There has been much discussion recently on Performance Management. I have seen discussions on how everyone deplores this once a year activity. People will tell you how everyone, to include the supervisor, the employee and HR hate Performance Management. You will hear how it is a waste of time and resources. Some will tell you that the only reason to do Performance Management is to figure out who to give raises to for the year. I would argue that the reason for Performance Management is to improve the employee which in turn improves the organization.

I would now like to talk about a new way to do Performance Management. One that I believe is the future of Performance Management. This new way is the Performance Discussions or the Five Conversations Framework. This is a concept that was developed by Dr. Tim Baker of Winners at Work. The website is http://winnersatwork.com.au and his Twitter is @winnersatwork. I believe Dr. Baker has created an exciting new concept in Performance Management.

The concept is pretty simple. The supervisor has a monthly discussion with each individual employee once a month on rotating topics. Each topic is discussed twice a year. The important item to remember is that this is a discussion between supervisor and employee. So this puts some responsibility on the employee to come prepared to the Performance Discussion. Each discussion should last no more that 15 to 20 minutes each.

Below are the rotating topics and some of the questions that are to be discussed. I will only be listing a few of the questions for each topic. For the full list, I invite you to go to Dr. Tim Baker’s website at http://winnersatwork.com.au.

Month One – The Climate Review Conversation:
Q: On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your current job satisfaction?
Q: Explain the reason for your rating.
Q: On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the morale in your department?
Q: Explain the reason for your rating.
Q: What do you believe your peers, subordinates and supervisors would say about you?

Month Two – The Strengths and Talents Conversation:
Q: What tasks do you enjoy doing the most?
Q: What do you consider to be your strengths and talents?
Q: How can we work together to provide you the opportunity to enhance your strengths and talents.

Month Three – Opportunities for Growth Conversation:
Q: If there is an area or areas where you believe you have an opportunity for growth, what would it be?
Q: What can we do to improve this area?
Q: Another area of for an opportunity for growth might be_______.
Q: What is your opinion about this?

Month Four – Learning and Development Conversation:
Q: How would you rate your technical skills on a scale of 1 to 10?
Q: What technical skills of your job can be improved?
Q: What challenges have you had to deal with that have caused you concern?

Month Five – Innovation and Continuous Development Conversation:
Q: Thinking about your position, what could you do to improve the quality of your service?
Q: What support do you need from myself and others?
Q: Have you identified any cost savings?
Q: How can our systems and processes be improved from your perspective.

You would then start all over again with the Climate Review Conversation. The intent is to cover each conversation twice a year. I believe the questions in each months conversations lend themselves to an open and honest back and forth discussion between supervisor and employee.

So instead of the usual check the block Performance Management that most organizations use. The Performance Discussions template can be used as a mechanism to force open and honest communication between supervisor and employee. It is my belief that this will lead to honest two way communication, which will lead to better organizations. Which is after all the primary goal of Performance Management.