Every team leader or line manager wants to get the best out of the people they manage. Individuals need to be developed, motivated and nurtured; this is why managing people’s performance is a key part of skills training across every business sector.

RPfT has now delivered hundreds of performance management programmes since we started over 30 years ago. New performance management trends and systems emerge every year and we keep up with them. The days of sitting down with your manager annually for a box ticking exercise are long gone. To quote Michael Armstrong’s book, “Handbook of Performance Management”; “Performance management is the continuous process of improving performance by setting individual and team goals which are aligned to the strategic goals of the organisation, planning performance to achieve the goals, reviewing and assessing progress, and developing the knowledge, skills and abilities of people.” The key word in his quote is ‘continuous’. Good performance management is an on-going conversation with an individual, alongside more formal meetings an organisation may require managers to arrange at regular intervals.

We work with organisations in all industry sectors to help managers, at all levels, to help them have the most effective performance management conversations. To do this we use one to one skills practice with an actor/facilitator and the participant. This can be an especially useful tool if a new performance management system is being introduced, or if a new culture of performance management is being instigated. For instance, many clients in recent years increasingly want managers to have a  more coaching based approach to performance management conversations, rather than simply setting goals and targets. Our actors are highly experienced in facilitating such sessions. Participants benefit greatly from having ‘real life practice’ at getting across what can sometimes be difficult messages, in a safe environment.