The 4 Most Common Misconceptions About Performance Management

Performance management is vital in the workplace. It helps ensure that goals are being met effectively and efficiently by individual workers, teams and the organization as a whole.

Social networks have reinvented the way we interact on a personal and now a professional level. Socialization has greatly affected performance management and the way organizations can set goals, track progress and function in real-time.

Today, employees are more than names on a desk and instead are taking on more of a managerial role. Performance management is not only for management but is a collaborative approach to letting all employees take charge of their career.

However, there are some misconceptions that many people have about performance management that need to be addressed, including:

1. Feedback should only take place during the annual performance review. Whoever decided that feedback should only take place a handful of times a year really did not know much about management. Formal feedback, whether positive or negative has to be an ongoing process.

The more feedback an employee receives the better they will feel recognized for their efforts. Constant feedback also provides for a more fun and evolving process that everyone can become a part of.

2. Goals should only be set at the beginning of the year or quarter and do not need to be revisited. Sometimes, we go into work expecting our day to go exactly as planned and end it wondering what happened. Routines are wonderful, but the real world hardly functions the way we would always like. Adapting is now a very big part of performance management as priorities change and markets shift more often than we would like. With new developments come new priorities and projects and therefore new goals.

While goals are still important, they need to constantly be re-assessed to reflect client and company changes. Social goals make it possible to keep up with the fast-paced work environment. Priorities are always changing and social goals make it possible to have goals in the now, next and someday sphere.

3. Performance management is only for management roles. Feedback, goal setting and the likes are no longer the sole responsibility of management. In the modern workplace, employees have a lot more responsibility and options. They are encouraged to be more open-minded and share ideas with everyone.

Transparency is highly appreciated in most work atmospheres and taking charge of one’s career is expected. Additionally, when workers move around jobs every few years, they need to be more in charge of their plans as the same people will not be there to guide them.

Managing performance management is not something that only takes place once a year to simply assign responsibilities. Similar to feedback and goals, it is something that is ongoing and needs to be reassessed as new priorities and challenges come up.

4. Performance management is only for individual employees. Performance management is not limited between the manager and employee. It is collaborative and designed to create openness and transparency.

Even if virtual companies are popping up left, right and center, teamwork is becoming more important and prevalent than ever before. In a world where everything is going social, it is no surprise that performance management is increasingly focusing on teamwork and collaboration.

Everything from goals, feedback and ideas are meant to be shared and recognized by a team…and not just management. Owning your own career is easier than ever before — and improving team communication through collaboration and performance management is revolutionizing the way companies function.

What misconceptions have you heard about performance management that you strongly disagree with?