Previous Dilemma:
How can I make a difference with my performance reviews?
Performance Review
In my 20 years in the workforce, it’s surprising that performance reviews haven’t made a difference for my staff. I’m trying to turn this around, so I’ve read up on how to make the most of performance reviews. Yet, I struggle with finding an effective process that benefits the employee, employer and manager.
Do you use the performance review tool, or do you do your own thing? What’s the best way to do a constructive performance review that benefits both employees and management?
— Perplexed about performance
Summary of Advice Received
Do a 360 on Performance Reviews
They’re more than a once-a-year thing
by Meryl K. Evans, Editor, B2B Social Media Digest
It may happen in June in one company. For another, it’s September. No matter the month, almost every company has a dreaded month where employees and managers fear the annual performance review.
Even when things go well for hard-working employees and managers, the performance review becomes a tradition of wasting everyone’s time while satisfying the company’s need to have it done. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
Most employees want to grow and feel challenged. Effective performance reviews help them take the next step in their jobs rather than simply receive a business report card. Good performance reviews and consistent follow-up can motivate employees throughout the year. Readers and experts provide excellent advice to address this difficult yet important challenge.
They recommend that you stop wasting time with performance reviews and turn them into useful tools with these four steps:
- Get the company on the same page.
- Develop your own review process.
- Check in more often.
- Change the focus of the review.
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As always, if you have more advice, share it in the comments, or if you’re facing a different challenge, please share your dilemma so we can ask your peers for their advice.
Get the company on the same page
The problem with performance reviews is that the entire company may not buy into them. Or maybe the review process varies by department or manager. If the process lacks consistency across the company, it does no one good. When few support the performance process, it becomes a useless tool.
If possible, have the company investigate performance review processes to find what works best and get buy-in on the best process, from executives on down to recent college graduates.
Develop your own review process
You may not be in a position to change the company’s performance review process. Why not create your own? “Either start from scratch or customize a standardized form. To be effective, a performance review needs to cover specific aspects of a specific position,” says Barbara Farfan, management and operations consultant, Authentic Communications. No one says you can’t develop one and then fill in the blanks on the company’s official form.
For those not wanting to start from scratch, Michelle Braden, president and CEO of MSBCoach, LLC, suggests investing in a behavior tool like EQ, DISC, Emergenetics or StrengthsFinder.
Carol Stewart, adjunct professor of management at Southern CT State University, uses Manage By Objectives (MBO). “I create a spreadsheet with my goals in one column, and action items and due dates (for each goal) in the next two columns. The last column shows any dependencies or obstacles. This process takes the ‘subjectivity’ out of performance reviews,” says Stewart.
You can work with the current system using Slaughter Development, LLC’s Robby Slaughter’s approach. “Instead of performance reviews, employees and managers ought to mutually define forward-looking performance objectives that include fixed targets tied to future compensation — and honor them.”
Check in more often
A typical performance review process consists of two meetings: the goal-setting and the review. Some companies combine both in a single meeting, and follow the review with setting next year’s goals.
Having more check-ins helps reinforce the goals and progress. “To help the review ‘stick,’ it is necessary to maintain a consistent message between evaluations. Additionally, people can only change if they know how. An evaluation reveals the issues, not how to solve them. Provide educational or situational opportunities directed at resolving the shortcomings identified in the evaluation,” says Greg Stacy, senior account manager with Single Source Systems Inc.
Too often, employees don’t know where they stand when the performance review time arrives. That should not be the case. Instead, the performance review should summarize what the employee and manager already know and contain no surprises. The summary captures all the conversations and documentation the employee and managers have had throughout the year.
Linda Konstan, Sensible Human Resources Consulting, does weekly check-ins. “Instead of basing everything on the ‘annual performance evaluation,’ I prefer to use a critical incident log at least once weekly. This tool documents the good, bad and ugly and forces conversations with staff,” says Konstan.
You could also check in every four to six weeks like Lunell Haught does. “Performance reviews are a waste of time without follow-up. I ask, ‘What can I do to help you succeed?’ and then do it or tell why I can’t. I see appraisals as a conversation, not a judgment!” Haught says.
Change the focus of the review
Meeting more often to discuss an employee’s progress is a great start. A manager can motivate an employee to change by focusing on the positives and involving the employee in the process. One reader suggests having employees list their responsibilities and the best way to meet those responsibilities. The manager can respond with a positive by focusing on what the employees do well and follow that with areas of improvement or drastic changes necessary.
Obviously, you need to point out performance weaknesses. “Reinforce what you want people to keep doing! Negative feedback, to be useful, must focus on things people can change,” says Stephen Balzac, president of 7 Steps Ahead, LLC. “You’re not a team player” offers no useful information. Be specific such as “In the last three meetings, I observed you turning every discussion into a win/lose fight, and then shouting everyone down. I am concerned that this will destroy our effectiveness as a team,” Balzac says.
The employee and manager need to discuss, agree and document steps to help the team, department and company meet their goals. The employee needs to know what the manager expects, but it’s up to the employee to figure out the how. End the conversation with a positive.
Instead of focusing on the infamous SMART goals, aka specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timeframe, Phyllis Harber-Murphy of More Than 9 2 5 Virtual Assistance suggests thinking HARD.
- Heartfelt: My goals will enrich the lives of others, whether colleagues and peers or the general public.
- Animated: I can vividly imagine how great I will feel once I accomplish these goals.
- Required: My goals are aligned with and will have a direct impact on my company’s main objectives.
- Difficult: I will have to stretch myself (take courses, learn new techniques, etc.) to accomplish my goals.
While changing the process may not be possible, you can make the best of it with what you have by meeting more often and focusing on the good while identifying areas for growth and improvement. With a little practice, maybe the whole team will change its outlook on performance reviews, knowing they result in more communication and growth.
What do you think? Any gaps? Disagree? Join the discussion in the comments.
About the editor
Meryl K. Evans is senior editor at InternetVIZ and the content maven behind the Connected Digest, B2B Social Media Digest and Professional Services Journal. Follow her on Twitter @merylkevans.
While I agree with the general sentiment of this article, the tone isn’t nearly strong enough. Performance reviews are a terrible idea. Business process improvement often arises from recognizing that traditions may do more harm than good.
The fundamental problem with performance reviews is obvious from that title: they are analysis of what occurred in the past. Unless your company has a time machine, you can’t change the past. We need to focus on what we are doing today and tomorrow, not work we once completed.
We should use meetings to mutually set goals and mutually determine rewards. The review process, then, is merely one of computation. The degree to which you met targets affects compensation and promotion. We don’t need to review, we need to plan and do.
@robbyslaughter
@Robby, great comment. I like the concept, but I can’t envision what it would look like. How would you provide the needed feedback to employees?
The process of employment should be about converting assignments into responsibilities. Once an employee has ownership over a given task, they just need guidance and encouragement.
In order to be able to have effective goals and meaningful results, there has be to some objective measurement. You can reward people for meeting deadlines, for catching errors and for expanding business.
I appreciate the ‘performance reviews are a terrible idea – perhaps just the (poor) name we use for a really good conversation about what someone has done that relates to the job description, and what the person is going to do in the future – forward thinking.
@Lunell, great idea. Can you expand on it? Maybe brainstorm a bit for a new label for the concept? What structure would you suggest?