Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Identifying Performance Standards

Performance standards are target measurements for achieving quality in work. The guidelines for setting performance standards follow these three perspectives:
  1. establishing criteria for quality-performance standards
  2. clarifying quality-performance standard
  3. providing positive reinforcement and recognition for quality-performance standards
Establishing criteria for quality-performance standards
Before you set performance standards, it's important to establish your criteria. You should consider quality, quantity, time, and customer requirements as criteria for establishing performance standards.

Clarifying quality-performance standard
You should clarify your performance standards once you have established your criteria for setting them. It's important to involve your employees in this process. The following provide more information on how to do this:
  • Once you establish your criteria for setting performance standards, you should describe your criteria to your employees. You should work with your employees to prioritize the tasks according to the customer requirements, and the time, quantity and level of quality needed.
  • You should meet with your employees to record all the tasks and standards that are required to meet your criteria. To make your standards meaningful, they should be measurable.
  • You should develop a tracking system and hold regular one-on-one discussions with your employees about work in progress. Don't wait until you have problems to establish a tracking system.
Providing positive reinforcement and recognition for quality-performance standards
After you establish your criteria and clarify your performance standards, it's important to encourage your employees to follow them. You should:
  • provide positive reinforcement for following standards
  • recognize those who adhere to the standards.
Performance standards are target measurements for achieving quality in work. You can use them to help your organization.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...


Tag: PM201A56. Let me share all of you about #5 Tips for Project Management Success,, I hope you enjoy it

1. Plan your day using time management techniques

As a project manager, time management skills are essential because you are dealing with a wide range of tasks that demand a quick turnaround time. Planning your day will go a long way in keeping you organized and increasing your productivity. Assist your task planning by using project management software which helps you track the work of you and your team.

If you are not very tech savvy, a simple to-do list can also be a great organizational tool. Prioritize your most important tasks by putting them at the top of the list and less important ones at the bottom. Having a visual plan of your daily tasks helps to keep you on track and aware of time.

Related post: Free ebook 104 secrets to become a great project manager

2. Include stakeholders in important project conversations

While you will have plenty of responsibilities regarding the project, don’t neglect your clients.

Good communication is essential is keeping both parties informed of project progression, curtailing scope creep, and apprised of changing requirements. Some clients may have different expectations when it comes to communication, so make sure to establish the frequency and type of communication (like emails, phone calls, and face-to-face conversations) at the beginning of your project.

Establishing communication expectations early helps alleviate stakeholder uncertainty about communication frequency and delivery.

3. Regularly communicate with your team

Daily team communication helps keep misunderstandings and unclear requirements under control. Keeping your team informed in every step of the project is essential to project management success.

For example, a study published by Procedia Technology found that good communication skills were the cornerstone of project management. The study examined over 300 “construction project managers, architects, construction managers, engineers and quantity surveyors” and their successes and failures on various construction projects.

4. Anticipate project setbacks

Even the best-laid plans often go awry.

Remember that even with a high amount of planning and attention to detail, your project may still encounter some challenges. Pay attention to complaints from stakeholders or colleagues, and other warning signs, like a missed deadline or cost overrun, that there may be a problem.

Preventing a crisis will keep your project running smoothly, save you a lot of time, and keep you, your team, and your stakeholders confident in progressing with the project.

Unfortunately not every complication can be avoided. Crisis management skills are essential for dealing with the unexpected. Project managers need to be flexible and pragmatic. Improvise and make sharp decisions when needed.

Related post: 92 free project management templates

5. Stay focused on the details

A common problem project managers encounter is having the project aims not aligned with the organization’s objectives. A great project manager will strategize a plan for the project to lead back to the overall success of the business.

Know your project’s scope by heart and avoid wandering outside of the project’s requirements. It’s too easy to get lost in minor details and forget what your focus is, so a well-planned project scope is essential for success.

And final, you should use KPI to measure effectiveness of the project, here are full list: 76 project management KPIs