“Why can’t people just do what they are supposed to do?” Ah yes, the frustration of performance management. As the manager — and the human resource professional — for your farm operation, you need to manage people’s performance.
Peformance management (PM) is an ongoing process, not a yearly event called a performance review, and it requires communication, which in turn means talking and listening with understanding.
PM also requires clearly defined expectations and consequences. The critical elements are communication, expectations, and consequences, and they are embedded in PM’s four f’ing things: frequency, fodder, feedback, and followup.
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Frequency:Once is not enough. Take time to communicate with your employee at the start and end of each new task or responsibility. The goal of the first communication is to understand the standard of the task — the expectation. The goal of the communication at the end of the task is to provide feedback — how was the expectation met?
If the task is large, communicate at critical points along the way. Provide detailed expectations, repeat the main expectation, and give feedback on what has been completed to that point.
Frequency is dependent on the experience and knowledge of the employee. For a long-term employee, there will be fewer PM discussions. But less discussion does not mean no discussion. PM communication still needs to happen.
New employees, regardless of their experience and knowledge, need frequent PM communication. Remember, there is a lot of new information being thrown at them in a short time, and you’re setting the stage for PM.
Fodder:The PM communication needs to be meaningful. It needs to be nutritious and not fibrous.
We all know what happens when we get too much fibre in our diet. Well, with high-fibre PM communication, the same thing happens. Nutrition is found in clearly articulating sound expectations.
Use the SMART rule to determine if your expectations have nutrition. The expectation should be Specific, Meamanagement sureable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-bound.
For example, rather than telling someone to clean the milking barn, consider this expectation using the SMART goal rule. “A clean barn has no debris on the floors, walls, and railings. Removing the debris takes about 45 minutes. After the debris is gone, the floor is mopped using the mix of disinfectant as listed on the side of the bottle and following all safety requirements. This takes about 30 minutes.”
Does this seem like overkill? Face it — this is really what you want done, so you might as well clearly share your expectation. If the employee is new to the job, you may have to provide even more detail, such as how to remove the debris.
Feedback:Consider the nutrition/fibre ratio in feedback too. It is fine to say “good job” but even better to say specifically what was good about the job. For example, if the hired hand just finished combining a field, rather than telling them they did a good job (not a lot of nutrition), consider these statements: “Good job on combining the field. You left the straw at the right height which will help catch the snow this winter. You also maximized the full width of the header, and there was minimal grain loss through the combine. This saves us money and time. Don’t get the combine plugged. Next time you get to a spot where the swath doubles in size, slow down. I expect that in the next field you will slow down for those trouble spots and not plug the combine. Plugging the combine slows down operations and increases the risk of fire.”
This nutritious statement clearly confirms which aspects of performance achieved the standard and which didn’t. It also communicates what needs to happen next time so the performance can improve. This nutrition statement also includes consequences of the performance, both positive and negative.
Followup:You have clearly communicated the standard, and you have provided feedback. Now you have to follow up, especially on performance that didn’t meet the standard. Followup is a critical part of the consequence element.
If you identify work that is not up to your expectations, let the employee know so they can correct their performance. For example, if you told the employee not to plug the combine in the next field, follow up. The more timely the followup, the more meaning it will have. Followup should include assessing if they got it right, if they understood, and if there is some other problem.
More details on PM challenges will be discussed in the next issue of Country Guide — Performance Management — the Challenges.
Basic PM requires communication, expectations, and consequences. Just remember the four f’ing things, and you will be off to a great start.CG
Leah Knibbs is the owner of Knibbs/ associates hr consulting and a partner in Knibbs/associates sourcing people. Both organizations provide HR services to agriculture organizations. Knibbs describes herself as a professional HR consultant who has raised and butchered meat chickens. Contact her at [email protected] or 306-861-9864.
