As a practitioner of labor and employment law, I understand the benefits of engaging employees with both written and verbal feedback to address goals, performance, expectations and behavior. “Put it in writing” is the advice I provide to my clients for addressing both positive and negative performance and behaviors. As an attorney, my goal is train clients to engage employees on an on-going basis so that they will have high performance employees or be in a position to terminate an employee with confidence that they have the documentary evidence necessary to defend a claim of discrimination, retaliation, or wrongful discharge. As a manager, I realize that taking my own advice is not always easy.
Documentation, especially the dreaded “write-up” or “Corrective Action” carries a stigma in many corporate cultures. As managers we must eliminate the stigma and bring our corporate culture to the point where written feedback and performance (and behavior) management is the norm. Even quality employees who consistently perform need feedback. Business is about the bottom line, and managers have a duty to manage employees to serve the bottom line in a way that benefits everyone.
Using standardized forms is one way to manage performance and behavior; however, as the modern workplace has evolved, more creative and engaging forms of performance management have been created. An example of one of these employee engagement/performance management tools is the Performance Management System© by BullseyeEvaluation®. Regardless of the tool you select, engage your employees to improve both individual and company performance!
Written by William J. (Bill) Edwards, Director of SCI Legal Services