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Improve your work performance: Content guide

Contents

Improve your work performance: Content guide

Overview

Key terms

Monitor your own performance

What standard are you required to perform to?

How will you review your performance, and when?

Improving your knowledge and skills

Skills audit

Developing your training plan

Helping team members get the training they need

Keeping training and development records

More resources

Sample answers to ‘My workplace’ questions

Overview

As a team leader you need to manage your own job performance as well as your team’s. This Content guide contains information and short activities to help you:

  • identify performance standards for your job and your team
  • get feedback on your performance as a team leader
  • identify your own training needs
  • create a training plan.

Key terms

360 degree feedback

Performance feedback is sought from multiple perspectives, eg self, peers, supervisor, customers, staff.

Coaching

Coaching involves training learners, and encouraging them throughout the learning process. Coaching is offered to individuals and teams with the aim of achieving superior performance or achieving a set goal.

Competency

A way of describing all the knowledge, skills and personal qualities that you need to effectively carry out a particular part of your job.

Performance gap

The difference between the required performance and the actual performance.

Mentoring

Mentoring is the advice offered to an individual over a period of time, to assist their development. This is a beneficial process that can be applied successfully in the workplace to increase the capacity of individuals by encouraging the development of their latent or undeveloped abilities.

Performance agreement

A performance agreement outlines what is to be done and when, the standard that it should be done to and who is going to do it.

Recognition

In the training setting, this means getting credit where it's due. Recognition is a procedure used in the Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector when students want to get all or part of a qualification by having their current knowledge, skills and experience recognised. Training providers that offer a qualification will often provide recognition services as well.

Skills audit

A skills audit identifies all the knowledge and skills that you have; a simple and effective tool for individuals and teams. Often used as the step before a training gap analysis. Also see training gap analysis.

Training needs analysis (TNA)

A formal process of identifying training needs, usually in term of a group of people and/or for a process.

Training plan

A training plan is an action plan outlining the training and development activities to be completed by you or your team, to enable you to perform your job properly or to the standard required.

Monitor your own performance

As a team leader you need to manage your own job performance as well as your team’s. To do this there are two important questions you need to answer:

  • What standard are you required to perform to?
  • How will you review your performance, and when?

Let’s look at each of these in turn.

What standard are you required to perform to?

Performance standards

Performance standards give you a clear understanding of what is expected of you and how your work will be judged. They are usually incorporated into the goals that you and your team set when developing plans.

Some examples of performance standards are:

  • No more than five warranty claims per 1000 units sold.
  • All customers to be connected to a sales representative within 30 seconds.
  • Next day's delivery schedule to appear on the intranet by 4 pm each day.
  • All staff to attend training for system upgrade by 5 August.

Standards give you a basis for monitoring and measuring your work performance.

To measure performance, you need to know:

  • the type of measure to be used — Is performance measured in numeric terms or in terms of quality?
  • how often the performance will be measured — Is performance measured hourly, daily, yearly?

When performance is measured, planned performance (the standard) can be compared with actual performance. If there is a significant difference in the results, management will be advised.

Quality of service and products

Your customers expect that the products or services your organisation provides will be of a reasonable standard or quality. They’ll also expect that the quality of the products or services they purchase will be the same every time they purchase them. This is your customer's performance standard for you.

When there is a variation in the product or service, a customer may complain. So processes need to be in place to identify and fix any variations in the quality of products and services. You need mechanisms to collect feedback from your customers.

My workplace

1. What are some agreed standards (targets, measures, quality statements) for your work team? (If you don’t work in a team situation, you may like to think about three personal standards.)

Answer:
Performance agreements

Standards for your work performance may be listed in your performance agreement, or in your job description. A performance agreement will state:

  • what the job tasks are
  • what standard tasks have to be performed at
  • (if it's a team standard) who in the team is responsible for each task

A performance agreement is usually negotiated between you and your manager or your work team. You can then use the performance agreement to monitor and review individual work performance.

To perform these job tasks to a particular standard, you and your team will need certain knowledge and skills. So you may need to develop a training plan to help make your performance agreement work. A training plan is an action plan that lists the training and development activities that you or your work team will do to help you develop the knowledge and skills you need.

A training plan is a tool to help you meet the expectations that are stated in your performance agreement.

My workplace

2. Do you have a performance agreement for yourself/your work team? If not, write down some things that should be in it. Use this to begin to develop a performance agreement that you can discuss with your team/your manager.

