The performance of your team is exceptionally important. How your team performs on a regular basis can have a direct impact on the success of your business, short and long-term. Not only that, but the performance of your team is a direct reflection of their work environment and your approach to managing the team. Whether your team could stand to improve or you’re simply taking preventative measures, incorporating an elevated approach to performance management can truly make all the difference. Especially if you have a global team.
In this article, we’re going to cover everything you need to know about performance management for global teams as an employer. From what performance management is and the importance that it plays to challenges you may encounter, best practices, and everything in between - read on!
What Is Performance Management?
Performance management refers to the process of:
- Goal setting
- Monitoring progress
- Providing feedback
- Evaluating the performance of employees within an organization
Effective performance management involves establishing clear objectives, tracking employee performance against those objectives, and then providing feedback regularly. Employers practicing advanced performance management can also offer coaching to employees, to help them improve and ultimately achieve their goals.
Performance management also includes employers and managers or supervisors conducting performance reviews and assessments. These reviews allow superiors to assess employee performance and employee engagement, and make decisions related to rewards, promotions, and even development opportunities.
As an essential aspect of building and maintaining a strong corporate culture, especially in remote and global environments, we cannot emphasize the importance of performance management enough!
Now that you have a clear understanding of the topic at hand, let's get started and help you develop a strong, long-term performance management process.
But first, let's take a look at why it's so important!
The Importance of Managing Team Performance
The right approach to performance management can result in many long-term improvements, especially for a global team.
Improve Communication
With performance management, you can improve communication throughout your workplace. Team members can enjoy communication that is more clear and consistent, all while receiving important information —- such as deadlines, due dates, and task details.
Monitor Your Remote Team
With certain tools and technology, you can also keep a closer eye on your team — which is especially important in a remote work environment. This will help to ensure that work is done properly and on time.
Provide Essential Feedback
As your team continues to work, you can utilize this elevated process to communicate ongoing feedback, make plans for improvement, and, of course, celebrate achievements.
Have a Positive Impact on Employee Engagement
It should also be stated how the right approach can have a positive impact on employee engagement. By establishing strong performance management processes, you can provide employees with clear, attainable, and measurable goals to work towards.
Once your employees have a clear understanding of what is expected of them, they will be able to better manage their time, take initiative, and apply feedback — resulting in engaged employees.
The right approach to elevated performance management can truly make all the difference — and it all begins with understanding its importance.
The next steps? Identifying your current performance management challenges and incorporating the right performance management tools.
Challenges in Your Performance Management Process
While there are many benefits to having a global team, there are some obstacles that can arise.
Especially when it comes to performance management.
The best course of action is to identify troubles early and create a plan to not only rectify them but also reduce the risk of recurrence.
To help your team stay ahead of certain performance management challenges, here is what you should look out for.
Communication Barriers
Certain barriers may lead to communication-related troubles. Without proper communication, your team may not be able to share task details, provide updates, and receive feedback.
Examples of communication barriers can include:
- Not having a platform for instant messaging, phone calls, or video calls
- Not having a platform to share tasks or client updates with others
- Receiving feedback but not having a process to apply it
Time Zone Differences
With a remote, global team, you are likely to encounter time zone differences. While these differences can pose certain challenges, they do not have to make or break the performance of your team.
Signs that time zone differences are having a negative impact on your team include:
- Work is submitted after the deadline or due date
- Deadlines aren’t being communicated in the right time zone
- Team members aren’t able to meet or speak with each other
Language Barriers
Time zone differences aren’t the only challenge that global teams may encounter. As an employer, you may also anticipate certain language barriers to interfere with day-to-day work. Team members may experience difficulty understanding one another on the phone or video calls, or are unable to outline task details, provide feedback, or relay an update.
Signs that a language barrier is having an impact on the performance of your team can include:
- Information or details are being mixed up
- Employees are frustrated with the lack of communication
- Feedback or instructions aren’t being followed correctly
Best Practices for Performance Management in Global Teams
When establishing a new approach to performance management, there are several best practices you can try. This will help you to create a new system that is geared towards success for your team and business in the long-term.
Set Clear Expectations
Your remote team should always have a clear understanding of your expectations.
Once an employee understands what is expected of them, they can adjust their processes accordingly, place emphasis on time management, and create a comprehensive plan to finish their work properly and on time.
