The biggest problem in performance management, for most companies, is focusing on the work. Many managers focus on personality characteristics or communication breakdowns thinking if someone has the right information and the right personality, performance management is a no brainer. What is missing is an understanding of the work. What is the work?

Work is not completing a task. Work is the decision making and problem solving related to the task. The most important conversation between every manager and team member is, “In completing this task, what decisions do you have to make and what problems do you have to solve?”

And, there is appropriate decision making and appropriate problem solving at every level of work.