May

28

Five Tips to Create a Positive Learning Environment

May 28, 2008 |

Managers and supervisors should create an atmosphere that not only
provides constructive dialogue and recognition for a job well done but
also motives employees to continue to learn and improve. Therefore,
you should train supervisory personnel how to provide meaningful
feedback to employees, set achievable performance goals, and monitor
performance between formal evaluations.

To help your managerial employees with the process, you should provide
written guidelines explaining how to perform evaluations. These
guidelines should outline the steps to follow and instruct supervisors to:

1. Provide useful feedback to employees by focusing on specific
events or behaviors. For example, it is better to tell an employee that his
failure to help with a rush order contributed to a missed deadline and
created morale problems, as opposed to just saying he has a “bad
attitude.”

2. Prepare a written appraisal that includes future performance
goals. Goals may be both short-term and long-term and can cover a
wide variety of objectives, depending on the employee’s current job
responsibilities and future aspirations. Identified core competencies
should be used to determine future performance goals. Goals should be
specific and quantifiable where possible, such as the completion of a
specific project within a set period of time. To help employees meet their
goals, supervisors should be prepared to offer additional training or other
necessary support. New performance goals should be recorded,
reviewed regularly, and modified as appropriate.

3. When needed, create an action plan for improving performance.
Action plans can be helpful when an employee has performance
problems that need correction. The supervisor should identify and
discuss the problems with the employee as they occur and suggest a
course of action to improve performance. The plan should detail the
nature of the problem, the steps that both the employee and the
supervisor will take to help solve the problem, and the time within which
the plan is to be implemented. The employee should have input into the
plan and be encouraged to suggest changes. Once a plan has been
agreed upon, it should be reviewed regularly to make sure the employee
is on track and able to implement it successfully.

4. Give the written appraisal to the employee several days prior to
the review meeting and encourage him to make comments and suggest
changes to the goals and action plan. By allowing the employee to read
the evaluation and plan before the meeting, you can make the process
more efficient and help defuse possible initial negative reactions. In
addition, employee input is essential to creation of realistic performance
goals and individual buy-in.

5. Create a relaxed atmosphere for the appraisal meeting.
Appraisals should take place in a private, comfortable setting, and
adequate meeting time should be scheduled. The manager should begin
the session by briefly explaining and reviewing the appraisal process and
by encouraging employee questions and comments throughout the
meeting.

Learn more about Performance Appraisals here.

Article excerpt provided by HR Matters E-Tips, a service of
Personnel Policy Service.

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Leveraging training software via learning management systems enables many organizations to easily continue the performance enhancement process. Learn about learning management systems or training software from eLeaP.

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