Staff assessment, management appraisal, job evaluation - all terms which have surfaced from time to time as education has tried to follow the trends of industry without always acknowledging that not everything transfers in a seamless way.  Managing staff is a complex task - getting the best out of them is an even bigger challenge.  In any organisation with 80 or more professionals functioning as a team, there is bound to be on occasions, some which don’t fit in for some reason.  Such situations have to be dealt with for the benefit of the organisation but shouldn’t become the modus operandi for all annual exchanges between staff and managers.

It is my belief, based on years of wrestling with these potentially sensitive issues, that managers must do more than supervise their staff.  They must lead and develop them.  As such, Performance Management is the term I favour. It has something positive to offer vast majority of staff and does in no way murky the waters when forced to deal with the exceptional situation of significant under-performance.  Setting up an effective Performance Management system takes several years and has to evolve to be customised for a particular working situation.  As a consultant, I can advise on the design and setting up of such a system and be involved with its evaluation at a later date.