Supervisor Introduction
This guide has been created to support you – a manager or supervisor - through the State of Wyoming’s Employee Performance and Development System (EPDS).
If your organization is introducing EPDS for the first time, it is important that you understand the thinking behind the process, as well as each of the steps involved.
Employee
performance and development often has limited success within
organizations for a variety of reasons; many of which are based on
common misunderstandings:
| Fiction | Fact |
|
Switching from the old appraisal system to the EPDS will negatively impact on the morale of my team. |
Research indicates that employees perform better and are more engaged with their work when they clearly understand how their work supports the organization’s goals. |
| The EPDS is all about disciplining employees for what they are not doing right. | The EPDS encompasses the full spectrum of employee performance from recognition to aligned goals and development to corrective actions. While this process can identify performance deficits, it is not a disciplinary process. |
| The EPDS is a labor intensive process and I don’t have the time. | Although it may initially take time to make sure employees understand how their jobs relate to organizational performance measures and success, to set and review meaningful work goals and connect appropriate developmental opportunities, the clarity that this process requires leads to greater employee engagement, higher productivity and lower turnover rates. |
 |
|
| The EPDS is an optional activity. | As a supervisor/manager, it is your responsibility to manage the performance of your employees’ direct goals and objectives to achieve section, division, agency, and State goals as a whole. |
| The EPDS requires me to judge between my staff, which places me in an awkward position. | Employees are not judged against each other, but are individually evaluated against their individual work goals and the critical skill sets (competencies) chosen for acceptable performance and appropriate development. |
The primary purposes of the Employee Performance and Development System is:
-
to ensure that all employees of the State of Wyoming are given the direction and support required to excel within their jobs;
-
to align employee results with broader organizational goals and objectives; and
-
to provide the supervisor/manager with the information required to make informed management decisions (i.e.: succession planning, knowledge transfer and career development opportunities)
A set of common tools and support have been created to help you facilitate the EPDS process. However, the overall effectiveness and usefulness of the EPDS within your division/section/unit etc. is based largely on:
-
the quality and frequency of open, transparent and respectful conversations that you have with your employees;
-
dialogue with staff about performance-related goals and development on a regular basis; and
-
you paying equal attention to outstanding, satisfactory and poor performance.
Recognize the opportunity and value of reinforcing positive performance and behaviors as one of the most effective means of ensuring continued positive performance in the workplace. Effective supervisors and managers within the EPDS process identify and address poor performance using assessment of goals and objectives before it becomes a major workplace issue.