Translating Intangible to Tangible Performance: Volume 1 (PDF)

Supervision and Management are often at a loss when evaluating performance and they are unable to provide specific examples of non-performance incidents. Additionally, employees are caught off guard when they learn about performance expectations after a non-performance incident occurs. If, for example, an employee is informed that the level of teamwork being demonstrated is unacceptable and asks what that means, the supervisor or manager cannot quantify what is meant by teamwork. Over time, because feedback and ratings cannot be substantiated or justified, supervision and management avoid honest communication and assessment, and employees cease to be held accountable for desired performance. This situation ultimately impacts high-performers when their own productivity and quality gradually decline. An organization may even wind up keeping employees who should not be kept beyond their probationary periods because they are not meeting performance expectations and the ability to justify terminating employment is deficient.

With this reference, you can objectively measure performance by making the intangible tangible. In this document, we provide over 20 objective measurements each for evaluating the following performance categories:

•  Quality of Work
•  Quantity of Work
•  Interpersonal Interactions (Workplace Relationships)
•  Teamwork

These measurements can be used to communicate performance expectations during the recruiting and hiring process, to identify performance gaps and coach employees to succeed, to track and document performance, and to substantiate and justify feedback and ratings associated with probationary periods, personal improvement plans, corrective actions, performance reviews and disciplinary actions.

A worksheet is also provided to document coaching sessions.