Here's how you can close performance gaps as an office administrator.

Conduct a thorough analysis to identify the specific areas where you or your team are falling short of performance expectations. This could involve reviewing metrics, gathering feedback from colleagues or managers, and self-evaluating your strengths and weaknesses.

1) does everyone within your area of responsibility know, understand and ACCEPT their personal task targets (objectives). How do you know this? 2) to what extent is there a shortfall against these task targets? Are these a consequence of shortfalls: (a) within your control (understanding, acceptance, process, resources, competence etc.) if so, what have you done / are doing to correct them? (b) outside your control? What have you done/are doing to correct (not just complain) this? To what extent are your activities in relation to (a) & (b), individual or team or cross-team/unit working?

You need to include a frequency to check progress of set goals, see how an employee is doing toward completing same, see if they need help or perspective in achieving same. Providing help also offers an opportunity for growth. Further your feedback might help course correct to help ensure goal(s) are being met.

Perfect start. It has helped me so many times when stuck in something like i used to do that long time ago and have not done recently so it messed up consequently mostly during the yearend closing of books and provisional adjustments. So the technique of identification of root cause it the 1st step leads to the solution.

Once you've identified the performance gaps, set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals to address them. Clear goals will help you stay focused and track your progress.

SMART objectives frequently fail as they are Task orientated and do not address the people aspect. They do not address whether those responsible-accountable for their achievement Know, Understand [consequences of success-failure] or Accept [will work to them even if they do not agree with them] them. Measurable in what sense? Time is a measurable; quality, quantity and cost are measurables but are they expressed in terms that are "not ambiguous" i.e. cannot be misunderstood either accidentally or deliberately; and are they realistic? I have seen many SMART objectives not achieved due to the failure to consider the language and people factors. Can you reduce late reports if the required information comes from teams outside of your control?

Training should not be "offered". Training is provided where a competence or knowledge is below the required level, i.e. where proficiency is inadequate. It may not be "training" it may be a need for practice against a rarely required activity or to move from trained to experienced worker standard. On the job (peer-to-peer) training can be integrated into ensuring job versatility so that all tasks have a minimum of two people competent to perform them. By ensuring the competency of those who report to you, you are creating a platform for your own promotion.

No one knows the job better than the person actually doing it. The best way to remove unnecessary tasks is to put a lazy person on to its analysis. they will find the easiest way. Not every business or department can simply start using software to automate. there is something called 'budget'; not every streamlining needs a costly automation. It is an issue of considering effectiveness (doing the right thing) and efficiency (doing things right) in relation to the required results/outputs with the available resources/inputs. [Consider: are you still producing that report that goes straight into a filing cabinet, because someone wanted it on one occasion 10 years ago???]

Most monitoring is on the lines of "how is it going?", i.e. what has happened. Monitoring is [like driving] primarily about forecasting, as in watching the road ahead so as to know what needs to be done to cope with changing circumstances in time and so ensure that no unexpected disruptions are going to cause a deviation.

Identify specific performance issues through employee feedback, productivity metrics, and workflow assessments to understand the root causes. Implement or refine office procedures and workflows to eliminate inefficiencies , ensuring that administrative tasks are completed more effectively and timely.

Continuous Improvement: Ongoing Training - Regularly update training programs to reflect new skills and knowledge requirements. Adaptability - Be flexible and ready to adapt strategies based on what is working or not working. Feedback Loops - Establish feedback loops to continually assess and improve performance management processes.

Embrace a mindset of continuous learning and professional development. Stay up-to-date with industry trends, best practices, and new technologies that could enhance your performance and efficiency.

Foster a collaborative environment where you can learn from colleagues' strengths and share your own expertise. Mentoring relationships or cross-training opportunities can help bridge knowledge gap