Performance management is described as collaborative, communication-based, performance-based, and collaborative. It involves employees and management working together to assess and set short-term and long-term goals and career paths, and to evaluate their performance. Performance management has three main goals - to promote employee development, improve employee safety and effectiveness, and reduce the risk of legal action taken against the employer. For any of these three goals to be achieved, performance management must be well-designed, implemented and monitored.

The first step in the performance management process involves the creation of a job description or vision for an individual employee. This often occurs during an on-going training program and may be done internally at the organization or through a performance management process such as the creation of a performance management system or coaching tool. These job descriptions provide the basis for measuring employee performance, providing feedback to leaders and managers to enable them to understand how each individual performs and what their expectations are.

It can be time-consuming to create a job description. There may also be many versions. It is important to develop the most appropriate vision and then to determine how to measure and evaluate this vision. Once the job description has been developed, it is important to solicit feedback from employees to understand their thoughts on what the job description means and whether the vision is reasonable. If a good number of employees support the vision, the performance management process can move forward with the next phase.

After the manager has posted the job description online, it is time to review the performance of those in charge of every department and division. Many companies use performance management software to track performance, and employee performance management (EQM) software is used internally as well. Through the use of these tools, managers and leaders can see which employees are meeting goals and which are not.

When it comes time to evaluate the performance of the manager team, this feedback is a great second opinion. Performance management also involves assessing the performance of managers, who are responsible for supervising employees every day. Surveys can be helpful here because they give both managers and supervisors an opportunity to see what is working and to see what departments and individuals are falling short of expectations. When managers don't know what to do to increase performance, surveys can prove to be a useful tool. However, there may be times when a manager needs to make an immediate snap decision about an employee based on incorrect, incomplete or biased information.

The third stage in the performance management process occurs once all of the evaluations and reviews have been conducted. The planning stage focuses on the identification of goals. The goals are clearly written so everyone can understand what the company is trying achieve. The primary objective here is to achieve certain goals. Managers can start to create plans that will improve the performance of their team during this phase.

These plans will be reviewed and approved by the person or department responsible. Once all objectives are approved and reviewed, the plans become part of performance management. After all objectives are reviewed and approved, the employees will be told how they can achieve them. They also learn when they should review and adjust their plans.

Once all the objectives and plans have been met, the fourth stage in the performance management process is completed. It is vital part of the whole process as it informs managers when each employee has reached the required performance level. It also gives employees an idea of how much support they will need within their own organization to reach those goals. Employees can be more comfortable with their supervisors if they know that their goals and plans will be met.