U.S. Office of Personnel Management - Ensuring the Federal Government has an effective civilian workforce

Making the Connection: Aligning Employee Performance with Organizational Goals

Do you get frazzled trying to write employee performance elements and standards that align with your agency's goals and objectives? Not sure where to start? Well, we have the solution! A Handbook for Measuring Employee Performance: Aligning Employee Performance Plans with Organizational Goals is now available.

This handbook is designed as a stand-alone version of our popular workshop, "Measuring Employee Performance," that we conduct periodically. Attendees of past workshops have told us:

• "I've been struggling with how to measure the performance of my work unit. This workshop gave me the answers to my problems."
• "This workshop helped me so that I can write results-focused elements and standards that are aligned with my agency's goals."
• "Good examples in the workbook's appendices!"
• From a trainer: "I can use these written materials as the basis for a course that I can tailor to my agency's appraisal program and present to my agency's supervisors. This is just what I was looking for."

We designed the handbook as a tool to aid supervisors when writing performance plans. The handbook presents an eight-step process for developing employee performance plans that align with and support organizational goals. The methods presented in the handbook help supervisors focus on measuring employee and work unit accomplishments (i.e., results, such as products and services) rather than measuring activities, behaviors, or competencies. Consequently, much of the information presented in the first five steps of this eight-step process applies when supervisors and employees want to measure results. However, the material presented in steps six through eight (about developing standards, monitoring and tracking performance, and checking the performance plan) apply to all measurement approaches.

This 84-page book contains detailed information on each of the 8 steps of the process, exercises to assist you through each step, a quick reference for developing performance plans, and appendices of sample elements and standards.

After reading the instructional material, studying the examples, and completing the exercises in this book, you should be able to:

• develop a performance plan that aligns individual performance to organizational goals;
• use a variety of methods to determine work unit and individual accomplishments;
• determine the difference between activities and accomplishments; and
• explain regulatory requirements for employee performance plans.

You may download the handbook [1.7 KB].

For additional information, please contact us by email or call us at 202-606-2720.

Originally published August 1999