When it comes to Performance Reviews there’s only one thing to say: Stop! “Great conversations” strives for continuous feedback and appraisal. Great ideas, but for most organizations december equals performance reviews.. So what if you are still part of those 95% of the companies? Here are some tips:
1. Objective performance reviews
Do not exist. Everyone forms an opinion based on his or hers preferences. Up to 50% of feedback is a pure reflection of these biases. So try to verify your review with broad and factual input. But above all, be aware of this phenomena.
2. The safe center
Central tendency is the urge to avoid ‘extremes’. Not fair. An underperformer has a right to a ‘wake-up call’, the outperformer deserves recognization.
3. Beat around the bush
Don’t! No-one can properly learn if you keep being vague. Adress issues and a plan of action, plus write them down. Since our brain is more accustomed to ‘vision’ (hiëroglyphics existed long before language) messages in writing will stick much better.
4. Freeze, fight, flight.
If you throw a perverbial punch, a response will automatically follow. Allow the recipiant time to process the message and keep listering in order to reflect on the emotion. Don’t continue discussing the content untill emotions have settled.
5. Location, location, location
Every realtor will agree.. location matters. Hard conversation? Ensure a meeting room that provides enough privacy, so peers can not listen or even peek in. Plan the meeting preferably before a weekend or a few days off so the employee can go home and put things in perspective.
For sure we can draft a top 100 but for now I hope these 5 pointers are helpful.
