Create a Performance Improvement Plan

Lesson Content

• Lesson Plan Template:

  CTE Lesson Plan

• CTE Course Info and Benchmark Notes

  
  

  Course Information:

  Course Name: Digital Information Technology

  Program Name: Business Management & Administration

  Course Number: 8207310

  Course Type: Secondary – Career Preparatory

  CIP Number: 0552070110

  ** Note: This also aligns with Management and Human Resources (8301110) – Standard 45.0**

  CTE Benchmarks:

  9.01

  Analyze personal skills and aptitudes in comparison with various business-related job and career options. (i.e., hard and soft skills)

  10.01

  Demonstrate awareness of the following workplace essentials: quality customer service; business ethics; confidentiality of information; copyright violations; accepted workplace rules, regulations, policies, procedures, processes, and workplace safety, and appropriate attire and grooming.

  10.04

  Demonstrate personal and interpersonal skills appropriate for the workplace (e.g., responsibility, dependability, punctuality, integrity, positive attitude, initiative, respect for self and others, and professional dress).

  Other integration:

  For course 8301110:

  45.05 Investigate effective discipline policies based on organizational code of conduct and ethics. Consider disparate impact. Include review of workplace behavior issues, such as absenteeism and performance improvement.

• Unit Outline

  
  

  This lesson is designed to be used with the case study, “Tough Talk at Work.” See CPALMS resource ID# 207926.

• Career Connection

  
  

  In this lesson, students will discuss important components of a manager’s job. They’ll practice how to work with employees to create performance improvement plans based on employee evaluation data.

• Learning Objectives

  
  

  Students will be able to:

  • Analyze employee evaluation data.
  • Plan a professional conversation in a workplace setting.
  • Create a performance improvement plan.
  • Demonstrate how to discuss work performance, expectations, and goals with employees.

• Prior Knowledge

  
  

  Students should be familiar with/able to:

  • Collaborate with a partner.
  • Analyze tables and infer what the employer should do next.
  • Employee evaluations and how they’re used.
  • Performance improvement plans and how they’re used.

• Guiding Questions

  
  
  • How can managers work with employees to create performance improvement plans based on employee evaluation data?
  • How could an employee's behavior affect a retail store's performance?

• Procedure

  
  
  1. To introduce the lesson, tell students they’re going to discuss and practice two important management tasks: analyzing employee evaluation data and creating performance improvement plans (PIP).
     • Have students read case study 207926 "Tough Talk at Work.” Pay special attention to the employee evaluation table on page 2.
     • Share the outcome of case study 207926 "Tough Talk at Work,” focusing on where Mark and Amy set goals to improve performance.
     • Discussion questions can include:
       • Guiding Questions:
         • How can managers work with employees to create performance improvement plans based on employee evaluation data?
         • How could an employee's behavior affect a retail store's performance?
     • What is a performance improvement plan (PIP)?
     • When are PIPs used?
     • Why is it important for managers to have the associate involved when creating PIPs?
  2. Set the purpose of the lesson and have students recap the scenario in the case study, Tough Talk at Work, CPALMS Resource ID # 207926.
     • Explain that a PIP should be created when the manager is committed to helping the employee improve. It’s used to help employees who are not meeting job performance goals or expectations.
     • Have a brief discussion regarding the confidentiality of performance evaluations and subsequent performance improvement plans. Students should understand this is an important part of a manager’s job and a manager should not share the performance evaluation or performance improvement plan with other associates.
     • Discuss with students how to use Performance Improvement Plan Template (attached to this resource).
       • Students will fill out 3 previous observations.
       • For step 1, they’ll create 3 improvement goals that can be tracked and quantified.
       • For step 2, they’ll fill out the table with 2 actions for each of the 3 goals, to help the employee reach the goals.
       • For step 3, they’ll write 3 expectations. These are different than goals because expectations are performance standards to demonstrate progress toward achieving each goal.
     • Have students partner up and create a performance improvement plan, using the performance improvement plan template and based on the table of Amy’s employee evaluation.
     • Conduct a brainstorm session where student pairs share with the class the performance improvement plan steps they discussed. Record their ideas for the class to see (see teacher’s notes section).
       • While student responses may vary, ensure that students have demonstrated an awareness of some specific workplace, personal and interpersonal skills such as ethics, workplace attire, dependability and responsibility.
  3. To bring the lesson to a close, ask students to create an exit ticket with 3 details from the employee evaluation table that they used in their improvement plan, 2 shared ideas that they like, and 1 question they still have.

• Teacher Notes

  
  
  • To record the brainstorm session, a white board or chart paper can be used instead of technology.

• Optional

  
  

  Formative Assessment Ideas:

  • Have students write a short answer response summarizing:
    1. Why it’s important for managers to include the associate when creating performance improvement plans.
    2. How to create a performance improvement plan.

  Extension Ideas:

  • Have students create another performance improvement plan with different metrics, goals, and action steps than in the example completed in class.