They have made the shift from believing that responsibility for a staff member's performance rests solely with the individual to the belief that the leader shares in the responsibility. And these leaders use a performance management process such as the PAR to provide the support their people need to perform their best. The PAR is a collaborative process. Staff member and leader collaborate, for example, on defining expectations for the job, on setting performance goals and objectives, and on how best to address any needs for improvement. And the leader determines final performance ratings only after considering the staff member's self-ratings.
Collaboration is essential to the success of the process, for a number of reasons.
First, it communicates the leader's desire to be supportive, not just judgmental and punitive. Second, it acknowledges that the staff members are frequently the best judges of what support they need. They know their job, they usually know how well they are doing it, and most want to do a good job. Third, staff members are far more committed and motivated to achieving performance goals and objectives that they have been involved in setting. The PAR process clearly identifies what each individual must do to perform at peak levels.