Managing Staff Performance
Spring 2019
The Manager’s Role in Staff
Performance
Positive or Negative?
Experiences?
Developing a Management
Style
Basicapproaches to management style
include the following:
1) Play to your strengths.
2) Keep the focus on goals, and try to link all
performance to financial and strategic goals.
3) Limit tasks, projects, and targeted
outcomes to a manageable
number.
4) Tailor your approach to individual staff members.
Managing With an Open-
Book Philosophy:
Although managers tend to withhold results,
several key numbers can be shared with
virtually everyone:
– A simple scorecard format can be used to share
sales, termination rate, and performance results
of profit centers with virtually all staff
– At the department manager level, more in-depth
information can be shared in an open-book
approach to management.
Succeeding Through the
Success of Others
Another important aspect of the manager’s
job is to remove barriers that prevent staff
members from performing well.
– This perspective focus on and willingness to
derive satisfaction from the success of others,
and to share the credit are the most critical
requirements for a manager to succeed.
– The most successful managers are those who
base their success on the successes of others
and share the credit, not those who hold to a
servant to leadership model.
Determining the Identity of
the Facility
What are the club’s competitive
strategy and business goals?
Everyone needs to knows what the
club is trying to accomplish.
Every club does (or should do) several things
better than the competition does, and the
manager must identify and communicate to
staff members exactly what the club should be
famous for.
Steps in Managing
Performance
Clarifying Job Expectations
Hiring
Training
Measuring Job Performance
Clarifying Job Expectations
A well-written job description defines
why the job exists, what the expected
results are, and what skills and types of
experience are needed to do the job.
A well-defined job permits employees
to see beyond tasks and understand
how their work contributes to the
purpose of the company.
Hiring
The hiring process begins with writing the
job description and determining the skills,
experience, and personality characteristics
necessary to maximize the likelihood of
success in the position.
Specific questions should then be developed
to help the manager determine whether a
given candidate meets the job requirements.
Training
A new hire provides the manager with a
fresh opportunity to instill the club’s values
and share its strategy and vision.
This situation provides a chance to ensure
that staff understand the club’s basic
purpose, target market, competition, and key
strengths, as well as how a given job fits into
the whole. If employees understand these
concepts, they are much more likely to do a
good job.
Measuring Job Performance
Accountability and individual goals.
Goal setting is generally most effective when the
manager discusses how the employee’s position
can contribute to the organizational goals.
Goal setting acts as a motivational tool and can
encourage teamwork and integration across
departments.
Set Goals With Employees
The acronym SMART should be
followed in setting goals:
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant
Time-based
Three steps for effective
goal setting:
1) Start with job description, focusing on the
three to five main responsibilities for the
position.
2) For each area of responsibility, list
ongoing tasks and areas of accountability.
3) Develop performance goals that are not
part of the ongoing responsibilities and
tasks.
Here are several typical
components of a performance
evaluation form:
The first section often contains
discussion items or questions intended
to help the manager and employee talk
about qualitative aspects of job
performance, the company, and the
work environment.
Part 2
Evaluation forms also address overall
skills and attributes that relate directly
to the job description (these may vary
by position).
Part 3
Evaluation also focuses on
performance results for specific goals
that were assigned for the
measurement period (related as
specifically as possible to the job and
the job description).
Provide Performance
Feedback
Evaluations should be done in a timely
fashion, with great detail, and
constructive honesty
Guidelinesfor providing effective
feedback include the following:
Provide Performance
Feedback
Focus on success.
Requestemployee input and
involvement.
Provide Performance
Feedback
Find the appropriate setting.
Start with positive feedback.
Provide Performance
Feedback
Provide frequent informal feedback.
Remember that less is more.
Provide Performance
Feedback
Be specific.
Recent history is most helpful.
Provide Performance
Feedback
Have an open dialogue.
Define specific corrective actions.
Provide Performance
Feedback
Offer to help.
End on a positive note.
Addressing Performance
Problems
Havethe expectations for the position been
made clear?
Can the performance problems be solved by
training or coaching?
Could this person be more successful in
another position?
If not, is it necessary to make a change?
Offering Recognition
Effectivemanagers look for an
associate’s strengths, as well as
examples of positive performance, then
recognize them in order to provide
positive reinforcement.
Effective
recognition programs are
timely and personalized and therefore
meaningful.
Providing Incentives and
Compensation
Incentives for Non-management
Staff
– The power of incentives may be even
greater for part-time or lesser-paid
employees than for management.
– Daily, weekly, and monthly incentives for
sales staff are well documented as being
effective and are used in many clubs.
Examples of Incentive
Compensation
– Retention-based incentives for Fitness
staff
– Contest for staff who answer the phone
– Contest for housekeeping staff
Employee Termination
Handling the termination process
involves the following elements:
Recognizing the importance of
ongoing feedback
Preparing for termination
Meeting with the employee
Eight guidelines for
conducting the meeting
1) Keep it brief.
2) Get to the point.
3) Speak decisively but calmly, without
anger or frustration.
Continued:
4) Accept personal responsibility for the
decision.
5) Be respectful and empathetic, but
without signaling that there is any
chance of reversing the decision.
6) Be willing to listen, but do not get into
a discussion or debate.
Continued:
7) Provide any final paperwork, or legal
requirements, as well as any
compensation due.
8) After the meeting, document what
was said and add it to the file.
Other good practices for handling
termination?
