BrightSkills

So, it's that time of year again - 'Review Time'.  Most medium to large sized organisations are now working with various types of employee performance management systems, be they sophisticated frameworks or simple appraisal systems, which for most cases means a check back in with the performance goals and targets set back in January of this year (for most organisations - the beginning of the performance period).

As a leader in an organisation involved in performance management, it is important to engage fully in the process and to ensure that the right behaviours and practices are demonstrated.  Lean employee performance management will help you to;

• Deliver more on time - boost productivity
• Create a high performance culture (where underperformance / 'getting by' is outside the norm)
• Manage low performance out
• Improve employee morale and motivation
• Retain staff

For many managers however, this can be a tricky time;

• The world has moved on since January, are the items still valid?
• The person has not performed well, how can I give them the feedback they need?
• The goals we set were too vague and its difficult now to hold them accountable / measure their progress
• I have no time for mid year reviews!

So, managing the review well is critical for business!  Engaging in meaningful conversations that allow a two way flow of information and assessment and acknowledge the personality can boost morale, motivation and staff productivity. 

On the flip side, managing the review badly can result in employee discontent, a divided culture, lack of trust between teams and management and reduced output / productivity.

Here are our Top Ten Tips for Managers Preparing for End / Mid Year Reviews

1. Review the Goals / Targets Set - familiarise yourself again with the goals and targets set.  What was planned at the beginning of the review period?  Were the goals and targets measurable to begin with?  Did they follow a SMART goalsetting methodology (Specific - Measurable - Achievable - Realistic - Timely) or similar?  Specifically what outputs should you be expecting from this individual at this time?  Were the goals and targets set a blend of 'hard' and 'soft', in other words a mixture of behavioural and technical?

2. Establish Key Areas for Review - What are the key areas that need to be reviewed? What projects have been delivered on and what is in the pipeline?  Overall how has the individual performed? What KRA (key result areas) need to be addressed?  Where competencies have been prescribed for a role, how is this person performing against these?

3. Request a Self Assessment - The great thing about conducting self assessments is that as the manager, you gain insight and knowledge about where the individual sees their performance and rates themselves prior to the 1:1 conversation - this gives you great advantage in understanding their perspective and also, in preparing to deliver feedback that is meaningful to the person in question (be it good or bad feedback).  Ask the individual to submit a review of their performance during the period to date - encouraging them to review their overall performance, performance on specific projects and outputs planned, performance in core role competency areas (if they've been prescribed) etc. 

4. Measure Results To Date - Objectively, you now need to establish what has been delivered / completed and what has not.  To be fair, consider applying a percentage score to each KRA originally set.  Ensure that 'opinion' and 'gut' are not the determinants of this - performance should be based on observable outputs and behaviours and should be easy to quantify.  Where the KRA is a behaviour / attitudinal in nature, consider specific interactions observed or feedback received about the individual's behaviour.  Now ask yourself, are these behaviours and deliverables consistent from this person?  You will now start to gain a much clearer sense of how the individual is performing overall - 70% / 80% / 100% !

5. Identify Performance Gaps - Where gaps exist, specifically identify what is not being done (behaviour or output oriented).  Be specific, objective and measurable.  Avoid generalities such as "You need to improve communication skills" - this type of developmental feedback is useless and can cause confusion.  Switch it for measurable and observable guidance such as "In your phone conversations with clients, I'd like to see you explaining the features and advantages of the product in a clearer more specific way.  I'd also like to hear you asking for client feedback and suggestions when on the phone"

6. Plan for Delivering Feedback - Before meeting with the person, consider how you should deliver the feedback to them.  What is their personality and communication style? Where is the best place to meet with them?  What actions did you observe?  What impact did these actions have?  What are the desired next steps?  Remember to be specific and timely about delivering feedback and keep it focused on observable behaviour - not intuition or gut feeling!  We cover this and a lot more around feedback in our Delivering Hard Feedback and Coaching Skills courses

7. Construct a 1st Draft Development Plan - Although it's important that a development plan is constructed WITH the individual and that they ultimately own it themselves, consider some development activities that could assist this person in closing the gaps.  Have a list of interventions considered before the review meeting.  This could be traditional training, coaching, mentoring, reading a recommended book, working on a stretch project etc. - think outside the box!

8. Reset Goals & Targets- Before meeting with the individual, consider exactly what focus and shape the goals and targets for the rest of the review period will be.  Are there new goals / targets?  Will some original deliverable dates change?  Be clear about what success looks like for each goal so that it will be easy to review and measure in another 3 or 6 months!

9. Consult, Coach & Question - OK so now you're ready to actually host the review meeting!  In this meeting, apply coaching and questionning techniques in order to draw out the self assessment and avoid any shock surprises!  Achieve buy in from a two way conversation which equally acknowledges successes to date alongside areas for improvement.  Move away from 'telling' or 'directing' leadership style and move more into 'coaching' and 'consulting'.  We cover this in great detail on our Coaching Skills and Performance Management courses.

10. Empower & Enable - Listen to what the individual needs in order to feel prepared and competent to deliver during the next review period.  Support their development needs and goals.  Encourage them to own their performance plan by setting renewed goals and adding personal achievement targets for themselves.