Components of a Performance Management System

The components of a performance management system get reduced to the review, which is why so many systems do not work.

Expectations. What good looks like in this role, written down. Usually the position description, usually out of date.

Ongoing feedback. The short conversations through the year that do most of the actual work.

Assessment. The periodic review and any rating.

Development. What happens as a result, with something attached to it.

Consequence. What actually follows from sustained strong or sustained poor performance, applied consistently across teams.

Most organisations have the third component and very little else. A review sitting on its own, with no clear expectations set before it and nothing following on from it, is a form-filling exercise that everybody involved resents.

The Fair Work Commission considers whether expectations were clear. This is general information rather than legal advice, and obligations vary by state and territory.

See Sentrient’s performance management system and position description software.