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CarterBaldwin Partner Maggie Bellville explores how to get the most out of performance reviews.
Every year thousands of employees across the country undergo performance reviews, but too often managers are unprepared or underestimate the amount of time and effort required to conduct a review properly. As a result, many performance reviews are colossal wastes of time where neither the employee nor manager comes away with any meaningful insight that may lead to a more productive relationship. So what can managers do to ensure performance reviews are the productive engagements they were meant to be?
Selective Memory Syndrome
When it comes to performance reviews, the first thing a manager must be careful to avoid is what I like to call Selective Memory Syndrome (SMS). Managers with SMS tend to undervalue the work their subordinates have done throughout the year or base their reviews on a few anecdotal instances in which an employee has erred or performed poorly. Not only is this unfair to the employee, it’s just plain lazy! Take the time to conduct a fair and accurate review and you may be surprised at how much both you and the employee take away from it.
Give & Take
Performance reviews should be open exchanges between employees and managers. As a manager, one of your chief responsibilities is to facilitate this exchange and identify performance objectives for your employees. Never – and I mean never – put the onus on an employee to conduct his/her own review; it’s irresponsible and deprives him/her the opportunity to be evaluated by an objective observer. In that same vein, be sure to frame your critiques in a constructive manner. Don’t use a performance review to lambaste an employee for his/her poor performance. Instead, pepper your criticism with pieces of praise so the person under review doesn’t feel like they’re being unfairly attacked or singled out.
Set Goals, Not Barriers
One of the most important things a manager can do during a performance review is set quantifiable goals to help employees understand what is expected of them and what they must do to advance within the company. Saying something like, ‘You’ve done a good job this year,’ while complimentary, doesn’t provide an employee with any direction for improvement. Specificity is essential when assessing an employee. You may want to try keeping a log or notes for each employee under your supervision to help when it’s time for a review. Relying on generalities diminishes a manager’s ability to provide a fair, impartial evaluation and leaves you open to second-guessing from your subordinates. Don’t fall into that trap.
Excuses, Excuses
Similarly, managers should also be careful to avoid using non-performance-based reasons for not giving someone a raise/promotion. Telling someone he/she is too young, aggressive, new, etc. to receive a promotion/raise is like locking yourself in a room full of dynamite and then lighting the fuse. If your company’s raise pool is four percent and you’re only offering someone two percent based on their performance tell them as much and then offer some concrete examples on how he/she might be able to improve for next year.
With promotions, try talking to employees in terms of their continued work at your company. Help them envision their improved work as setting a path for future opportunities and success. After all, that’s what you’re supposed to be talking about in the first place – performance!
Above all else just remember, your position as manager will cause some of your employees to be extremely sensitive to any criticism you may disclose during a performance review. Therefore, it is important that you base your remarks on quantifiable examples that cannot be easily refuted. By doing this, you not only let your employees know exactly where they stand, but what they must do to improve for next year’s review. And believe me, that time will be here before you know it!
Article previously appeared in CableFAX Daily.
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