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What is performance improvement?

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Performance improvement is a bedrock business concept. Executives know that as their employees go, so goes the business. If employees decrease performance, the company loses money, and if employees maintain consistent performance, the business stabilizes (or becomes stagnant). But if employees continually improve their performance, then the company adapts to each succeeding challenge, flourishes, and expands.

Performance improvement looks different depending on the industry you are examining. In one industry, employees might improve their productivity by producing more goods while in another, workers might be producing more happy customers, but regardless of the industry, companies strive for performance improvement. Individual employees can improve their performance, as can teams, and when individuals and teams improve their performance, a company�s performance improves along with it.

There is a saying that goes, �The good thing about being mediocre is that you�re always at your best.� That�s exactly the phrase you don�t want posted at your workplace. Managers and executives around the world are constantly trying to motivate, coach, or beg their employees into performance improvement.

In an Accenture survey of more than two hundred executives from around the world, sixty-nine percent rated �Improving worker productivity� as important to their company, yet only six percent were satisfied with their company�s progress in this area. Of five possible choices, improving worker productivity was ranked first in importance and last in satisfaction. This discrepancy is a major concern in many businesses today.

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