Does performance matter post pandemic? It should. As a leader during the pandemic, I was leading a team of 23 employees virtually through the pandemic and the unrest in Minnesota. I had to shift old ways of thinking about performance to ensure our employees felt safe and were given the flexibility to get their job accomplished. This meant that hours of work weren't only 8:00 am - 4:30 pm and we came together as a team to support each other to ensure our stakeholders had what they needed to do their jobs.

We are now in 2023 and with the workforce gaps, I know it is easy to let performance slip, especially on the employees that have stayed with the company through the ups and downs of the past few years. If you don't have a performance management system, I am going to encourage you to have one. If you have a performance management system, but have put it on the bottom of the TO DO list, I am going to encourage you to set aside time to launch it again. If you have maintained your performance management system through the ups and downs, kudos to you!

Here are the three reasons why I am encouraging all businesses including small businesses and nonprofits to have a performance management system.

RETAIN HIGH PERFORMERS 
There is nothing worse to be a high performer on a team where there are no written expectations and mediocre is the highest praise. What I mean is the lowest denominator of an employee should not be the standard so that there is no recognition for people who go the extra mile. There should be some core expectations that all employees MUST comply with to maintain their good standing. So many times in my career employees may be having issues with performance but there wasn't a good infrastructure to determine where were the barriers so the performance wasn't improved. Others who were able to perform would then not be given recognition for their work outcomes. A good performance management system will solve both scenarios of the performance issues being resolved and the high performer obtaining recognition.

MAINTAIN PRODUCT / SERVICE QUALITY
When performance management isn't valued at a company it will start to show with the level of service and/or product quality. Recently I heard a story about the quality of a auto mechanic shop that used to be top-notch, but had slowly declined. When the customer identified that their battery had died on the road and there were visual signs the battery wasn't good, but their recent service check said it was ok, they wanted to know if the mechanic had seen the problem. Instead of empathy for the car owner, the manager told the car owner this wasn't their issue. The car owner should have known their battery was old. When I heard this story I wondered if the manager was frustrated by not being able to maintain a level of performance with their mechanics. The long-term customer is considering taking their business somewhere else because this has broken their trust with this company's leadership and performance. A good performance management system would allow management to identify performance issues that are directly impacting product / service quality by utilizing customer feedback and/or peer feedback.

SUCCESSION PLANNING
Turnover is hard on an organization both from a change management and financial prospective. Many organizations haven't built a culture where people can grow within the organization because of other priorities on the business. Without a good performance management system you can't identify which employees need coaching and which ones aren't going to work out. However, when you have an organization that has been able to identify performance issues and work to resolve them, you will start to have your employees wanting to stay around longer. Employees may find themselves in seasons where they aren't performing at their best maybe due to personal life issues, but when they know their company has the tools and resources to help them through the season, they will build loyalty. A performance management system will also identify areas where employees are performing well and this could open up growth opportunities within the organization. When they become managers, they will be able to lead like they were led. 

So what is a good performance management system that I have been talking about? Is a system that allows both managers and employees to set goals, schedule periodic check-ins to review goals, obtain coaching opportunities, have an established basis for termination and an overall performance metric each year for bonuses and/or other benefits.

Dear Business Owners:

You've got this. Today is the first day after the past six weeks that I've been able to sit down and write this letter to you. I've been leading a team through an abrupt closure of our office and movement to remote working. Every day I've thought of you. You have set up a business with your passion, your own time and your own resources. Every day was hard enough without thinking there was a pandemic on the horizon. Of course, we watched movies about it and thought about it, but then one day we woke up and it wasn't a thought, it was reality.

I understand that your vision is masked with uncertainty right now. I know that you are grieving so much and that you have had to watch devoted employees have their world turned upside down. You've watched your financial situation be unstable. You've tried to be nimble and pivot but you are exhausted and can't see light at the end of the tunnel.

You are what inspires us to have jobs to have an income we can spend on your products and services.  We still need you!

You are safe reading this blog and I would like to speak to you to grab a notebook and start to write your fears, your hopes and your vision. No, we can't go back to the way your business was. You will need to go deep and see your business in two phases, short term and long term. What resources are you wishing you had right now? Make the list. What are those products and services you have dreamed about? Dig them out of the trash or file cabinet and/or write them now. This could be your season to reinvent. What are some short term goals (including down sizing) that will allow you to reach your long term vision? Today is the first day for your fresh start.

As I write this I'm listening to music. Get your favorite music playing around you for inspiration. 

From my heart to yours. Let me know what happens from this letter.

Your Vision Possible,
​Faith

Meet Faith, Goenner Consulting, LLC and Heather, Envisioneering, LLC, who are professional development thought partners. Faith and Heather met when Faith gave up her ticket to a rural entrepreneurship conference. They connected and Faith became very interested in how Heather was impacting the success of her clients. Through Heather's work coaching Faith over the past year, here are the top 5 reasons Faith discovered why it was important for her to invest in her own professional development.

Have you ever taken the time to find out exactly what job you are good at? Most of us just take a job and then we focus on our performance within this position. If we don't know our natural talents this could be frustrating if this job isn't a good fit for us. What if you could discover what you are good at and then go find the job that fits your natural talents?

It takes bravery to take an assessment and then work on understanding the assessment results. All great innovation requires the skill to be able to process feedback. Investing in an assessment of who you are is a very easy way to process using feedback to make changes and/or improvements.

We all have blind spots. These are weaknesses that we don't see in ourselves, but they are clear to those around us. Without the opportunity to discover your blind spots, you could find yourself not performing well in your life, both personally and professionally. Being aware of your blind spots will give you an opportunity to mitigate risk and awareness to ensure successful performance.

When you invest in your own professional development, you increase your knowledge for leading and supervising your employees. It will give you new terminology and understanding for how you interact with your staff. This will create an opportunity for relationship improvements and successful outcomes.

Do you have an interest for promotion? Are you noticing that you may not be experiencing satisfaction in your career? Would you like to find the career that brings out the best in you? If you don't invest in your professional development, then who will?

 Now is your time to invest in your career and your success. If you are a supervisor, this is a great opportunity to invest in your top talent. Discover Your How, Your Why and Natural Talents with Envisioneering, LLC on Thursday, March 19, 2020 from 8:00 am - 10:30 am with light refreshments at the beautiful Raven Room at the Pizza Pub in Princeton, Minnesota. The investment is $195. Space is Limited. RESERVE YOUR TICKET.