Performance Management

Performance management probably the most important responsibility of any leader, but especially those supervising in the policing profession. Many of the problems law enforcement organizations see with some of their employees are a direct result of that employee’s supervisor’s inability to properly manage the performance of their people. To the defense of most of these supervisors, that inability is because in many cases the supervisor has never received the critical training and coaching that they need in order to be successful leading others. Managing the performance of followers is actually pretty easy if the supervisor is given the right tools for the job: establishing clear expectations, providing on-going feedback that is specific and constructive, documenting both good and bad performance, having hard conversations on occasion, reinforcing expectations, celebrating successes and coaching for improved work performance. Supervisors need to feed directly responsible for the success or failure of their followers especially when it comes to new employees. Senior employees look to their supervisor to give them valuable career coaching, and most employees want to work for bosses the push them towards their goals. The leaders who do the best in this area are those that really care about their people and know who needs a hand and who needs a kick in the butt to help them succeed. Performance appraisals are not looked upon in a positive light by supervisors because they take a lot of work and most don’t understand the real purpose and value in annual evaluations. If done properly, employees should be writing their evaluation throughout the year by matching their performance with the expectations they have been given. What is written in an annual evaluation should never come as a surprise to the employee as they should have seen its content in real time throughout the year. These are the major topics discussed throughout this lesson:

*Establishing clear, challenging, and meaningful expectations.

*Documenting performance related to expectations and including all observable work - both positive and negative.

*Providing continuous, constructive feedback that sets the employee up for success.

*Holding newer employees accountable for small mistakes in order to prevent bigger ones later in their career while also reinforcing ethical boundaries.

*Helping employees set short-term and long-term career goals to make them responsible for the personal success.

*Conducting purposeful coaching sessions that make employees value the feedback and make meaningful changes to their performance.

*Preparing performance evaluations that are easy to write and valued by employees.

TARGET AUDIENCE:  This one-day class involves a lot of student interaction and is recommended for every member of a police department – civilian and sworn.