As a CIO or department head it is important to establish a uniform practice of performance evaluation and tie staff compensation directly to performance. Many firms struggle with this task. Many IT shops fail at it. Staff management is the one area where there is no how to book. Instead, it is mostly trial and error-mostly error.

Staff performance should be evaluated in various categories that align with your company’s vision and goals. Depending on the needs of the business one or more categories may be focused on for improvement.

For example, for my staff I used 3 KPI each with a weighted percentage:
1. Leadership/Professional Development=30%
2. Financial Performance=10%
3. Core areas=60%

Leadership/Professional Development
Overall leadership /professional development skills demonstrated for employees will be measured in the following key areas:

1. Critical Thinking/ Problem Solving
2.  Teamwork
3.  Driving Results
4.  Communication
5.  Personal Development

Examples of leadership and management skills that may be demonstrated are provided below. The lists below are examples to be used in employee’s individual annual goals. Not all examples under each core area must be included.

1. Critical Thinking/ Problem Solving
   • Carriers out systematic and rational analysis to identify the root cause of problems
   • Provides feedback, input and support to the other parts of the organization for overall organizational improvement
   • Assists in the development of policies and procedures
   • Understands contract drawings and specifications & the impact on field work
   • Seeks continuous improvement by considering solutions that make novel use of existing ideas, approaches, technologies or products
   • Carries out systematic and rational solutions to complete the task required
2. Teamwork
   • Works to coordinate efforts/resources within and across teams to deliver on goals
   • Recognizes the importance of teamwork to achieve objectives; brings in ideas, information, suggestions and expertise from others outside the immediate team.
   • Builds strong team relationships within and across teams.
   • Proactively supports colleagues and collaborates with them to help achieve targets.
   • Involves the right people (colleagues, vendors) to ensure the best decisions are made in a timely manner
3. Driving Results
   • Takes personal accountability for achieving individual and shared goals.
   • Works to plan well in advance and initiates action to move projects forward.
   • Manages time effectively, monitoring performance against deadlines and milestones.
   • Knows when to escalate decisions and when to make on-the-spot decisions
4. Communication
   • Communicates openly and confidently.
   • Influences, and convinces others in a way that results in acceptance and agreement.
   • Shapes conversations to ensure focus and understanding.
   • Speaks frankly, debates at the table, not afterwards; engages in constructive confrontation.
   • Is a supportive listener.
   • Ability to clearly communicate when appropriate.
5. Personal Development
   • Ensure development plans are completed
   • Actively participates in midyear and annual performance reviews with supervisor in a timely manner
   • Identifies development needs and take advantage of the training made available.
   • Provide the necessary resources and support for the training efforts.
   • Participate in industry/core area based events and organizations to gain knowledge and expand the company brand
   • Engage in ongoing development, support and refinement of the mentoring program

In each of the above area, performance will be evaluated against the goals using the performance metrics agreed to at the beginning of the review period. The Professional Development / Leadership Index will be the sum of weighted scores in each of the above areas.

Financial Performance
Overall financial performance on the assigned projects will be measured by the follow Cost Management. Effective cost management is critical in understanding cost drivers and keeping them low to maximize the profitability on the projects. Besides good knowledge of the project, effective cost management practices require our project team to know what the individual cost items’ control budgets are, as well as actual cost incurred and projected cost to complete.

Core areas:
1. System Infrastructure
2. Application Management
3. Support / Helpdesk
4. Compliance & Controls

In addition, each position will be evaluated specific core functional areas. These core areas will be included as part of the goals for each employee.