Answer:

How will you review your performance, and when?

Feedback provides answers to the question ‘How am I doing?’ Feedback comes in many forms. It can come in the form of informal comments, in reports or in structured meetings. Feedback can tell you whether or not you are meeting the standards that are expected of you.

360 feedback

360 feedback happens when you get feedback from all the people around you. This may include:

  • yourself
  • your manager
  • other team leaders
  • your staff
  • your customers.

In this way, your performance is reviewed from many different points of view, and the information you get is going to be much more useful than if it comes from just one source.

Giving feedback to yourself

You can review your own work performance using a self-review.

A self-review involves using descriptions of your work activities in diaries, journals and other personal records.

The benefits of using self-review are:

  • you can describe the ‘whole picture’ of your working life, not only the aspects that your manager thinks are relevant
  • a manager’s bias will not affect the review
  • being directly involved will motivate you to do better.

My workplace

3. Here are some questions to help you to start thinking about self-review and to identify your skills and talents.

a. What do you really enjoy about your work?

b. How have your skills and knowledge increased over the past year?

c. How do your skills and knowledge affect the quality of your work?

d. Is there something you are particularly good at?

Answer:

In much the same way as you can review your own performance, you can help someone else to self-assess their performance. As a team leader, it's your role to help your staff to do this.

Feedback from your manager

This can happen:

  • during formal performance appraisals
  • during regular meetings or discussions with your manager
  • when you ask your manager for feedback on a particular task or job you are doing.

There are also some important tips to remember when you are getting feedback from your manager.

  • If the feedback is vague, ask for more information, or examples of what you have done.
  • If the feedback is negative, try not to take it a personal criticism; again, focus on the specific things about the job you are meant to do, and ask your manager to do the same.
  • If you think you need help to act on the feedback, tell your manager and work together to find a solution.
Feedback from your peers and team members

Your fellow team leaders, and your own team members will see an important side to you that your manager and customers may never see. This means they probably have a lot of valuable feedback that they can offer you. There are some important tips to remember when asking for feedback from your team members:

  • Ask about specific things, eg how they felt about a meeting you ran, or the way you solved a particular problem. (Just asking ‘What do you think of me as a supervisor?’ may be seen as an invitation for personal criticism, or it may just be confusing.)
  • Once you ask for feedback, don’t try to tell the other person why they are wrong! It may be hard, but just keep quiet and listen. If the feedback is vague, ask for an example of what they mean.
  • Think carefully about whether you ask for feedback in a group setting, or in private with each individual. How you do it will depend on how you get along as a team, but generally it’s more comfortable for everyone to give and receive feedback in private.
Feedback from customers

Customers may tell you:

  • how well your product or service is meeting their needs
  • whether your product or service is competitively priced
  • how well you and your staff are meeting their needs when they contact you.

Sometimes, it may be necessary to ask customers for feedback in a formal way. A common form of customer feedback is the questionnaire.

Feedback has no value unless it is used to improve performance. So you and your co-workers need to evaluate all feedback received. Where client needs and expectations are not being met, it may be necessary to change your work procedures and practices.

How can I evaluate feedback?

When you receive feedback, you need to be sure that it is addressing key work issues and is not biased in some way. You need to evaluate it.

When evaluating feedback, look at its reliability, validity and the degree of influence that the person giving feedback has.

  • Reliability:How reliable are your sources? Will they give you honest feedback or do they have other agendas?
  • Validity: Do they have a full understanding of your position in the organisation and how it relates to others?
  • Degree of influence:Do you respect their position in the organisation? How much influence do they have, not only on your perception of yourself, but also on others’ perception of your position?

My workplace

4. Think about the validity, reliability and degree of influence feedback that each of the following people have for you:

  • a client
  • a colleague
  • a manager

Answer:

Improving your knowledge and skills

As well as reviewing your performance, you need to:

  • look at your current knowledge and skills, and
  • how they compare with what is required for your job.

A skills audit can help you to identify the gaps between the skills you currently have and the skills you need to perform your job properly or to the standard required.

Sometimes this is called a Training Needs Analysis, or TNA. This term is usually used when the situation is more complex and involves a lot of people.

Skills audit

To complete a skills audit, list all the skills you have gained through your work and life experiences. Then think about how they apply to your job. There are some broad categories provided below. How does each one apply to your job?