Use Technology to Facilitate Communication
With the right tools, technologies, and platform-based services, you can facilitate effective communication across your entire team. Not only will employees be able to better communicate with one another, but with superiors as well.
Employees will be provided with the opportunity to update others on the status of a task or project, relay and receive feedback, and celebrate achievements with their colleagues.
Develop a Culture of Feedback
There is always room for growth and improvement. For this reason and many more, it’s so important as an employer to develop a culture of feedback.
Not only will feedback, when given properly, help your team to learn and grow, but it will also ensure that each task or project is completed to the best of their ability.
Foster a Sense of Inclusion and Belonging
The truth is that happy employees will perform better.
There are many things that employers can do to increase the happiness of their employees. From providing comprehensive benefits to offering remote work environments, employers are finding new ways to put the experience of their employees first each and every day.
Another effective way to help improve the performance of your employees is by fostering a sense of inclusion and belonging. Not only will employees feel more confident and at ease while at work, but chances are that they will also develop more genuine relationships with coworkers — bringing the sense of belonging to life.
Provide Training and Development Opportunities
After caring for the same responsibilities, performing the same tasks, and doing the same job, day in and day out, chances are that employees may begin to feel that their role has become mundane.
This burnout and repetitiveness can undoubtedly lead to low energy levels, poor focus, and less drive to go above and beyond while at work.
To help keep employees engaged and satisfied while at work, many employers choose to provide additional training and career development opportunities. Not only will employees feel valued and face new and exciting challenges, but your company will also benefit from the latest information available in the industry.
The Best Performance Management Tools and Technologies
There are many ways that an employer can elevate their approach to performance management for a global team. With the use of certain tools, technologies, and service-based platforms, employers can enjoy an advanced approach to increasing the performance of their global team.
Project Management Software
Project management software can help to add, store, and organize information about certain projects, tasks, and clients. Essential information can be added to help keep employees on track, including deadlines, feedback, and assets.
Not only will employees be provided with everything they need to manage and contribute to a project, but employers and superiors alike can monitor progress and provide feedback as needed.
HR Platforms
The right approach to HR can ensure that employees have access to everything that they need. From their contact and job description to the employee handbook, PTO information, and more, your HR platform can make essential information easily obtainable for all employees.
Your HR platform can also simplify the process of celebrating achievements, providing feedback, and more.
Instant Messaging and Video Conferencing Platforms
Having the ability to communicate with colleagues is essential to effective performance management in the modern workplace. At Borderless, we believe that it is crucial for employees to have access to platforms where they can communicate with one another.
Certain platforms are geared toward instant messaging, while others accommodate phone and video calls for meetings. These platforms not only help improve communication and employee morale but also enable them to ask questions, access information, and provide feedback quickly and efficiently.
Developing a Strong Performance Management Strategy
Now that you have helpful information and resources, it's time to put pen to paper and make a real difference in the performance management of your team.
Whether you're looking to establish performance expectations, increase revenue, or invest in employee development, change begins with an elevated approach to employee performance.
1. Goal Setting
By goal setting, you can help to provide your employees with an idea of what is expected of them. Establishing expectations can lead to improved performance, as employees will have something to work toward that is measurable, achievable, and specific.
Employers may want to follow the SMART goals approach during the planning stage. SMART stands for: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound.
Organizational goals, team goals, and individual goals can help to:
- Promote employee growth, with a goal to work toward
- Boost employee engagement, by keeping workers motivated
- Increase employee performance, with praise and celebration
As your employees achieve their goals, it is absolutely imperative that recognition is given. Your team should be celebrated promptly and in a way that will keep them motivated to continue their success.
2. Monitoring Progress
As employees work toward their individual, team, and organizational goals, it's imperative that employers and supervisors alike monitor performance and progress.
This can be done by analyzing business outcomes that they had a direct impact on, along with organizational objectives that they were involved in. Supervisors should be monitoring the progress of each employee on a regular basis while committing to regular check-ins to keep everyone on track and on the same page.
Progress should be documented by superiors and communicated to the employer regularly. This will allow for as-needed support, organizational changes, and prompt employee recognition.
3. Providing Feedback
Helping your employees understand where they have improved, the areas that still require improvement, and how to achieve their goals through constructive feedback can truly make all the difference.
4. Employee Performance Reviews
The last step in your strategy to improve employee performance is conducting a performance review.
