As we’re nearing the end of the year, performance reviews are on the radar for most employers. The goal is always to deliver useful, productive feedback that adds value and helps drive the growth and results you want to see. Sounds easy right? But the reality is, so many people dread performance reviews. This process doesn’t have to be difficult and stressful. Here are 3 tips to help you avoid overcomplicating the process:
1. Make the Process Easy
Timing is the first thing to evaluate. There’s no law that says performance reviews have to be done at a certain time of year. If your timeline is not working for you, change it to one that works better. Simplify what you cover in your reviews by making the format as streamlined as possible to help make the key messages easy to digest and retain. Choose your questions wisely and focus on just a few strategic, meaningful topics. Some great questions for managers and employees are:
- What strengths is this person bringing to their work?
- How well does this person’s work and contributions reflect our core values?
- What would you like to see this person do more of, and less of?
- What is this person’s biggest development area?
- What has been this person’s biggest accomplishment over the past year?
2. Avoid Surprises
Feedback should come throughout the year and should not be “saved” for an annual review. If there’s a problem with an employee’s performance, their review should not be the first time it comes up. Address performance issues in the moment when they arise. When employees trust that their manager and company leadership will be up front with them, it helps them feel more confident in their work and in stepping outside of their comfort zone.
3. Share Meaningful Feedback and Examples
Compliments are great, but getting specific is where the magic is. If you say, “I love that you’re so thorough in your work” that sounds nice, but it doesn’t reinforce anything specific that the employee should keep doing. A better way to pay a compliment like that is to say, “I love that you’re so thorough in your work – you always double check your reports and that’s critical in helping us avoid making costly errors. Please keep doing that.” Another example could be giving constructive feedback, and instead of saying, “I’d love to see you take a little more initiative” you could say, “I’d love to see you take a little more initiative on learning our new software system. Getting familiar with how to use it will help you be more efficient in creating your reports and that’s something I’d like to see you work on this year.”
Have an HR or people question? Reach out to us by phone if you want to speak to a human, or by email or webchat if you want to start a virtual conversation. We love helping growing companies thrive and we’d love to hear from you!
