Managers

Consensus HR | Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire & Cambridgeshire

Poor performance rarely disappears by itself.

Yet one of the most common people-management problems we see at Consensus HR is managers knowing that an employee is not performing as expected, but delaying the conversation.

The employee may be missing deadlines, making repeated mistakes, failing to achieve targets or simply not performing at the level required.

Everybody seems to know there is a problem – except, sometimes, the employee.

Performance Management Should Not Begin When Things Go Wrong

Effective performance management is not simply about dealing with underperformance.

It should be an ongoing process involving:

• Clear expectations
• SMART objectives
• Regular one-to-one discussions
• Constructive feedback
• Training and development
• Recognition of good performance
• Written records
• Early action when standards begin to slip

ACAS recommends regular performance reviews and emphasises that managers should also discuss performance informally through feedback, coaching and regular check-ins.

The CIPD similarly describes performance management as a continuous process rather than an isolated annual event.

The Danger of the Annual Appraisal

A yearly appraisal can have value, but it should never be the first time an employee hears that their performance is causing concern.

Imagine being told:

“Your performance hasn’t been good enough for the last six months.”

An understandable response might be:

“Why didn’t anybody tell me?”

Managers should be addressing issues when they arise.

This gives the employee an opportunity to understand the concern, explain whether anything is affecting their performance and, importantly, improve.

Set SMART Objectives

We regularly encourage managers to use SMART objectives:

Specific – What exactly needs to happen?

Measurable – How will achievement be demonstrated?

Achievable – Is the expectation realistic?

Relevant – Does it relate to the employee’s role and business requirements?

Time-bound – When must it be achieved?

“Improve your customer service” is vague.

“Reduce average customer response times to within 24 working hours over the next eight weeks” provides something that can actually be discussed and measured.

Comment from Matthew Chilcott – Owner, Consensus HR

Throughout my HR career, I have repeatedly seen businesses promote excellent operational employees into management positions and then assume they automatically know how to manage people.

Managing people is a skill.

Managers need to know how to set objectives, give constructive feedback, hold difficult conversations, document concerns and recognise when informal management needs to become a formal HR process.

One of the biggest mistakes is allowing a performance concern to continue for months because nobody wants to have the conversation.

The conversations managers avoid are usually the conversations they later wish they had held much earlier.

When Informal Management Isn’t Enough

Where informal support does not achieve the required improvement, a structured Performance Improvement Plan may be appropriate.

ACAS guidance recommends that a PIP identifies specific objectives, reasonable timescales and the support or training required.

Employers should also consider whether there are underlying circumstances that need addressing, including whether reasonable adjustments may be required for a disabled employee.

Performance problems should therefore be managed, supported and documented – not ignored.

Could Your Managers Benefit from Management Development?

Consensus HR provides practical management development designed around the situations managers actually face in the workplace.

We help managers become confident in managing:

• Performance
• SMART objectives
• Feedback
• Difficult conversations
• Absence
• Probation
• Conduct
• Communication
• Employee development

Good management is proactive, not reactive.

📞 01438 576750
✉️ [email protected]

Consensus HR – Helping companies take the pain out of managing people.

Useful Resources

ACAS – Performance Management
https://www.acas.org.uk/performance-management

CIPD – Performance Management
https://www.cipd.org/uk/knowledge/factsheets/performance-factsheet/

Consensus HR
https://www.consensushr.com/