Employee Engagement - Getting the most from your People

One thing is for sure, businesses are only as good as the people they employ and this means everyone from the top down. Poorly performing employees will have a detrimental impact on both the performance of the business and other employees and will ultimately thwart your ability to drive the business forward. Good performers will leave if they do not feel valued for their contribution and especially if they see colleagues not contributing in the same way and getting away with it. In the current employment market, it is essential that good performers are retained by their businesses and the culture and focus of the business is going to be key to retaining and getting the best from your people. This includes both business and people activities, such as:

• Business planning, culture and goal setting
• Recognising and rewarding good performance
• Addressing poor performance
• Retaining talent and key skills
• Personal and Skill development
• Developing competence
• Communication and employee engagement
• Conducting performance reviews, 1-2-1s and development discussions
• Agreeing team and individual objectives.

The key to managing business and employee performance is to be clear about the direction in which you are taking the business. Only then can you effectively manage your employees so that they deliver performance to the required standards to meet your goals. By effectively managing performance you will retain key skills and staff through both the good and the bad times, giving you competitive advantage over other companies that are not seen as an employer of choice.

It is important however that any people management processes are implemented because they are right for the business. Unfortunately appraisals and performance management are viewed as a time-wasting paper exercise by many people. This is because the focus is on the paperwork and not on the quality of conversation between manager and employee. Here at CHaRM we focus on the benefits to the business of positive performance management and ensure any process that is put in place is simple, easy to use and of real value to everyone involved.

"We were very pleased with the feedback from our employees as it showed that the developments and changes we had made, even the difficult ones, have been received well and they understand what we are trying to achieve."