Every company has a way to evaluate their employee’s performance against expectations. They come in the form of 1-1 or panel, 1 directional from manager to employee or 360 all-around, quarterly or yearly. Whichever mechanism that is, it is an important moment for employee to be recognized and developed, so take it seriously. Being a people manager for more than 15 years in a people-focused company, I have gone through hundreds of performance reviews and also being reviewed by many managers in my career. I have learned my way of how to make this review productive and constructive via good experience as much as horrific experience, here are some tips.
No surprises
First thing first, whatever evaluation you are providing to the employee, it should not come as a huge surprise to them. If it does, you have failed as a manager. The fact of the matter is, no matter how frequent the performance review of your company is set, it should not be the only time and venue that you provide feedbacks to your people. Connecting to people is the essential responsibility of a people manager, getting to know them through daily interactions. When they did something great, appraise them on the spot! When things did not go as you expected, provide feedbacks to them right away and guide them through it. Do not wait till the performance review time! When this is done right, the performance review should only serve as a checkpoint to reflect and look forward, and there should be no surprise at all. I have had experiences that employee got really surprised and cried in the review, and I would never want myself or any other manager went through that experience again.
Be extremely prepared
Any good conversation requires preparation, no matter how busy you are. Most of the managers are using busy as excuse of not doing any preparation and just went through the review as formality. For me, that is a major missed opportunity. Just because we are so busy on day-to-day, this review is a perfect opportunity to block sometime to just focus on things are not so day-to-day. Think about what you want to say and where you want the conversation focus on. It could be emphasizing how much you appreciate them, or how you can help to shape them into the better version of themselves. Be very specific and give concrete examples of supporting whatever you are going to tell them. If it helps, write a few bullet points down to guide the conversation. Another aspect of preparation is to manage the unexpected. We said no surprises, but there will still be times the conversation gets really emotional and things go south. So part of the preparation is also to think about what you would do if the conversation did not go as you anticipated. Do you stop talking just to let things sift through? Do you pause the review to cool things off and regroup later? Do some what-if scenarios, particularly those conversations you anticipate that might be difficult.
Listen and be open-minded
Keep in mind the performance review is about the employee so make this about them. That means whatever information you are sharing with them, make it conversational, asking for feedbacks. Do not dominate the conversation by one-way talking, leave enough room for them to talk and listen to them. A wise man used to say “there is a reason human being has two ears but one mouth”, so listen 👂🦻. And listen genuinely, ask questions if you do not understand, and most importantly, be open-minded and ready to change your mind. There might be times that you do not have all the information before the review, and your assessment of their performance is biased by what you know. So when employee provide you more facts, it might change how you evaluate them, and be open for that.
Always talk about “blind spots” and suggest ways to improve
Everybody has “blind spots”, and not everybody is willing and brave enough to tell you about them. People are emotional beings, and nobody likes to hear about “harsh” feedbacks, particularly those who are extremely talented. However in my own experience, these are probably most useful feedbacks I have received during my performance reviews. And it does not really have to deliver in harsh ways. Back it up with concrete examples and suggest visible ways to work on them, people will understand, sometimes not on the spot but later they will – again, in my own experience. After all, it is not easy for you to deliver such feedbacks, and you did it because you really care about the person. Another thing about this is, as HR always educate us, not to sandwich it, i.e., sugar-coat the message before and after. Treat people with respect, they know what you are trying to tell them so sugar coat it will only make it silly.
Ask for feedbacks about you
Finally, if you can and have time (again this review is not about you), ask them for their feedbacks on what you can improve as their manager and how you can help them better. Some might tell you and some might not, in any case, what do you have to lose to ask? But make sure you are ready for the answers, do not get all defensive if the answer is not what you want to hear. If people are willing to tell you, it is a great sign of trust and respect, thus do not ruin it!
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