Add an example of how you do this in your job. Even better, write in your performance standard for each area.

How do you rate in each area? We've added some blank lines for you to add other things specific to you.

Table: Some areas to consider in a skills audit

Knowledge and skills / This is my strong point / I'm OK / I need to improve
Collecting, understanding and analysing information about the work of my section.
An example in my job is:
Communicating with other people, inside and outside of my work team.
An example in my job is:
Planning, scheduling and organising my own work and my team's work.
An example in my job is:
Working with other people, including my staff, my manager, customers and suppliers.
An example in my job is:
Using maths to prepare things like a schedule or a budget or parts in a formula
An example in my job is:
Solving problems that come up on a day-to-day basis
An example in my job is:
Operating technology like equipment, machinery or computers
An example in my job is:
Others…

This process of comparing your actual knowledge and skills to the level that your job requires, is called gap analysis. Gaps indicate the areas that you may need training and development in.

The values that you hold can also contribute to successful performance at work. These can include:

  • honesty
  • determination
  • commitment
  • sense of hunour
  • loyalty
  • hard-working
  • challenge-seeking
  • tolerance.

You can also do a skills audit for your team as a whole. What is the current knowledge and skill level of employees? Is this enough for them to meet the shared goals of your team? Does each person have the knowledge and skills they need to do their own job?

Make sure you adjust the categories to suit the skills.

Table: Applying a skills audit to a work team in a food business.

Knowledge and skills / This is a strong point / OK / Needs to improve
Collecting and understanding information about the work of the section:
  • Following the correct procedures for safe handling of food
  • Following the correct procedures for personal hygiene

Zara / ✔
Chee / ✔
Paul / ✔
Ben / ✔
Communicating with other people, inside and outside of the workteam.
  • Communicating with other team members
  • Communicating with suppliers
  • Communicating with customers

Zara / ✔
Chee / ✔
Paul / ✔
Ben / ✔

My workplace

5. Copy the templates above into a new document. Then try a simple skills audit for yourself or your team.

Answer:

Developing your training plan

The most urgent training needs should be dealt with first. The organisation’s objectives must always be kept in mind when prioritising. So, it is important for you to consider training and personal development that will bring the best results in achieving organisational goals.

Training doesn't always mean that you're sitting in a training room somewhere. Your own training plans may include these things:

  • one-to-one coaching in a particular skill or procedure
  • mentoring by a more experienced team leader or manager
  • e-learning modules or short face-to-face training sessions
  • joining a project team
  • taking on broader management responsibilities
  • career planning
  • accredited training — eg Vocational Education and Training (VET) programs that lead to a recognised qualification
  • experience doing a different job.

Table: A team leader’s training and development plan

Skills I need to learn/improve / Learning activities / When / What I hope to achieve
Motivating my team / Enrol in course ‘Promote team effectiveness’
Attend Josie’s team meetings / February / Strategies for team building
Ideas and strategies for increasing motivation levels of team
Innovative ideas from team members
Problem solving as a team
Managing my time / Do the ‘Time management’ e-learning module
Practise strategies at work / Late March / Better goal and task prioritising
Less stress
More efficient and effective when dealing with problems
Conducting performance appraisals / Mentoring from Pieter
Do e-learning module on performance appraisal / February / Evaluate the performance of my team members
Provide feedback to team members
Set mutual goals
Identify training and development needs of team members
Getting a qualification / Enrol in Certificate IV in Business (Frontline Management)
I will have already completed ‘Promote team effectiveness’, and there are other competencies in the course I think I’ll be able to get recognition for. / May (this year) — May (next year) / Improve my skills across all of the competencies for frontline management
Get a management qualification

Helping team members get thetraining they need

Team members may ask you how they can develop their skills in order to gain better-paid or more challenging employment. The skills analysis already discussed can be a starting point in better understanding a person’s strengths and weaknesses.

Options that you and your team may consider include:

  • working in different roles or on different tasks
  • doing a special project or assignment
  • completing a short training course, eg a one-day seminar, or an e-learning module
  • accredited training, eg Vocational Education and Training (VET) programs that lead to a recognised qualification
  • working with a mentor — getting advice and friendly guidance from a more experienced person
  • one-to-one coaching — training on how to do a particular task.

It is important to suggest alternatives, rather than telling people what training they have to do. Training staff costs money, and to be effective it must be planned with the involvement of people who are using it.