An annual performance review should be scheduled for all employees as a best practice. But for employers who are actively combating poor employee performance, conducting more regular reviews may be essential.
Annual reviews can provide employers with the opportunity to give regular feedback and have performance conversations.
Areas of interest that can be addressed include the status of individual and team goals, work and life balance, employee feedback, employee growth, and overall employee satisfaction.
With regular performance reviews, employers will be provided with the opportunity to discuss the employee's job performance and make a plan for prompt improvement and long-term success.
Frequently Asked Questions
For more information about performance management for global teams, take a look at some of the most frequently asked questions and their respective answers.
What is the best performance management system?
With the right performance management system, employers can accurately measure success. Not only can key performance indicators be measured and tracked, but employers can also ensure that work is being completed on time and to the best of each employee's ability.
There are a number of performance management software options available that can help your organization to succeed and employees to thrive, including but not limited to:
- Lattice
- BambooHR
- Culture Amp
- Namely
- PerformYard
- Paylocity
The performance management software that your team utilizes is solely based on your organization as a whole. What works for one team may not work for another, which is why an approach based on research and trial and error can prove to be exceptionally effective.
What are signs that my team needs better performance management?
The signs that your team could benefit from better performance management include:
- Consistently missing deadlines and due dates
- Information is not properly communicated and details are missed
- Employees are frustrated with one another
- Feedback is not being relayed or received properly
- Clients are unhappy with the products or services they are receiving
How can I implement performance management changes with my team?
There are many ways to implement performance management changes with your team, such as:
- Communicating each change to your team and ensuring that they understand it
- Monitoring how employees adapt to each change and offer support
- Ensure that all changes are documented properly and shared with the team
- Encourage feedback from your team and act promptly to correct issues
- Take a “slow and steady” approach to not overwhelm your team with change
- Make employee engagement a top priority to strengthen both focus and drive
What are the best tools and platforms for effective performance management?
Our favorite tools for effective performance management include:
- Slack
- Zoom
- Microsoft Teams
- Microsoft Teams Phone
- ClickUp
- Asana
- Monday
- TeamViewer
While certain tools and platforms can certainly provide your team with an edge, a commitment to continuous performance management process improvements is truly the key to long-term success.
There is no quick fix for a poor approach to performance management. Ot is a comprehensive and collaborative effort that must always be made a top priority.
How do I develop an effective performance management process?
Your approach to long-term performance management is absolutely essential.
For employers looking to develop an effective performance management process, goal setting and identifying challenges is the first step. Once you have a clear idea of your long-term objectives and the factors standing in your way, you will be able to better troubleshoot and plan for a successful performance management process.
Once you have a strategy employers and supervisors alike can work together to implement the changes. These improvements may affect either the organization or employees or both directly.
As you implement new changes and begin to work toward performance management objectives, it's important that as an employer, all changes are communicated to the team. This approach will help keep everyone on the same page, with a better understanding of the high-level goals at hand.
Before you know it, your performance management strategy will not only come to life, but it will provide results and improvement throughout the organization as well.
Our Final Thoughts: Elevating Your Performance Management Process
With the right approach to performance management, you can create a work environment that encourages communication between team members, provides feedback efficiently, and celebrates achievements.
The main points that employers should take away from this article include:
- The importance of setting clear company goals and business objectives
- How to monitor progress and provide consistent feedback
- Employee engagement is crucial and should never be an afterthought
- How to keep both managers and employees on the same page
- Certain tools, technologies, and platforms can be essential to business success
- Establishing a strong performance management process is key to success
Not only will your team enjoy a better overall work experience, but clients will also enjoy the positive improvement in company culture — all due to a strong performance management process.
Better Manage Your Global Team With Borderless
For more information, support, or guidance with managing a global team, contact Borderless today.
We offer a wide range of services and solutions that can help to improve the performance management of your global team, including but not limited to:
- Hire and pay remote employees
- Manage and pay contractors internationally
- Enjoy flexible global benefits, such as localized employee benefits
- Support with visa and immigration requirements worldwide
For more information about our services and solutions, contact us today!
Contact the International Employment Experts at Borderless
With the right approach, you can hire and pay your global team with confidence and ease. Borderless is here to provide you with guidance and support every step of the way.
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Disclaimer
Borderless does not provide legal services or legal advice to anyone. This includes customers, contractors, employees, partners, and the general public. We are not lawyers or paralegals. Please read our full disclaimer here.
