Writing Effective Performance and Staff Development Plans

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Step 1: Developing Clearly Defined Performance Expectations

The basis of an effective performance plan is developing and communicating clearly defined performance expectations to assist the staff member in understanding how the duties and responsibilities should be performed. Performance expectations should focus on end results not just activities. Expectations for the appraisal cycle should be communicated in the performance appraisal (e.g., in the Goals/Project/Responsibility section of the appraisal)

Q. What are performance expectations and how are they different from job duties?

A. The position or job description outlines the duties and responsibilities for the position or defines what the staff member is to do. Performance expectations help the staff member understand how he or she should perform the duties and responsibilities.

Q. What are the different types of performance expectations?

A. There are both quantitative and qualitative types of expectations. Supervisors should develop both types of expectations, where appropriate. An expectation can combine quantitative and qualitative information.

Quantity or Output Expectations—Focus on results and often involve a numerical measurement.

Example: Accurately process 50 housing applications per day.

Quality or Behavioral Expectations—Focus on the means or methods for achieving a goal.

Example: When you receive a customer complaint, you should actively listen to the customer's concerns, document the complaint in writing, thoroughly investigate the complaint, take the appropriate action to resolve the complaint and communicate results to the customer within two (2) working days.

Q. What are some effective criteria and guidelines for developing performance expectations?

A. We recommend using S.M.A.R.T.S. criteria for setting effective performance expectations.

Effective expectations should be:

Specific—help the staff member understand exactly what is expected.

Measurable—measurements help the staff member and supervisor understand when the expectation is achieved.

Achievable—expectations should be realistic.

Results Oriented—expectations should focus on end results.

Time Bound—deadlines should be identified where applicable.

Stretch—some but not all expectations, should be a challenge to reach. Stretch expectations should be realistic. Stretch expectations support the development of the staff member. Achieving Stretch expectations usually equates to high, exemplary performance.

Q. What are some examples of well-written performance expectations?

A. The following are some examples of performance expectations for various duties and responsibilities.

Supervision/Management

Duty/Responsibility: Recruit, hire, train, supervise and appraise regular non-exempt and exempt staff.

Performance Expectation: In accordance with all applicable University, local, State and Federal policies and regulations, recruit, screen, and hire qualified and diverse staff to accomplish the missions and goals of the unit. Ensure that new staff are oriented to the University, school/center, and department in a timely and effective manner. Set clear performance expectations and goals for all staff, give them regular feedback on progress at meeting expectations and support the professional development of staff by giving them developmental assignments and providing training, where appropriate. Complete the appropriate introductory and annual performance appraisals for all staff, where applicable. Be knowledgeable of appropriate human resources and other applicable policies, laws and procedures and comply with these laws and policies when managing staff. Establish practices, policies and procedures to ensure a civil, productive and respectful work environment for all staff. Keep abreast of changes and recent developments in applicable policies and laws and effective management principles by undertaking regular training and reading professional publications.

Word-processing
Duty/Responsibility: Word-process complex and routine documents, reports, and correspondence.

Performance Expectation: Word-process documents by the specified deadline and in accordance with the format used by the department. All documents should be spell-checked, proofread, checked for grammatical errors and corrected prior to submitting to the requestor. Regularly learn, and use University and departmental supported computer software (e.g., Microsoft Office Suite) and maintain up- to-date computer skills and abilities on the required software at the intermediate level.

Budgeting
Duty/Responsibility: Assist in the development and monitoring of departmental budgets.

Performance Expectation: Assist the director in planning and developing, in accordance with University guidelines and sound accounting principles, accurate and cost-effective budgets, that support the mission and goals of the department. Budgets must be prepared and entered into Pillar in accordance with specified timeframes. All budgets should be reviewed at least once a month to ascertain if:

All transactions, including Purchasing Card charges, are accurate and in accordance with University financial guidelines. Director should immediately be informed of any inconsistencies, errors, suspected misuse of University resources, or violations of policy.

Current budget allocations will cover current and future expenses. Make appropriate changes if reallocation is warranted.

There are any current deficits or the possibility of future deficits. This information must be immediately shared with the Director.

There are any budget errors. Budget errors discovered should be investigated and resolved in a timely manner.

Submit to the Director by the 15th of each month, a monthly budget report that summarizes for the previous month the total spent in all budget categories and balances for all categories. This report should also briefly document any budget concerns and forecasts.

IT Support
Duty/Responsibility: Install, configure, and maintain operating systems on desktop computers. Troubleshoot and fix problems in a timely manner.

Performance Expectation: Install, configure and maintain operating systems, software and hardware in accordance with Penn computing and licensing standards/guidelines. Troubleshoot and correct problems in a timely manner, and take appropriate preventative measures (e.g., upgrading virus software) to maintain a steady state and minimize downtime. Provide timely, accurate, and easy to understand advice to end users on computer related inquiries. Keep current on software changes, technological developments and computing policies and regulations by reading professional publications, attending training and benchmarking with other computing environments.

Project Management
Duty/Responsibility: Coordinates and manages department wide projects.

