Part 2 of 3: The Clerk as Employee & HR Advisor Series

Welcome back to our three-part series on navigating your dual role as both employee and HR advisor. In Part 1, we covered the essential HR policies every council must have. Today, we're diving into one of the most challenging aspects of HR management for clerks: performance management.

One of our most common inquiries at Council HR and Governance Support involves clerks who haven't properly performance-managed their staff members. This creates severe problems that often end up in tribunal claims. More concerning still, research and experience show that clerks are generally particularly bad at performance management.

Let me share why this matters, what effective performance management looks like, and how to avoid the costly mistakes that derail councils.

Understanding Performance Management: The CIPD Definition

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development defines performance management as a system designed to:

• "Establish objectives through which individuals and teams can see their part in the organisation's mission and strategy"
• "Improve performance among employees, teams and ultimately, organisations"
• "Hold people to account for their performance by linking it to reward, career progression and termination of contracts"

This definition highlights why performance management is essential for any well-functioning organisation—and why it's essential that your council has a clear strategy to align employee performance around your adopted strategic plan.

Why Clerks Struggle with Performance Management

Through my years of experience, I've identified the main reasons clerks avoid or poorly execute performance management:

Common Excuses

• "Too busy to do it!" - Often the first excuse given
• Lack of confidence - Sometimes clerks simply don't know how to conduct effective performance management
• Fear of being appraised - Sometimes clerks are fearful of their own appraisal process and avoid putting systems in place

The False Economy

Not doing performance management is a false economy. When done well, performance management improves the overall operation, effectiveness and efficiency of the council, plus employee job satisfaction, performance and psychological contract.

The Real Cost of Avoidance

When clerks don't properly manage performance, several problems emerge:

• Delayed action becomes more difficult to address legally
• Lack of documentation means starting from scratch regardless of how long problems have existed
• Corrosive effects damage the entire organisation
• Tribunal difficulties arise when you finally need to take action

I've seen cases where poor behaviour has been going on for 12 months, but because there were no logs, contemporaneous notes, emails, or warnings given, the clerk has to start from scratch. This can mean another 3-6 months before they're in a position to legally remove someone from the organisation.

What Effective Performance Management Looks Like

Strategic Alignment is Essential

Your performance management system should align officer objectives with council objectives. Ideally, your council will have a strategic plan in place—this can be as simple as one side of A4 outlining what you'll achieve this year, or a comprehensive document. The key is having one and aligning individual objectives to it.

The Performance Management Framework

Annual Appraisals should:

• Align employee objectives with strategic objectives
• Ensure employees are trained to deliver
• Always be positive experiences
• Never be used to raise issues for the first time

Regular One-to-Ones between line managers and employees should:

• Monitor progress on objectives
• Provide support without micromanaging
• Address issues as they arise
• Maintain regular communication

For Clerks: Regular liaison meetings with council/lead councillors help monitor progress towards delivery of objectives. I used to meet with all lead councillors monthly for one hour, with a strict agenda, reviewing strategic objectives. This kept everyone totally aligned around our strategic objectives.

Six-Month Reviews help maintain momentum and address any drift from objectives.

Annual Review of Strategic Delivery Program ensures you review where you are with the strategic plan and adjust as needed.

The Documentation Imperative

Here's something crucial: There's no such thing as "verbal warnings" nowadays. Everything must be documented.

The Seatbelt Example

If an employee is seen driving the council vehicle without a seatbelt, and you've had a report about this behaviour, you probably have a chat with them. But then you must confirm it in an email: "This behaviour needs to stop. You must wear your seatbelt when driving the vehicle. If we get another report, it would be considered a disciplinary matter."

This creates:

• Dated, logged evidence that's irrefutable
• Clear expectations for future behaviour
• Legal protection if formal action becomes necessary

Even if it's outside the formal disciplinary process, I always recommend backing up any warning with an email.

Handling Poor Performance

Deal with Issues Promptly

Where there is poor performance, deal with this promptly. Leaving it makes it more difficult to resolve and presents difficulties at tribunal. The longer you leave it, the more difficult it becomes, and it can be corrosive to the organisation.

Determine the Root Cause

When performance problems arise, find out why:

• Training needs - Can be addressed through development
• Personal support - They may need support beyond work
• Role clarity - Review the post to ensure clear expectations
• Capability concerns - May need occupational health assessment

Offer Support First

Always offer training, support, and role review first. It's always best if you can find a solution to help them perform well, presumably as they used to.

Last Resort Action

If necessary, performance manage employee out of organisation as a very last resort. Follow your performance management systems properly.

Common Performance Management Mistakes

The Annual Appraisal Trap

This is the biggest mistake councils make: The only form of performance management being the annual appraisal is often the cause of tribunals.

