Supporting your organization's needs - Part Two
Continuing with our subject of creating a performance management system which supports your organization, we will look at training. In the last edition, we spoke about different ways to communicate and how that can improve the performance management in your department and company. This week, we will look at learning, coaching and mentoring; and ways these can help performance management.
Training
Every day, in millions of companies across the globe, training is happening. How your company does this import task has a lot to do with the success or failure of your performance management system. Have you ever started a new job, only to be left to figure it out on your own? Or, you were assigned someone to train you and show you the ropes, but that person was not invested in the process, or maybe he or she started two weeks before you. Although no company sets out to fail at training, it happens and the impact is huge.
Companies need not invest in expensive learning management systems to have a culture of learning. Rather, they need a comprehensive plan, detailing how training is to happen, whether it is with new hires or training for a new product. The key is having trainers who are passionate about your company and are dedicated to the success of the students.
When new hires start, they should be assigned someone to train them, including showing them the ropes. They should be taught where the bathrooms are located and all the on boarding stuff. This same person should show them the job, help them learn the steps to be successful and help them understand their goals and how their tasks impact the department. When employees learn their goals in their first few days, they understand and execute their performance expectations quickly and effectively. They are more likely to quickly see their place in the big picture, which can be difficult as a new hire.
Mentors and Coaches
In every organization, it is important to have specialized trainers. These trainers are mentors and coaches. They can ensure effective performance management is happening. A mentor is an experienced and trusted adviser. Mentors can be the person assigned to do training when a newbie starts or they can be people with a specific expertise that can be assigned to someone to help them learn a new skill. Mentors are very helpful with it comes to succession planning as they can groom potential leaders into leaders.
Having mentors in your organization will help with performance management. These mentors know the process and systems and can fully articulate why specific goals are important and what it looks like to miss goals. Mentors are subject matter experts in their world and often times have many years of experience in doing that type of work.
Coaches are all over in every organization. Coaches are the people who know the right way to do something or to get a project completed and can “coach” employees through a process. Coach’s lead the teams and help to ensure that performance management is happening. For training and development, it is important to not only train the employees but to create an atmosphere of learning.
Developing an environment fostering training and development will help ensure employees get trained and know their expectations. Performance management starts on day one. Employees need to be shown their goals and told how they impact the organization. By creating this type of environment, employees will be more productive and engaged in their work.