How to Write a Performance Action Plan

1. Pre-assessment - arrange a meeting with the employee and discuss how the process works. Give them examples of other reviews to reduce their anxiety and build more trust. This creates better communications and encourages the person to discuss their goals in a more informal manner. If you overlook this step, the employee may feel ambushed and clam up during the interview.
2. Create the Action Plan - in this document, identify what was discussed, what concerns arose, what comments were made that expressed concern, fears or hopes from the employee. List what actions were agreed upon and what next steps were agreed. If the person was hostile and did not agree, discuss what contingencies were arranged.
3. Employee Goals - while most of the meeting is about goals for the future, you also need to capture what areas they failed in or were less successful. The point is to see where, how and why their performance has suffered and then agree on steps to improve this. This may involve reviewing the person’s job description and seeing which tasks they have done best or worse that other co-workers.
4. Morale - this involves discussing how the person influences the performance on the department, business unit, and company. To do this more thoroughly, see where their performance affects coworkers, subordinates, contractors and customers.
5. Tasks - following this, list the tasks that the employee is given and what performance goals they need to reach within specific timeframes. State which tasks the employee will perform and how you will help them to improve during this period.
6. Dates - to put this in context, assign dates for each goal, where applicable. For example, goals related to productivity can be assigned dates quite easily whereas others may be more difficulty to estimate, for instance, those to do with attitude.
7. Monitoring - remind the employee that you will be monitoring their progress and explain how you will make these assessments.
8. Make it Official - Notify the employee of their expectations, verbally and in writing. If necessary, send them a copy of the Employee Manual and other Policy documents.
9. Feedback - the interview should be a two-way dialogue. Ask them for their opinions. Ask open-ended questions that encourage conversation and help them share information.
10. Signed Copies - At the end of the assessment, ask them to sign the document and give them a copy. You may also want to keep this for the next review session so you can both look over the tasks you agreed on. Send a copy to HR or enter it into the IT system.