The 5 Traps of Personal Performance Management

August 12, 2008 by Ed Adkins

Performance management is a problem. More specifically, how most people approach their own performance management is riddled with pitfalls. This is evident with the torrent of self-help and self-management books that have gained popularity, the increased talk of inbox management and especially in the colossal failure of the once heralded term, “multi-tasking.” Everything points to a lack of ability to effectively manage ourselves.

So, why do so many people try so hard to manage themselves and still fall short? Most people want to perform. They want to accomplish great things, but never seem to catch up on everything they are given to do in the course of a day. How many times have you said to yourself, “it’s five o’clock and my to-do list is bigger than it was when I got here at eight?”

For most of us, it’s a matter of overhauling our personal performance management systems, and finding a way to avoid the following five traps that so often trip us up:

Failure to see the big picture

Your performance management system should have a reason behind it. If you’re reading this, chances are that your current system, if you have one, isn’t working to some degree, and this is the most common reason. Instead of just jumping into your mountain of tasks, stop first and ask yourself”why am I doing all of these things?”

There must be a reason why you work. The answer for you may be your children, or your career goals, or because you want a better standard of living. Whatever the reason for your work, you need to keep your eye on it or else eventually you’ll lose motivation. Big-picture thinking allows you to create a plan inside which you can structure a performance management system.

Setting inadequate goals

Do you believe that there’s a right way and a wrong way to give yourself tasks? A great goal, or a SMART one, is specific, measurable, attainable, has assigned responsibility and has a due date. Failure to concretely lay out when you’ve reached the goal can cause it to stretch on forever, just like failing to set a measurement ensures you’ll never know when it’s done. The cliché that says when you aim at nothing you hit it every time is wrong- plenty of people get a few things done without SMART goals, but you’ll never tackle your mountain of work that way.

Using your head- rather than a trusted system

Depending on your memory to manage your tasks will lead to missed deadlines and frustrated bosses. Why? Because we’re not designed to work that way. Our brains get cluttered with all of our uncompleted tasks while trying to also focus on the tasks at hand, eventually mixing all of them up. The answer, according to Productivity Guru David Allen, author of Getting Things Done, is a system you can enter all of these tasks into. “Get everything out of your head,” Says Allen, “Make decisions about actions required on stuff when it shows up — not when it blows up.”

Crucial to being able to get things out of your head as tasks and make decisions on how to approach them is having a system in place that you trust. Whether it’s a notepad filled with lists or a performance management software application, find something you trust and rely on it.

Going at it alone

Accountability is a powerful thing, but it doesn’t always have to come from our boss- in fact, it shouldn’t. If you’re having trouble getting things done in a timely fashion stop and think, “who holds me accountable and how often?” Bosses are great to have around, but they shouldn’t have to track you down and ask you what you’re up to all of the time. Letting your peers know what you’re working on can be a much better incentive to accomplishing your tasks.

Friends, family and co-workers who know the goals you have set for yourself have a greater chance to inspire you- even without them knowing it. Sometimes, just knowing that you’ve broadcast your goals and action items to others is enough accountability to motivate you.

Forgetting to take care of yourself

As a recent study has shown, even the strongest, most resilient people have a limited amount of will-power. If your will-power gauge isn’t monitored, you can actually run out of personal-motivation gas. Know when you need to take an occasional break, and you’ll find that getting things done over a longer period will become easier.

In addition, know how and when to celebrate your victories. Rewarding yourself, even in small ways, can keep you internally motivated. Whether it’s a 15 minute break, a treat or a vacation in the Bahamas, some of us need rewards to train ourselves much like Pavlov’s dogs.

Internal Advertising:

For more information on performance management, you can check out some of our other articles, or try a free trial of MyStrategicPlan, our online web application that helps your employees avoid the PPM Pitfalls by:

• Creating a big-picture plan
• Setting SMART goals
• Keeping track of tasks in a trusted system, and
• Keeping everyone informed on the status of goals and tasks

CC Photo Attributions:

• San Francisco from Air 3 by BrockyVicky
• Fail Georges by Mr. dale
• Hipster PDA 0 by Andy Ciordia
• Alone on His Path by Rantes
• coconut jewel cupcakes 1 from Chotda

You may also be interested in:

• Do Your Employees Trust Your Performance Management Process?
• How to Get the Most of Performance Management Software
• B-EYE Covers The Best & Worst Performance Management Trends From 2007

Topics in this post: Execution, Implementation, Leadership, Performance Management, performance management system |