A performance improvement plan should be designed to help an employee succeed. Too often, however, they are implemented as a final step before showing an employee the door. Snelling’s experience in managing employees throughout the years has provided certain insights that may help you improve your performance improvement process.

Nip Things in the Bud
Too often, managers don't act quickly enough. Address poor performance soon after it occurs, so the employee can both learn from it and improve, as well as understand that it is unacceptable. This may avoid a performance improvement process altogether.

Be Direct
Be direct in talking with employees about their performance to ensure that they clearly understand that there are issues. Flag specific examples, dates and times. Ambiguity may simply perpetuate the problem.

Document, Document, Document
Documentation is critical from a human resource and legal perspective, as well as critical to helping the employee understand where their performance is lagging. Start documenting early and often. Objectives, Measurement and Support Develop an improvement plan with a specific evaluation period, and detailed objectives that can be measured. Don't just measure by a number (e.g., 3 out of 5); provide detailed comments. Make sure that the employee has access to the appropriate support and resources to accomplish the objectives.

Employee Involvement
Include the employee in the development of the performance improvement plan. The employee's buy-in to the program may be the difference between success or failure.

Focus on the Future, Not the Past
Past performance should be used for documentation and benchmarking, but the performance improvement plan should focus on next steps and the near-term future. Remember, the entire reason for conducting the performance improvement process in the first place is to try to improve and retain the employee.

Establish Meeting Dates and Times
Don't wait until the evaluation period is over to inform the employee of his or her performance. Set up specific meeting times throughout the evaluation period, and provide clear feedback and progress reports.

No Surprises
If you incorporate the points listed in this article, there should be no surprises at the end of the evaluation period. Both you and the employee should know whether the program has been a success or additional action needs to be taken.