Writing a supervisor's performance plan can be challenging. Sometimes a supervisor's plan can grow long and unwieldy seeming to include everything but the kitchen sink. One way to center the plan on what is important is to focus on results. The results of the work of a supervisor include the work unit's products or services as well as the smooth operation of the work unit. The work unit's performance becomes the central measure of the supervisor's performance plan. Getting results requires good management, supervisory, and human resources management skills on the part of the supervisor.
Cascading Organizational Goals to the Work Unit. The first step in developing a supervisor's performance plan is to determine which organizational goal(s) his or her work unit supports or can affect. The next step is to determine the work unit's products or services that support organizational goal achievement. The supervisor can be held responsible for those products or services. (This goal-cascading method is one method for measuring results described in A Handbook for Measuring Employee Performance).
Cascading Goals |
Example. The manager of a Federal organization wanted to develop elements and standards for her supervisors that align with organizational goals and that hold the supervisors responsible for their work units' expected accomplishments. She also wanted the elements and standards to reflect the supervisors' general management and human resources management skills. By using the goal-cascading method, she completed the following steps:
Step 1. Look at the big picture. The manager referred to her agency's annual performance plan and targeted the goals that each of her supervisors and their work units affect. Specifically, for the supervisor of the widget production work unit, she aligned the performance plan with the following organizational goals:
Step 2. Describe the products and services the work unit provides to help the agency reach its goals. For the widget production work unit, the manager determined that the product of the work unit, of course, was widgets. In addition, in order to produce widgets, the work unit must have a safe and productive working environment and good leadership.
Step 3. Develop work unit measures and set standards for performance. The manager determined that the following measures were important to include in the supervisor's performance plan:
Element: Widget Production
Fully Successful Standard:
Element: Safe Work Environment
Fully Successful Standard:
Element: Effective Leadership
Fully Successful Standard:
Management is generally satisfied that:
Note: This example is very general and represents a minimum framework of what a performance plan could include.
Originally published August 2000