How To Master Performance Reviews

Performance reviews are a vital element of management. However, they can often turn into a source of stress for both the manager and the employee.

A successful performance review serves two key purposes. Firstly, it provides a precise and helpful assessment of an employee’s performance. Secondly, it helps plan for the future by identifying how to improve the employee’s abilities to meet their job requirements.

In this post, we share four steps for conducting constructive and effective performance reviews. No matter what kind of appraisal system your company uses, these strategies will help you make performance review season less nerve-racking and more productive.

Step 1: Setting expectations

The first step towards an effective performance review is setting clear expectations with your employee.

At the beginning of the year, hold individual goal setting and career development sessions with each of your team members. During these sessions, discuss their goals for the year and your expectations of their performance. By aligning on what success looks like, you can avoid misunderstandings later on, and your team members will know exactly what they need to do to succeed.

During this conversation, ask questions about your employees’ personal ambitions, and listen carefully to their responses. Understanding what your employees want from their careers will help you figure out the best ways to broaden their professional experiences, and provide them with work and development opportunities that will enable them to grow and improve.

Step 2: Laying the groundwork

Prepare well before the review to make it a positive experience.

A few weeks before the review, ask the employee to reflect on their achievements over the past year and rate themselves against each of the goals that you set together at the beginning of the year.

Asking the employee to write down things they have done over the year that they are proud of can help initiate a positive conversation during the review. It also helps the employee to feel appreciated and acknowledged for their hard work.

It can be helpful to get feedback from peers and others that your employee has worked with over the course of the year. If your company doesn’t have a formal 360-degree assessment process, then ask your employee for a list of names that you can email to get additional perspectives on their performance.

Step 3: Holding the conversation

The tone of the review can significantly impact its effectiveness.

Avoid the “feedback sandwich” approach, where criticism is sandwiched between compliments. This can lead to confusion and dilute the impact of your feedback.

Instead, the feedback you provide should be constructive and actionable. Frame your comments in terms of behaviours that the employee should start, stop, or continue. Be specific and focus on areas within the employee’s control, rather than zeroing in on specific personality traits.

What is the employee doing now that is that is highly effective? What are they doing that is not working so well? What actions should they adopt to be more effective?

The more specific and descriptive your feedback is about their strengths and achievements, as well as an any areas for development, the more likely your employee will understand and take action.

Performance reviews shouldn’t be a one-way conversation. Encourage the employee to respond to your feedback, ask questions, and share their perspective. This dialogue can help test assumptions, clarify misunderstandings, and ensure you are both on the same page.

For poor performers, make sure that you do not sugarcoat the feedback. A common mistake that many managers make when giving feedback is being too vague.

When giving critical feedback, make sure that you communicate the problem, why it is a problem, and the impact that it’s having. Once you’ve successfully shared your feedback, you can move on to discuss how the employee can improve.

Remember that people won’t change their personality after a performance review. Focus on the behaviours that are within a person’s control.

For example, instead of saying “You need to be more proactive,” provide more specific advice such as “You need to take more initiative in calling potential sales leads.” This gives the employee a clear action plan for improvement.

Step 4: Supporting progress

The impact of a performance review is determined by what happens next and a review is incomplete without discussing next steps.

Be sure to ask your employees how they plan on demonstrating progress and what you can do to support them. Schedule regular follow-ups with your employee to provide ongoing feedback on their performance and to discuss their development.

The key to managing performance successfully is to check-in regularly with your employees, evaluate progress against objectives, and review how they’re tracking against their development areas and career aspirations. If you check-in at least once a quarter with your employees on their performance and careers, then nothing you discuss in the annual performance review should ever come as a surprise.

This will help keep the employee motivated and informed about their performance, and will make it easier to conduct future performance reviews.