Chapter 9

Performance
Management
Skills
 LEARNING OBJECTIVES
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to do the
following:
• Understand that managers need several key skills to
manage the performance of their employees
effectively, including skills regarding coaching, giving
feedback, and conducting performance review
meetings.
• Understand four guidelines that provide a framework
for successful coaching including the importance of a
good coaching relationship, the central role of the
employee as the source and director of change,
understanding employees as unique and whole, and
realizing that the coach is the facilitator of the
 LEARNING OBJECTIVES
• Define coaching, and describe its major functions,
including giving advice, providing guidance and
support, and enhancing employee confidence and
competence.
• Identify behaviors that managers need to display to
perform the various coaching functions.
• Understand that a manager’s personality and
behavioral preferences determine his or her coaching
style.
• Understand your own coaching style and the need to
 LEARNING OBJECTIVES
• Describe the coaching process and its components
including setting developmental goals, identifying
developmental resources and strategies,
implementing strategies, observing and
documenting developmental behavior, and giving
feedback.
• Understand the time, situational, and activity
constraints involved in observing and documenting
an employee’s progress toward the achievement of
 LEARNING OBJECTIVES
• Implement a communication plan and training
programs that will minimize the impact of
constraints present when observing and
documenting performance.
• Describe the benefits of accurate documentation of
an employee’s developmental activities and
performance.
• Implement several recommendations that will lead
to documenting performance in a useful and
 LEARNING OBJECTIVES
• Understand the purposes served by feedback on
performance regarding the achievement of
developmental goals and performance in general.
• Implement several recommendations that will
lead to creating useful and constructive feedback
systems.
• Understand why people do not feel comfortable
giving negative feedback, and recognize what
happens when managers refuse to give negative
 LEARNING OBJECTIVES
• Implement a disciplinary or termination process if an
employee does not overcome performance problems
over time.
• Understand the various purposes served by
performance review meetings and the various types of
meetings that can be conducted.
• Understand the signs of employee defensiveness,
implement suggestions to minimize employee
defensiveness before a performance review meeting
takes place, and deal with defensiveness during the
COACHING • Coaching involves
establishing a helping and
trusting relationship between
the manager and each of
his/her subordinates in which
s/he directs, motivates, and
rewards employee behavior.

GUIMBAN
 COACHING

• Coaching is a day-to-day function that involves

observing performance, complimenting good work,
and helping to correct and improve any performance
that does not meet standards.
• Coaching is concerned with long-term performance
and involves ensuring that the developmental plan is
being achieved
GUIMBAN
GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR SUCCESSFUL COACHIN
1. A good coaching relationship is essential
– The relationship must be trusting and collaborative
and the manager must coach with empathy and
compassion.
2. The employee is the source and director of
change – The coach must understand that the
employee is the source of change and self-growth.
Accordingly, the coach needs to facilitate the
employee’s setting the agenda, goals, and direction.
GUIMBAN
GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR SUCCESSFUL COACHING

3. The employee is a whole and unique

individual with job-related and job-unrelated
identities – With this knowledge the coach can help
the employee connect his life and work experiences
in meaning ways.
4. The coach is the facilitator of the
employee’s growth – The coach must facilitate but
not take control of the process.
GUIMBAN
 MAJOR COACHING FUNCTIONS
• Giving advice to help employees improve
their performance.
• Providing guidance so employees can
develop their skills and knowledge
appropriately.
• Providing employees with support and being
there only when the manager is needed.
GUIMBAN
 MAJOR COACHING FUNCTIONS
• Giving employees confidence that will enable
them to enhance their performance
continuously and to increase their sense of
responsibility for managing their own
performance.
• Helping employees gain greater competence
by guiding them toward acquiring more
knowledge and skills. GUIMBAN
Key Coaching
Behaviors

ESTRELLA
1. Establish developmental
objectives
2. Communicate effectively
3. Motivate employees

ESTRELLA
4. Document
performance.
5. Give feedback.
6. Diagnose performance
problems
7. Develop employees
ESTRELLA
 Coaching
Styles
ESTRELLA
1. Driver – Coach tells the
employee being coached
what to do.
2. Persuader – Coach tries to
sell what s/he wants the
employee to do.

ESTRELLA
3. Amiable – Coach wants the
employee to be happy and is not
very assertive.

4. Analyzer – Coach asks the

employee to follow the rules and
procedures when providing a
recommendation.

ESTRELLA
 ESTRELLA

Which Coaching
Style is Best?
ESTRELLA

No one style of coaching is

best. Rather, being adaptive

and using various styles is

the best approach. In other

words, good coaches:

ESTRELLA

1.Sometimes provide direction.

