Depending on the job, there are different skills and core competencies that are going to be required for the employee to be considered successful. However, there are some areas where all of your employees should be excelling no matter what position they hold.
Performance reviews are a vitally important tool that all companies should be using. Today I am going to talk to you about some employee competencies that I believe should be evaluated within every organization, for every position.
It is difficult to generalize skills and qualities that are equally important across all fields and levels. For example, communication is extremely important for both lawyers and paralegals. But lawyers are going to require a higher level of communication skills than a paralegal. Another example is that skills that are imperative for someone to be a successful electrician are not going to be the same skills required of a marketing associate.
While there are many job-specific competencies that you should be evaluating when reviewing the performance of your employees, there are a couple that I think are important to any and every field and position.
- Work Ethic
- Quality of Work
Let’s start by talking about work ethic.
Work Ethic means the employee demonstrates personal integrity by operating in an accountable, reliable, and respectful manner. Someone with a great work ethic will demonstrate a sense of responsibility, meaning the employee feels personally responsible for their job performance. They show up on time, put in their best effort, and complete projects to the best of their ability. This requires a sense of discipline, which helps them stay focused on their goals and finish assignments on time. They are dedicated to the company and display a sense of teamwork.
On the flip side, someone with a poor work ethic will not feel personally invested in their job and projects. They will have difficulty remaining focused and don’t believe that problems that arise are their responsibility.
Now, let’s discuss quality of work.
Quality of Work means your employees are producing work that demonstrates the appropriate level of accuracy, completeness, and reliability. Some employees will try and skate by with just doing the bare minimum. This keeps their job intact and it’s hard to penalize them for meeting the minimum requirements, but when your employees go above and beyond, it proves they care about the quality of their work. They do their best to produce great work, not merely churn out what is needed. Their commitment to quality is obvious, and affects the quality of the company overall.
Like I said earlier, it is difficult to generalize skills and qualities that are equally important across all fields and levels. However, having a strong work ethic and being devoted to the quality of work are two employee competencies that all of your team should possess—no matter what level or position they are in. In the end, this will be a major payoff for your organization.
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