We believe that the development of individuals within a team is the most valuable impact the University can have. Increasing overall performance and delivery whilst also increasing engagement and aiding retention. The process is designed to help managers facilitate meaningful conversations surrounding developmental areas, rather than addressing under-performance. For further support, please see links below: 

• supporting colleagues' wellbeing Learn and discover | Staff wellbeing | StaffNet | The University of Manchester and Staff wellbeing | StaffNet | The University of Manchester
• supporting performance gaps Supporting performance | Directorate of People and Organisational Development | StaffNet | The University of Manchester. When addressing performance concerns, Personal Improvement Plans (PIPs) should be used instead of PDRs so that additional targeted support measures and clear short-term goals focus will support a more efficient developmental timeline.

Under the above two links, our Capability Policy brings together PDR and Personal Improvement Plans in the following way: 

• day-to-day performance management or minor performance concerns will be dealt with at regular 121s and in informal discussions.  Where performance issues persist, a Personal Improvement Plan (PIP) will be agreed which will include:
• details of responsibilities, required standards and objectives;
• action to be taken by the member of staff to attain them and any required timescales;
• action to be taken by the manager to support the member of staff;
• any necessary training and development requirements;
• a reasonable timescale and process for review.

If the informal route doesn’t result in improved performance, then a more formal route will be taken. Please refer to the (Capability Policy and Procedure (The University of Manchester) for the formal process.   

A continuous improvement approach to PDR will enable flexibility based on need and will help focus on career development.  As an ongoing dialogue PDR conversations should focus on aspirations, the organisation approach, ownership and support.  This should continue in ongoing meetings, with time for coaching and feedback, reviewing development opportunities, not just tasks.

As a starting point for, colleagues are encouraged to review and set their goals focusing on their career development, (see: Career development | Learning and Organisational Development | StaffNet | The University of Manchester) and aligning this to the University’s strategic goals and team goals, (see: Our future: vision and strategic plan | The University of Manchester), including Wellbeing, Equality, diversity and inclusion and our environment.

More specific information on setting goals can be found here: Creating your Personal Development Plan 

In moving from the PDR document management process from 2020, the colleague (‘reviewee’) and manager (‘reviewer’) can review and reflect on the past records as a basis for the conversation. They can capture the discussion on the suggested templates (Academic & Research templates / Technical and PS Templates) or record their discussion as per regular 1:1 meetings.

Whilst there are broad timescales for PDRs, there is no single fixed time frame for completing a review. Due to the wide range of job roles and start/finish times of many funded programmes of work (e.g. funded research programmes), there is freedom and flexibility for managers to choose when is best to conduct a PDR throughout the year. For another example, if you are an academic and wish to complete these in a period where regular teaching commitments fall away (April-July). There is further ability to pick and choose the frequency of the process that suits you and your team and given this is a hugely beneficial component of the performance management process, we recommend a minimum of once per year.

Participation tracking is in development (through MyView) so additional support can be provided if there are instances where this is not happening. During the conversations, the templates (Academic & Research templates / Technical and PS Templates) in this guidance can be used to help facilitate the conversation. For non-desk based staff, paper copies can used, with the summary of the conversation retained in any way that is appropriate. It needs to be in a format that can be revisited multiple times a year and remain a live document. Development and performance goals are agreed with the conversation summarised and documented as an aide-mémoire, retained by the manager and team member locally.

Reviewee

The reviewee is the person whose career development goals are the focus of the PDR conversations, and these can be supported and reviewed. Irrespective of one’s role in the organisation, we are all reviewees and have our own PDR conversations. There is, therefore, a key responsibility on each of us to prepare well for these conversations and to consider what are our goals, what support is needed to achieve these, and can we benefit from any change. The most important aspect is that these conversations are ongoing.
As reviewees we should reflect on these PDR conversations, and review progress against our career development goals and how far they have been met and what further support is needed to perform at our best. Central to the conversation is your future development.

Reviewer

The primary role of the reviewer is to set up and conduct the PDR meeting in a way that enables reviewer and reviewee to get to the core issues relating to the reviewee’s career development. This will be achieved by:

• preparing thoroughly,
• setting expectations of the reviewee in advance - such as the purpose of the conversation, what to prepare in advance
• ensure a record of the discussion is captured
• ensure time, duration and location is set for the review meeting, in a comfortable and environment with no distractions
• if there are any other requirements (such as, safety training) which may have changed since the previous review, these can be discussed here and new objectives set.

One of the most important roles of a manager is to support your team to develop the skills, capabilities and behaviours needed for their professional development and to excel in their roles and contribute to the University's performance. Information about supporting your team members’ professional development can be found here:‘Developing your People’.

The reviewer needs to add an appropriate level of challenge to the reviewee, to ensure both parties have as objective a view as possible of the things that are going to be worked on in the future, and how.

Role expectations:

Some roles in the organisation may have a job expectations document that outlines the expected tasks and Service Level Agreements for that role. If not, then managers should refer to the job descriptions for the role to clearly guide expectations about the day-to-day task in role. This needs to be clearly articulated and regularly reviewed as the day-to-day needs of the role change.