PERFORMANCE evaluations in sports are a very important aspect that breeds success. Teams or clubs that have achieved untold success have always reviewed their performances from time to time.
So many times when Zambian teams participate at local or international tournaments and they perform badly, there is little or no talk about carrying out a postmortem on their failures and successes and more importantly, how to make amends.
Some coaches do performance reviews extremely well, others do it poorly and many don’t do it at all. They merely go to sleep and wait for another shot at a tournament where they could participate.
Yet performance reviews, for anyone, are one of the most critical performance enhancing processes to go through.
Carrying out performance reviews provides a look at how and what an athlete is doing compared with earlier reviews of their skill sets, knowledge, initiative and participation in the team’s vision.
In practice, performance reviews reflect whether the team or an athlete is prepared to assume greater responsibility.
If, for example, there are many teams vying for the championship and there should only be one winner, a coach must justify his team choice by pointing out specific examples of outstanding achievement and competition readiness for each player.
Every podium performance elates the sponsors. Whenever a team achieves the best results, sponsors feel they are getting their money’s worth just as much as the teams being sponsored would want to attract more support.
Sponsors also do evaluations to assess whether a club or team deserves an increase in financial or material support based on achievement and accrued trophies on the shelf.
Often when people think of performance reviews, it is considered in the negative and their mind immediately jumps to whether or not they are doing a good enough job, but the reality is that reviews are an opportunity to review and reward what is going well, as well as what can be improved on.
Great coaches are able to congratulate themselves as well as looking for what they can still develop further.
The technical bench of a team or sporting organisation is viewed to be the most critical factor in determining whether that team is going to enjoy sustained success on and off the field.
When it all boils down, most sports associations exist to promote and develop teams to win their competition and provide the community with inspiration and opportunity to participate and enjoy their sport.
Whether it be for participation or winning championships, the success of achieving these outcomes is primarily due to the people involved and especially to vital contributors such as coaches.
With the coaches’ role being so critical, it only makes sense that this ‘resource’ receives all the recognition, reward, continuous development and support to ensure they can be doing their best.
If performance evaluation is done at all, mostly it is only an annual basis, dreaded by all involved. Also, we’ve all seen it when people have misremembered what they thought in the past and often adjusted their recollections to reflect on how things turned out in the end.
For instance, if the team won the grand final, it is easy to overlook other very important aspects of the head coach’s role or vice versa.
Best practice in sports organisations is to have a formal meeting when the coaching assignment begins (or in the pre-season for continuing coaches) to clearly outline or review the coach’s performance measures, expectations and objectives.
This should also be in writing so that at the end of the season, there is a formally conducted performance review, with at least one mid-point ‘check in’ review meeting half-way through this period of time.
In-between, there should also be open communication and constructive feedback opportunities.
For some sports coaches they find out they have not been performing to ‘expectations’ when it is to renew their contract and much to their disappointment, the contract may not even be renewed.
It had been a trend in Zambia’s football in last two years which saw Division One North side Ndola United hire and fire four coaches within a single season.
This is not an effective manner in which to deliver high performance outcomes, especially in sport, where the difference in a fraction of a second means winning or last place.
To a greater extent, evaluating a coach’s performance (and all staff) or that of a team over the course of the season is of critical importance for the following reasons:
Performance reviews enable sports associations and teams in particular to understand their unique training and development needs for their coaches including other members of the technical bench.  This ensures not only the athletes who are being coached are focused on constant improvement.  It is a well-known fact that an athlete’s improvement is linked to the quest for knowledge and growth in their coaches.
Reviews identify how a coach can further improve their skills and abilities.
Conducting reviews also improves the sporting organisation’s overall performance and assists in planning future needs such as succession planning for all concerned. When conducted on a seasonal or annual basis, reviews enable the management to monitor codes of conduct, standards of agreed performance, expectations, objectives and the effective delegation of responsibilities and tasks.
A performance review serves to help the coach understand where they have met the required performance parameters set by their employer, the sporting club or organization.  It avoids ambiguity, misunderstanding, ‘unsubstantiated opinions’ and provides clarity and openness within a strong performance culture
To ensure the success and achievement of the team, both on and off the ‘field’, the coach must be recognised and rewarded. Performance reviews play a key role in terms of how the process can aide in team’s motivation, attitude and behavior development.
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