Manager's performance improvement and accountability process 

Work has gone global, the information age has arrived, the world economy is shifting and the nature of work itself is changing rapidly.

Today, management is challenged more than ever to develop better methods to improve job performance and find effective ways to build a high performance work culture.

In the past, management would resolve many of its performance dilemmas by throwing more people or money at a problem. The old way simply will not work today. But how do we operate effectively in the future when most of our learning and skills were acquired in the past? A new paradigm with new methods and processes is needed.

Who Needs This Process?
Managers who supervise five or more employees and believe their work unit has the potential to perform at a higher level but have not yet found the tools to enable them to do so.

Managers who:

  • Work harder and enjoy their work less
  • Feel stress and/or pressure
  • Operate in an environment of rapid change
  • Experience insufficient control
  • Need a new approach
  • Do not realize the success with their work unit they know is possible

What Are These New Tools to Effective Management and Why Do We Need Them Now?
As a manager, your goal is to develop an enriched work environment and create productive work attitudes that result in high-performing employees. This is accomplished by ensuring that the correct job ingredients are present in the workplace. Job ingredients are the critical elements on which the performance foundation is built.

It is very difficult to sustain high-level performance without understanding the job-related forces affecting employees. Employees will tell you their needs. The managerial challenge is to respond appropriately.

All employees have opinions about their work culture. Their work performance and behavior are directly affected by those opinions. Effective managers are those who understand what their employees are thinking and feeling about their jobs and are able to build upon that knowledge to assure success. Managers must become skilled at developing the work culture as well as the individual.

A New Tool Kit
DCMS has designed a new set of performance tools to improve your effectiveness as a manager. These tools will enable you to better understand your employees as well as the work culture, and will help you to design and implement high-level job satisfaction and performance.

Our program will help you:

  • Understand the developmental needs of each employee and design necessary growth strategies.
  • Develop measurable job standards.
  • Implement empowerment practices that work.
  • Conduct performance reviews that are positive, motivational and actually improve performance.
  • Understand the concerns and motivational needs of the work unit.
  • Improve work-unit performance through synergism to develop a high-performance work culture to.

DCMS Performance Improvement Process

1. Employee Growth Opportunity Survey (EGO)

2. Workshop

- Acquire principles of continuous improvement
- Understanding your current work culture
- Designing your future work culture
- Design methods to gain employee accountability
- Action planning; hitting the target on time

3. Reinforcement

- Follow-up strategy meetings
- On-line problem solving

4. Optional Consulting

- Assistance within your company
- Employee and Manager training

 

Employee Growth Opportunity Survey
The first phase of the program is to obtain feedback from your employees. We administer a brief survey that should take an employee no more than 30 minutes to complete. The EGO is user-friendly and is given to each employee in a manager's work unit. EGO measures 20 critical areas that affect employee performance:

  • Enrichment Areas: Management, Interpersonal, Personal Environment, Empowerment, Teamwork, Quality of Effort
  • Company Culture: Caring About Customers, Change Management, The Workplace As A Community, Treating People With Dignity, Integrity, Stress Management, Spirit
  • Performance: Overall Purpose Of The Company, Individual Responsibilities, Feedback, Accountability, Compensation, Support

The Workshop
As soon as we complete our analysis of the EGO surveys, we begin phase two of the program: a two-day workshop with managers. In the workshop we present our findings and work through the practical aspects of implementing change. The workshop is a hands-on action-planning session for all participants.

Each manager receives a personalized performance assessment, concentrating on the 20 key areas measured by EGO. We prepare easy-to-read bar charts that depict cumulative and comparative percentages for each area.

We also create a report comparing the manager's performance with that of the other managers attending the workshop. This document is based on the EGO results for each work unit, triggering challenging discussion among the participants.

Each manager grapples with his or her issues independently, while the group can support ways in which to learn new strategies. The key outcome of the workshop is that managers learn how to create performance accountability as the foundation for designing their future high-performance work culture.

Performance Accountability
We take managers through a Performance Improvement Process that clarifies performance accountability as a cornerstone for improvement. We review why traditional performance appraisals and job descriptions are ineffective. We help managers establish a method to clearly define what is expected in measurable terms that every employee understands. During this workshop, managers create the precise tools they need to clarify standards for improvement and accountability with each employee.

Action Planning
Hitting the target on time with maximum quality and employee satisfaction requires an execution process that is effective.

Reinforcement
The DCMS workshop is powerful, but no stand-alone session can guarantee managers will excel once they return to the workplace and try to implement what they have learned. Many questions arise that require discussion and coaching. Therefore, phase three of our process offers additional support in the following areas:

  • A Series of Three Reinforcement Strategy Meetings: Each luncheon will center around specific topics of interest brought forth by the workshop graduates. Questions/concerns may be submitted via fax, e-mail, use of the web site (www.dcmsltd.com) or called in to 800.223.5469. These meetings are scheduled in advance, generally in months one, two and three following the workshop. Graduates receive three complementary tickets; additional tickets are also available.
  • Monthly Newsletter: In addition to addressing implementation and utilization concerns brought forth by graduates, the newsletter will focus on a variety of strategies relevant to excelling in the workplace.
  • Online Resource Group: An online moderated forum in which graduates of the workshop can request additional information on specific areas of interest or discuss questions/concerns with their peers.

Additional Services
Optional strategy sessions are available for those who may require additional assistance with implementation and in-company support.