Managing Performance

Performance management is the 'systematic process by which an organisation involves its employees, as individuals and members of a group, in improving organisational effectiveness in the accomplishment of the mission and goals of that organisation (Office of Personal Management, 2012). It includes activities that ensure that goals are consistently being met in an effective and efficient manner. Performance management can focus on the performance of an organisation a department, employee, or even the processes to build a product or service, as well as many other areas (CIPD,2011). Performance management simply put is a way to get all employees to reconcile personal goals with organisational goals and increases productivity and profitability of an organisation.
Typically, the performance management process as illustrated below includes:
>Planning work and settling expectations
>Continually monitoring performance
>Developing the capacity to perform
>Periodically rating performance in a summary fashion
>Rewarding good performance

It is also worth noting that the nature of the performance management process depends on the organisational context and can vary from organisation to organisation. The benefits associated with effective performance management can be in categorized under three folds namely: direct financial gain, motivated workforce and improved management control (Schliff, 2011; Cokins, 2009; Daniels, 2006). These are looked at below:

Direct Financial Gain
- Reduce costs in the organisation
- Growth in sales
- Aligns the organisation directly behind the employers goals
- Decreases the time it takes to create strategic or operational changes by communicating the changes through a set of goals

Motivated Workforce
- Optimizes incentive plans to specific goals for over achievement
- Improves employee engagement because everyone understands how they are directly contributing to the organisations high level goals
- High confidence in bonus payment process
-  Professional development programs are better aligned directly to achieving business level goals

Improved Management Control
- Flexible, responsive to management needs
- Displays data relationships
- Helps audit/comply with legislative requirement
- Simplifies communication of strategic goals scenario planning
- Provides well documented and communicated process documentation

Appraisal at Work
 I have never been involved in an organisation where appraisals have been used so instead i decided to look in to the Royal Bank of Scotland. At the Royal Bank of Scotland the mangers set employees targets when working over the phone. People who receive the most leads would receive prizes and bonuses which will motivate workers.
When an employee reaches its target the manager calls them in for a meeting. What they do during this meeting is go through how well they performed and set future target, they also give you your prize e.g. two tickets to go to the 02 Arena to watch any show of there choice. Workers say that the mangers help them achieve their individual goals as every other day the manger sends them an email in the morning marking there efforts out of 100% and give feedback which makes the worker want to work harder.

The Times Article of Mentoring
Having read the times article on mentoring, i believe the skills needed to be an effective mentor are good communication skills involving listening and talking as the mentor and individual need to be able to effectively talk to one another and understand each other. I also believe to be an effective mentor you need to be good at guiding and helping people, as well as being an open person so people wont be scared to come to you for help and ask questions. Mentors should be people that like looking at challenges and finding ways to solve them, which means they should have good problem solving skills. In the article it states that mentoring is "a relationship in which a person of greater experience teaches, guides or develops a person with less experience, helping him or her to perform more effectively". I believe this to be true an think a mentor should be caring and experienced to help others with good observational skills.

Whatever the circumstances, mentoring is an exclusive one-to-one relationship, its completely confidential and can be a useful complement to other staff development tools. According to (Barry, 2008) a mentor's primary role is to provide guidance and support to a mentee based on his or her unique development needs. At different points in the relationship, the mentor may take on some or all of the following roles:

Coach/Advisor
- Give advice and guidance, share ideas, and provides feedback
- Share information on'unwritten rules for success' with the environment/organisation

Source of Encouragement/Support
- Act as sounding board for ideas/ concerns about school/career choices; provide insights into possible opportunities
- Provide support on personal issues if necessary

Resource Person
- Identify resources to help mentee enhance personal development and career growth
- Expand the mentee's network of contacts

Champion
- Serve as an advocate for mentee whenever opportunity presents itself
- Seek opportunities for increased visibility for mentee

Considering the various roles of a mentor, it is just appropriate that, a mentor develops certain skills to make mentoring effective, these are, listening skills, credibility, vulnerability, independence and being a positive role model. A successful mentor who does possess the above techniques will soon discover they are very useful, as they will quickly enable them to gain a true picture of the mentee's strengths and abilities.

Mentor In My Life
The most effective mentor i have had in my life was my detachment commander from when i was in the Army Cadet Force. From when i joined in 2006, at age of 14, she was the one who welcomed me in to the force, making me feel comfortable etc. 6 years later she was still my commander and i had built a huge relationship with. She helped me through my cadet career helping me in every way necessary and if i had a problem at home she would of been there for me. She helped me gain promotion and taught me many skills which not many people would have a chance to learn. She also made me feel confident and helped me on a social and professional level. She was like a friend and mentor as we used to be in the same social circles in the force, she even cried when i got awarded the highest cadet promotion possible. Now after both leaving the cadet force she still keeps in contact with me via email even though she lives all the way in Dubai now.

Conclusion
In conclusion performance management is important for organisations and businesses to keep track of how their staff are getting on in terms of their work life. they are able to mentor, compare and measure he performance to ensure a successful organisation with positive motivated employees. Mentoring is significant as well as it helps individuals to grow and develop themselves to becoming at better person.
Organisations, mangers and employees have been practicing good performance management all their lives, executing each key component process well. Goals are set and work is planned routinely. Progress towards those girls is measured and employees get feedback. High standards are set, but care is also taken to develop the skills needed to reach them. Formal and informal rewards are used to recognize the behavior and results that accomplish the mission. All five component processes working together and supporting each other achieve natural, effective performance management.


Bibliography:

Barry, S. (2008) Examples of Mentor Roles and Tasks [Online] Available from: http://www.teachermentors.com/MRoleTask.php {Accessed on: 08/05/2012}

CIPD (2011) Performance Management : An Overview [Online] Available from: http://www.cipd.co.uk/hr-resources/factsheets/performance-management-overview.aspx {Accessed on: 08/05/2012}

Cokins, G. (2009) Performance Management - Intergrating Strategy Execution, Methodologies, Risk, and Analytics. New Jersey: John wiley & Sons. Inc.

Office of Personnel Management (2012) Performance Management: Overview [Online] Available from: http://www.opm.gov/perform/overview.asp {Accessed on: 08/05/2012}

Schiff, C. (2011) What is Performance Management? [Online] Available from: http://www.b-eye-network.com/view/15359 {Accessed 08/05/2012}