2. Sometimes persuade.

3. Sometimes show empathy.

4. Sometimes closely follow the rules

and procedures when providing a

recommendation to employees.
 Coaching
Process

ESTRELLA
ESTRELLA
 1.Set developmental goals –

These goals must be reasonable,

attainable, derived from an analysis

of an employee’s needs to improve,

and take into account both short-

and long-term career objectives.

ESTRELLA
 2. Identify resources and

strategies (e.g., OJT,

attending courses,

mentoring) that will help

the employee achieve the

ESTRELLA
 3. Implement strategies

that will allow the

employee to achieve the

developmental goals.

ESTRELLA
 4. Observe and document

developmental behavior –

Collect and evaluate data to

assess the extent to which each

of the developmental goals has

been achieved.
ESTRELLA
 5. Give feedback – The coach
provides feedback to the
employee, and, based on the
extent to which each of the
goals has been achieved, the
developmental goals are
revised,
ESTRELLA and the entire process
 Observing and Documenting
Developmental Behavior
ONSTRAINTS MANAGERS MAY EXPERIENCE:
• Time – Managers may be too busy to observe and document an
employee’s behaviors.
• Situation – Managers may be unable to observe employees as
they engage in developmental activities (e.g., an employe
enrolled in an online course).
• Activity – When the developmental activity is highly
unstructured (e.g., an employee reading a book) the manager
may have to wait until the activity is completed to access
whether it has been beneficial. ENCABO
 Addressing the Constraints of Observing
and Documenting Developmental Behavior

 A good communication plan should explain the

benefits of implementing a developmental plan
efffectively. This helps managers accept the plan.

 Managers should be trained so that they

minimize rater errors, observe behavior properly,
understand what it means to complete
developmental activities successfully, and are
comfortable and confident in managing
employees’ developmental activities.

ENCABO
 Reasons to Document
Developmental Behavior
 Minimizes cognitive load – Documentation helps
prevent memory related errors.
 Creates trust – Documentation creates a record
of behaviors which, in turn, promotes trust.

 Plan for the future – Documenting

developmental activities and their outcomes
enables discussion about specific facts and
thus permits better planning of developmental
activities for the future.
 Provides legal protection against litigation
based on discrimination.
ENCABO
 What Managers Can Do to Document
Performance and Developmental
Activities

 Be specific – Document events and

outcomes. Avoid making general statements.

 Use adjectives and adverbs sparingly – The use

of
adjectives (e.g., good, poor) and adverbs (e.g.,
sometimes) may lead to ambiguous
 Balance positives with negatives – Document
interpretations.
instances of both good and poor performance.

ENCABO
 What Managers Can Do to Document
Performance and Developmental
Activities

 Be comprehensive

 Standardize procedures – Use the same

method to
document for all employees

 Describe observable behavior – Phrase your

notes in
behavioral terms and avoid statements that are
subjective judgments.
ENCABO
 Giving Feedback
Feedback includes information about both
positive and negative aspects of job
performance and lets employees know how well
they are doing in meeting the established
standards.

ENCABO
Feedback has several purposes:
1. Helps build confidence – Praising good performance builds
employee confidence.
2. Develops competence – Feedback about how to improve
performance develops employee competence and improves
future performance
3. Enhances involvement – Receiving feedback and discussing
performance allows employees to better understand their roles in
their unit.

ENCABO
Possible Costs of Not
Providing Feedback
• Employees would be deprived of a chance to
improve their performance.
• Organization would experience chronic poor
performance because employees would not
recognize their performance problems and
would continue to perform at substandard
levels.
• Employees might develop inaccurate
perceptions of how their performance GARMA
is
How to Enhance Feedback
• Timeliness – Give feedback close to the
time of the performance event.
• Frequency – Give feedback on an
ongoing basis.
• Specificity – Give feedback about
specific work behaviors and results.
• Verifiability –Feedback should include
information that is verifiable.

GARMA
How to Enhance Feedback
• Be consistent (over time and across
employees)
• Privacy – Feedback should be given
privately to each employee.
• Consequences – Feedback should explain
the consequences of the employee’s
behavior for the organization, customers,
other employees, etc.
• Description first, evaluation second –
Feedback should first focus on describing
GARMA
How to Enhance Feedback
• Performance continuum – Feedback should include
information on how to display good performance
behaviors more often and poor performance behaviors
less often.
• Pattern Identification – ID a pattern of poor
performance rather than isolated incidents.
• Demonstrate confidence in employee
• Advice and idea generation – Feedback should include
advice given by the supervisor and ideas from the
employee about how to improve performance
GARMA
 Guidelines for Giving Praise
• Praise should be sincere and only given when it is
deserved.
• Praise should be given about specific behaviors or
results so employees know what they should repeat
in the future.
• In giving praise, managers should take their time
and act pleased rather than rushing through the
information and looking embarrassed.
• Avoid giving praise by referring to the absence of
the negative (e.g., “not bad”). Rather, praise
GARMA
 Negative Feedback
• includes information that performance has
fallen short of accepted standards. The
goal of providing negative feedback is to
help employees improve their performance
in the future; it is not to punish, embarrass,
or chastise them.

