The #1 Way to Improve Employee Performance

Coaching. Coaching should happen immediately after an event or task when it comes to performance evaluation, and then weekly or biweekly during ongoing tasks. This eliminates recall bias. The rater, or in this case, coach, only has to remember the events in the near past. The focus of coaching should be on the future and not an evaluation of the past. The strengths of the employee should be at the forefront of the coaching. An effective coach can find five things that work, five strengths to be celebrated and further developed. For every five strengths, the coach should choose one “high priority interrupt” (Buckingham, 2019). A high priority interrupt is the single most important obstacle to performance that the employee should address.

Reference
Buckingham, M., & Goodall, A. (2019). Nine lies about work: A freethinking leaders guide to the real world. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press.