Stepping Back from Monitoring Staff Time

“How can I get visibility into how my employees spend their time?” Don’t.

 This question has come up so many times with clients in the last few years. Time studies -- evaluation of time spent taken in aggregate to improve overall processes -- can be helpful, but when it comes to individual performance, consider stepping back.

If your employee is performing well, let the rest go. Your role is to support their success, not direct their time. 

 And what if staff are underperforming? Support, don't surveil. 

 Because what you need is impact, not busy-ness. Adhering to 40 hours’ worth of work-related activity per week does not inherently equate to good work product, and looking over employees’ shoulders literally or proverbially will be exceedingly damaging to culture and is shown to actually lead to decreased engagement and thus diminished performance. 

So how do you support an employee who is underperforming? 

·        Make sure there is a shared understanding of expectations and the key performance indicators you are using to evaluate success. 

·        Inquire into the employee’s own perception of their performance. Listen for the perspective you might be missing in your own evaluation.

·        Share specific examples of what you see as going right and what you see as missing the mark. Seek the employee’s reflections on these examples – their take on what worked and what challenges they faced.

·        Ask what support the employee needs to be successful, and follow through on those supports. Reassure your staff that you want them to succeed and value their role on the team, and demonstrate that.

·        Stay in communication so you can collaboratively assess progress and modify supports and plans as needed. Performance evaluation should be an ongoing process not an annual gotcha moment.

 With support will every employee find success? No, but a thoughtful process can help you: counter your biases in how you evaluate your team, increase the likelihood of employee success, and create a culture where there is room for course correction and continuous learning. (All of which are key indicators of your own performance as a manager.)

 And isn’t successfully supporting your team -- rather than time tracking employees -- a better use of your own time?