Professional Development Plans vs Performance Improvement Plans (PIP)…heard of them? Often staff or team members are put on performance improvement plans when they have failed to perform in one way or another. Quite often I see this come into play more because someone has become non-compliant in their role and the leader or manager needs a way to document the behavior and reset expectations. Typically this is a last resort process. Either they follow the steps specifically outlined in the PIP or they will be terminated.
Here’s the good part about PIPs. They actually tend to work. The employee either follows it and results are produced or they are terminated. All good scenarios in terms of improving the overall team performance.
Here’s the bad part about PIP’s. Mangers tend to wait until performance has fallen below acceptable standards before the PIP is implemented. This typically doesn’t happen overnight. Which means it’s been a process of watching a declining performance over the course of weeks or months.
If the process works why wait until performance drops?
Here’s a better idea. Set up your team members with Professional Development Plans. It’s like a Performance Improvement Plan but instead of waiting until there’s a problem we start by setting the expectations clearly from the beginning (or at any time before there is an issue) and prevent an issue from occurring in the first place.
Benefits…you get better performance, longer, with more consistency and will identify problem areas quicker. You’ll also be reinforcing a growth and learning mindset which will enhance your overall team performance greatly over time.
So, your challenge for this month is to start implementing professional development plans with your team members. Pick one and set it up.
If you need some coaching around this process and how to create a successful Professional Development Plan for your team, let me know, I’d be happy to coach you through the process.
~Coach Troy