GUERRERO
• It is important to give negative feedback
when it is warranted because the
consequences of not doing so can be
detrimental for the organization as a whole

GUERRERO
 Reasons why managers are not comfortable
giving negative feedbacks:
• Negative reactions and consequences- Managers
may fear that employees will react negatively.
Negative reactions can include being defensive and
even becoming angry at the information received.
• Negative experiences in the past- Managers
themselves may have received negative feedback at
some point in their careers and have experienced
firsthand how feelings can be hurt
GUERRERO
• Playing “god.”- Managers may be reluctant to
play the role of an all-knowing, judgmental god.
They may feel that giving negative feedback puts
them in that position.
• Need for irrefutable and conclusive
evidence- Managers may not want to provide
negative feedback until after they have been able
to gather irrefutable and conclusive evidence
about a performance problem

GUERRERO
Importance of Negative Feedback
• negative feedback is most useful when
early coaching has been instrumental in
identifying warning signs and the
performance problem is still manageable.
Negative feedback is also useful when it
clarifies unwanted behaviors and
consequences and focuses on behaviors
that can be changed.
GUERRERO
Disciplinary Process and
Termination
Optional step prior to formal disciplinary
process:
• Decision-making leave

A decision-making leave is a "day of

contemplation" that is paid and allows the
employee to stay home and decide whether
working in this organization is what he or she
FERNANDEZ
Disciplinary Process and
Termination

• Five pitfalls to be avoided in

the termination of an
employee

FERNANDEZ
Disciplinary Process and
Termination
• Pitfall #1: Acceptance of poor
performance

• Suggestion: Do not ignore the

problem, address it immediately

FERNANDEZ
Disciplinary Process and
Termination
• Pitfall #2: Failure to get the message
through

• Suggestion: Be specific about the

performance problem and the
consequences of not addressing it
effectively FERNANDEZ
Disciplinary Process and
Termination
• Pitfall #3: Performance standards are
"unrealistic" or "unfair"

• Suggestion: Remind employees of the

fairness of the performance standard and
provide documentation of the poor
performance
FERNANDEZ
Disciplinary Process and
Termination
• Pitfall #4: Negative affective reactions

• Suggestion: Do not let emotional reactions

derail you from your missions of describing
the nature of the problem, what needs to be
done, and the consequences of not doing
so.
ESTADO
Disciplinary Process and
Termination
• Pitfall #5: Failure to consult Human
Resources 

• Suggestion: Consult with Human Resources

regarding legal requirement prior to
termination.
ESTADO
 Disciplinary Process and
Termination
Suggestions for the termination meeting:
• Be respectful
• Get right to the point
• Wish the employee well
• Send the employee to HR
• Have the employee leave immediately
• Have the termination meeting at the end of
the day
ESTADO
 Supervisory Roles in Managing
Performance
Judge
• Evaluate performance
• Allocate rewards
Coach
• Help employee solve performance problems
• Identify performance weaknesses
• Design developmental plans

ESTADO
Performance Review Formal Meetings

• Possible types of formal meetings:

1. System Inauguration
2. Self-Appraisal
3. Classical Performance Review
4. Merit/Salary Review
5. Developmental Plan
6. Objective Setting

ESTADO
Steps to Take Before Meeting

• Give at least two weeks notice

• Block sufficient time
• Arrange to meet in a private
location without interruptions

GUIASILON
Merged Performance Review
Meeting Components
1. Explanation of meeting purpose
2. Employee self-appraisal
3. Supervisor and employee share rating and rationale
4. Developmental discussion
5. Employee summary
6. Rewards discussion
7. Follow-up meeting arrangement
8. Approval and appeals process discussion
9. Final recap

GUIASILON
 Possible Defensive
Behaviors of Employees
• Fight
response
• Blaming others
• Staring at supervisor
• Raising voice
• Other aggressive responses
GUIASILON
 Possible Defensive
Behaviors of Employees
• Flight response
• Looking/turning away
• Speaking softly
• Continually changing the subject
• Quickly agreeing without basis
• Other passive responses
GUIASILON
To Prevent/Reduce Defensive
Behaviors
• Establish and maintain rapport
• Be empathetic
• Observe verbal and nonverbal cues
• Minimize threats
• Encourage participation

GUIASILON
When Defensiveness
Unavoidable
• Recognize it
• Allow its expression
Accept employee's feelings
Ask for additional information and
clarification (if appropriate)
• If situation becomes intolerable:
Reschedule the meeting for a later time

GUIASILON
Thank
you