Adrian Petrisor

Is Higher Education Ready for ‘The Education Bubble?’ The bubble is financial: tuitions rising significantly each year despite economic conditions and students taking on student loan debt they then cannot pay off. It is practical: the degree no longer guaranteeing a job and a majority of employers saying that college graduates lack the skills for todays marketplace. It is cultural: college professors in four-year colleges traditionally educating for life, not for a specific job even though todays college students need job-related education. It is economic: the nature of work in a knowledge economy requiring skills unlike those of graduates of just 15 years ago. It is institutional: a professoriate confronted with so many changes and demands with insufficient background or support to make changes beyond their ken or abilities.

((post transferred from the Management Forum wiki))

It’s that time of the year again: all Libraries’ supervisors are writing the annual performance evaluations for their staff direct reports. And it’s also a good time to remember that a performance evaluation/appraisal is just one part of an ongoing performance management. An effective performance management includes setting individual goals that are aligned with those of the whole department of unit, working together with your directs to create individual development plans, tracking their performance results, coaching for improved performance, rewarding and recognizing good performance, providing the training needed to perform successfully, and motivating all staff to perform at their very best.

The article The Art (and Basics) of Performance Management shows why performance management is important, and how to set SMART objectives. Creating Development Plans that Actually Work gives you some good ideas on producing solid development plans. And here’s a very basic but effective coaching model: How to Coach

An effective performance management process will maximize your staff engagement and performance, while also increasing the effectiveness of the managers and supervisors that are using it.