Diagnosing and managing staff performance
Nick Steele BSc
Diagnosing the performance of your staff is a key factor in a successful business
Nick Steele BSc National Consulting Manager Zoetis UK Ltd talked about diagnosis and managing staff performance in the Business Theatre at the London Vet Show this morning.
Diagnosing the performance of your staff is a key factor in a successful business. Nick Steele outlined the key factors to consider when diagnosing the performance of practice staff.
The two basic areas to consider are observable behaviour and competency. He pointed out that although you can assess performance by results (ie. output), diagnosing by behaviour (ie. input) is just as important.
Behaviour can be a difficult area to measure, particularly because of our own perceptions - the 'horn or halo' effect
Observable behaviour is behaviour that is observed by the manager on more than one occasion. It must be consistently demonstrated and competency based (i.e. compared to the behaviour that has been set as a standard by the practice).
Competency is most easily assessed using the four-step competency ladder:
Step 1 - staff are unconsciously incompetent - they are not aware of what skills or knowledge they lack
Step 2 - staff are consciously incompetent - they are now aware of what they do not know
Step 3 - staff are consciously competent - they are aware of their skills and knowledge
Step 4- staff are unconsciously competent - they simply do the job using their experience.
It is important that those staff at step four are constantly challenged so that they do not become stale and fail to develop further. Managers need to understand the relationship between skill and will, which once identified can be used in staff motivation.
The 'skill versus will' matrix identifies those staff who have high skills and high wills - these are the staff most important to your business. Those staff with high wills and low skills are also important, as their skills can be developed. However, staff with high skills but low wills, and those with low skills and wills, are those members of the practice who need further diagnosis. These are the staff who may not be staying with the practice much longer if their motivation levels cannot be improved.
We can give our staff skills and knowledge, but their attitude can be much more of a problem. If ultimately attitude and behaviour cannot be altered to fit in with the requirement of the practice, it has to be time to go for that member of staff.
Diagnosing and managing staff performance is time consuming but necessary, and by following some simple rules can have a dramatic impact of the effectiveness of the practice.
RCVS Knowledge has welcomed Professor Peter Cockcroft as editor-in-chief for Veterinary Evidence. 
