engagement) and
on a larger scale (organizational goals,
3–5 year plan, etc.). A critical predictor
of the success of improving employee
performance is how well a leader/
supervisor and the employee understand
what success looks like for the individual
whose performance is being evaluated.
Having mutual agreement on this keeps
performance evaluations objective and
focused on positive improvement.
Needless to say, it is important to
capture all of this in written form that
is clear and detailed, and will provide
a full account of the process and agreements when you review it later with
the employee to evaluate performance
improvement.
that I most often see handled poorly or
skipped altogether. Many people dance
around performance issues or sugar-coat
their delivery because they don’t want to
hurt the employee’s feelings, or they fear
the confrontational nature of difficult,
emotional conversation. Unfortunately,
“easing” into this discussion guarantees
misunderstanding and prevents
discussion of details about what is needed
for improvement, including a concrete
benchmark against which to measure
improvement. By trying to be “soft,”
supervisors make the task of helping
to improve employee performance that
much more difficult.
2) Define success for the individual
and his role in the organization. This
includes qualitative and quantitative
criteria, as well as a discussion of how the
individual is and should be perceived by
others. Some criteria can be subjective,
but also include objective criteria,
the results of which can’t be disputed
because they are measured.
You’ve agreed on what success looks
like, where the individual is now, and
what action needs to be taken to move
from point A to point B. No w, you observe
and support the individual, see how he
reacts, and the level of responsibility
and urgency with which he attacks the
challenge. n
So, if you haven’t been effectively
communicating what success means at
your company, start to do so immediately.
This must be going on in the background
as you follow these four steps to improve
individual performance:
Good leaders must be willing to
confront employees in a candid, direct
way about their performances. I have
found this conversation to be most
effective if I am well prepared (possibly
even having rehearsed what I’ll say with
a trusted colleague), and if I deliver the
feedback taking personal opinion out of
3) You and the employee examine
the continuum of where he is today
versus the definition of success. What
needs to happen to move along the continuum? What is the responsibility of
the employee? What can you as leader/
supervisor do? Make sure the employee
understands that it is his responsibility
to improve performance. Your role is to
describe success, and make resources
reasonably available to the employee.
Your role is not to take responsibility
for the improvement. A common mistake is supervisors/leaders wanting to
help the employee, and in the process,
Paul Grunau is the chief operating officer
of APi Group Inc., a billion dollar holding
company for more than 32 independent
construction and construction-related
businesses with 9,000 employees in over
150 locations. Paul is a graduate of Brown
University, where he received a bachelor’s
in economics. He completed his master’s of
management degree from the Kellogg School
of Management at Northwestern University.
