In a weak economy, companies need to maintain their competitive advantage by ensuring strong performance management. Performance management practices ensure that companies (as well as departments within companies or even individual employees within a given company) are efficiently meeting their goals. The most basic idea is to set goals and then assess how well those goals are being met, on an individual level or on an organizational level. Such business practices can lead to increased employee motivation, increased profits, and much more. In order to most effectively improve organizational effectiveness, managers should be trained in challenging the status quo in their own jobs, as well as encouraging their employees to do the same.

In order to ensure that your company is taking this important step to adapt to today’s economy, you may wish to build a performance management library with useful tools and resources to encourage positive change and growth.

A recent article in the Harvard Business Review Blog entitled “The Power of Small Wins in Times of Panic” warns against focusing only on the numbers during economic crises. Instead, Teresa Amabile and Steve Kramer encourage strong businesses to focus on employee growth and development:

The current crisis is a wake-up call. Leaders, realizing that business as usual just won’t cut it, may get motivated to radically rethink their approach to managing people. Organizations need employees to be as productive and creative as possible. The solution doesn’t require a massive new program.

Instead of involving huge, expensive programs, Kramer and Amabile argue that a simple new approach to management is the key to business success. If managers can support and motivate their employees while challenging the status quo, then they will certainly benefit the bottom line of their organization in the long run. Building a strong performance management library can assist in this goal.

Some managers may prefer to download a free e-book. Others will purchase books from Amazon.com or other online booksellers to inspire their managers. But perhaps the most effective technique is to invest in performance management training courses that will get both managers and employees actively engaged with essential principles of performance management, such as challenging the status quo, supporting initiative, and working successfully in a changing environment.

Building such a library of courses and materials is well worth the investment in growing your human capital.

How does your performance management library stack up?