Are You Measuring What Counts?
Employees need to understand what is important for them to focus on in the course of doing their jobs. That is an obvious observation.
But are the selected competencies really the most critical relative to the focus employees will place on them? In other words, will focusing on those competencies help optimize contribution to team and organizational success? Sometimes the competencies selected for measuring performance don’t match the most critical elements of the job.
It helps to start with an “inventory” of the critical aspects of the job. What are the most important things involved in doing the job on a daily basis? Starting there helps easily create a list of the most crucial competencies that should be used to build performance review templates used in the review process.
Failing to identify these competencies can lead to a misplaced focus on what is really important. For example, suppose developing relationships with outside parties is a critical part of the job, but that competency shows up nowhere on the review form. The problem with not including it is that even though the employee may know he/she must do this as part of his/her job, they are not being measured against that competency. That sends a message that it may not be as important as it should be.
The point here is that you don’t want to take a haphazard approach to selecting competencies. Obviously a number of competencies will cut across many or most jobs. But for some jobs, there are key competencies that the employee must be measured against.
Take a look at your various jobs and make certain the appropriate competencies are being included as part of the review process. The performance of your employees depends on measurement and measuring the proper job elements is a significant contributor to potential success.