Performance Expectation: Develop project objectives, goals and budget in accordance with departmental guidelines and communicate this information to the project team. Establish appropriate teams to work on departmental projects. Work with team to brainstorm ideas, develop tasks, activities, and timelines. Maintain a team environment that enhances effective open communication, cooperation and collaboration among team members. Consult as needed with others in the department, University and externally to gather benchmark data and information relative to the successful completion of the project. Regularly apprise director of team's progress. Complete projects successfully by meeting specified deadlines, objectives, goals and budget.

Step 2: Writing Effective Feedback

Providing specific feedback about performance results helps the staff member understand how successful s/he is at performing the duties and responsibilities of the position and where further development of skills and abilities is needed. The supervisor should accurately assess the staff member's performance against the clearly defined expectations established for the appraisal cycle. The feedback should clearly describe the performance results outlining where the staff member met and did not meet the established expectations. Including supporting examples in the feedback also helps the staff member understand your assessment of the performance results.

For example, instead of writing:
"You did a good job implementing and conducting student workshops."

Consider giving more specific feedback such as:
"The workshops you implemented addressed the needs of the students, received average overall ratings of 4.5/5.0 and were well attended. Attendance at the programs increased 25% over last year."

Some more examples of effective performance feedback are listed below.

Feedback to a staff member who meets the expectation:

Performance Expectation: Install, configure and maintain operating systems, software and hardware in accordance with Penn computing and licensing standards and guidelines. Troubleshoot and correct problems in a timely manner, and take appropriate preventative measures (e.g., upgrading virus software) to maintain a steady state and minimize downtime. Provide timely, accurate, and easy to understand advice to end users on computer related inquiries. Keep current on software changes, technological developments and computing policies and regulations by reading professional publications, attending training and benchmarking with other computing environments.

Describe performance results, including supporting examples: Susan, you successfully upgraded all of our staff's computers to Microsoft Office Suite 2013 by August 17, the established deadline for the upgrades. In addition, you placed on the shared drive easy to understand tips (in Q & A format) for using the upgraded programs. As previously discussed, I received many compliments from the staff on how you handled the upgrades with minimal downtime of the computing systems. You worked on weekends and before and after regular business hours to effect this smooth transition. In addition, even though three (3) serious viruses hit the campus this past year, you successfully managed our systems and maintained a steady state even as many of our colleagues experienced crashes and downtime. Again, the staff commended you on your ability to keep us functioning, enabling them to meet vital deadlines during the busy admissions cycle. This year you took two training courses in Implementing Microsoft Windows 2013 and received your certificate in the IT Immersion Program through IT@Penn.

Feedback to a staff member who meets and frequently exceeds the expectation:

Describe performance results, including supporting examples: Roberto, this year your team successfully implemented the revised departmental peer advising program for all freshmen and sophomore students by August 1, one month prior to the established implementation deadline. Because of your outstanding planning, organizational and collaborative skills and efforts as project leader, all freshmen and sophomores were assigned their peer advisors prior to arriving on campus. Furthermore, your team provided an opportunity for all assigned students to talk to their respective advisors over the summer and meet their advisors in person at the August departmental picnic. Thus, 98 of the 100 (98%) students in the program either talked to their advisor before coming to campus and/or met them at the picnic. This is a dramatic improvement over last year when only 70% of the students had been contacted by their advisors by September 30. This also exceeded the expectation for this program of having 85% of the students contacted by September 15. This helped the students develop relationships with their advisors early in the semester and was a factor in improving the average student-advisor contacts/semester from three (3) times a semester last year to six (6) times this year. Additionally, the program exceeded the expectation that the average student-advisor contacts/semester should increase to 5. The overall student ratings for the program were 4.75/5.0 and all of this was accomplished within budget. Due to your outstanding leadership efforts the project was implemented successfully, all the objectives and expectations were met and as noted above your performance frequently exceeded expectations in some areas. I have received many compliments from the faculty as well about your continued exemplary work with the program.

Feedback to a staff member who does not meet an expectation:

Performance Expectation: Word-process documents by the specified deadline and in accordance with the format used by the department. All documents should be spell-checked, proofread, checked for grammatical errors and corrected prior to submitting to the requestor. Regularly learn and use University and department supported computer software (e.g., Microsoft Office Suite) and maintain up to date computer skills and abilities on the required software at the intermediate level.

Describe performance results, including supporting examples: David, you consistently meet deadlines in producing all requested documents. However, the quality of your documents does not consistently meet expectations. Your routine correspondence (e.g., letters, memos) is usually error-free and formatted correctly. However, there are frequently typographical and formatting areas in the monthly reports that you type. For example, 9 out of 12 of your monthly reports had basic formatting and typographical errors. For example, although the reports should be single spaced throughout the document, in three (3) of the 9 reports cited above some of the sections were single spaced and some were double spaced. As noted in a March letter to you, your reports also include numerous typographical errors even after the requestor has corrected the draft and indicated to you where corrections should be made. You must make significant improvement in this area by thoroughly proofreading and spell-checking documents before submitting them to the requestor.

3/11/2016