The Classic Scenario: The chairman emails around all councillors just before the clerk's appraisal asking "if you've got anything to bring up." The appraisal ends up being a disciplinary hearing covering everything the clerk has done wrong over the past 12 months.

The Result: We've probably dealt with half a dozen cases where this happened, resulting in the clerk leaving in one way or another due to mishandling of the appraisal and performance management.

The Solution

Performance issues must be addressed immediately and not left. If they are, it makes a subsequent tribunal difficult to defend if the appraisal results in (constructive) dismissal.

Appraisals should always be positive experiences. If there are negative things to raise with an employee, they should be addressed through one-to-ones, informal meetings, or formal meetings during the year—not left until the appraisal.

Lack of Regular Contact

Performance management isn't just the annual appraisal. Ideally, regular liaison meetings of clerk and chairs will review performance in a friendly fashion on a regular basis. This prevents the accumulation of problems and maintains positive working relationships.

Professional Support for Appraisals

Appraisal policy should include professional support for councillors to conduct the appraisal. At my last council, I arranged for County Council HR support to assist with my appraisals—this gave councillors professional guidance on conducting the process properly.

The £300 investment in what is arguably the council's most important asset is often balked at, but it's essential. As one example, Seaford Town Council successfully used East Sussex County Council's HR department for this support.

Strategic Integration in Practice

Daily and Weekly Use

Use your strategic plan daily/weekly to determine work priorities and manage performance. This isn't a document that sits on a shelf—it should be your working guide.

Cascading Goals

Ensure everyone within the council is aligned around the strategy through cascading goals. If they're not aligned, your strategy needs reviewing.

Employee Objectives Example

If your council's objective is to build a new children's playground with £150,000 available, your clerk's objectives might be:

• Produce tender documents (possibly with third-party support)
• Go out to tender with suitable suppliers for designs
• Report back to council with design details and recommendations

These individual objectives are the steps to achieve the main strategic objective.

Corporate Governance Objectives

Always include corporate governance requirements in your strategic objectives:

• Get a clean audit
• Complete AGAR on time
• Produce budget for council by specified date
• Ensure insurance is in place

These are things you must do every year, but they're often not reflected in strategic plans. Include them so councillors can see these are things you're doing in addition to project work.

Maximising Motivation and Success

Intrinsic Motivators

Maximise everyone's motivation to succeed through intrinsic motivators. People are generally motivated by:

• Autonomy in how they do their work
• Mastery of their role and skills
• Purpose in what they're achieving

Celebrate Success

Celebrate successes! Recognition and achievement are powerful motivational tools that cost nothing but deliver significant returns in engagement and performance.

Getting Training and Support

For Clerks

Get trained to do appraisals if you're fearful of them. This investment in your professional development pays dividends in improved staff relationships and better outcomes.

For Councillors

Require councillors on your staffing committee to be trained in HR. Some councils make this a condition of their standing orders—you can't sit on the HR committee without completing the training course.

Next Steps: Implementing Effective Performance Management

1. Develop or review your strategic plan - Even a simple one-page document works
2. Set up regular one-to-one schedules with your staff
3. Establish monthly liaison meetings with lead councillors
4. Create documentation systems for all performance discussions
5. Arrange professional support for appraisal processes
6. Train yourself and councillors in performance management basics

What's Coming Next

In Part 3 of this series, we'll explore Conflict Resolution: Managing Your Dual Role Under Pressure. We'll cover practical scenarios like handling maternity leave, age-related employment matters, and micromanagement issues. We'll also look at building resilience through proper HR practices and preparing for upcoming employment law changes.

Don't miss Part 1: HR Foundations - Essential Policies Every Council Must Have if you haven't read it yet.

Watch the Full Session and Download the Slides

This three-part series is based on my presentation for Scribe Academy.

• You can watch the complete webinar (24mins) recording here.
• You can download the slides here.

About the Author

James Corrigan FCILEx, Chartered MCIPD, CMgr FCMI, DMS, PG DHR, Pg DSM, CILCA is Director of Council HR and Governance Support, bringing over 25 years of experience as a chief officer, 8 years as a part-time parish clerk, and 10 years as a National Advisor for the SLCC.

Council HR and Governance Support provides comprehensive HR services including unlimited ongoing support, dispute resolution, policy development, and training specifically designed for parish and town councils. Our policies are drafted by HR barrister Daniel Barnett and updated automatically as legislation changes.

Contact: jamescorrigan@chrgs.co.uk | 07805 472859

Important Disclaimer: Always take professional advice before acting on HR matters. This guidance is for general information purposes and should not replace specific professional advice for your circumstances.

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