4.2 Performance expectations
After you’ve identified the roles of individuals in a project, it’s important to develop a clear and shared understanding of the outputs and of the interactions and accountabilities attached to each task. You should assign people and other resources to undertake the tasks listed in the project plan (see Module 1). The plan should also indicate the time by which work needs to be completed, and list the other people who are affected by meeting these timelines.
Good organisations have a formal process to ensure that supervisors and staff have a written record of structured conversations to cover these points. As a result, you and your team members are more likely to have a common understanding of the targets you are aiming for and a baseline from which to review progress.
Many supervisors are concerned about how to have a conversation with staff about the latter’s performance goals and their progress in achieving those goals. The supervisor may not be aware that it is their responsibility to ensure that their team is making the best use of its time and resources; it is not true that the supervisor doesn’t have the right to provide direction, even if the other colleague is a noted researcher. However, being the leader means ensuring that there are shared understandings of the outcomes and levels of performance expected from the research team. The development of those descriptors should be created collaboratively. If performance indicators are made as explicit as possible then shortfalls, or results that exceed expectations, will be plainly evident and they won’t simply be personal opinions.
Good performance objectives (as with project objectives) are:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Relevant
- Timebound.
For instance, if the communication of a piece of research work is the goal, then an indicator of success could be: paper on (research topic) prepared for publication in the Journal of xxxx by September 20xx.
Modules 