How To Provide Powerful Coaching in a Performance Review

by Tony Colangelo

November 22, 2023

I have learned from speaking with many successful leaders over the years that the quality of performance reviews heavily impacts the retention of emerging and top talent and should be treated as a top priority.

According to a survey by Reflektive Performance Management, 92% of employees want feedback more often than just once a year, and 85% of employees would consider leaving their role if they felt they received an unfair performance review.?

The good news is that due to the post-pandemic competitive job market, more leaders are realizing these facts and are focusing on improving how they conduct employee reviews using the "Coaching" method. This successful new approach to facilitating effective reviews enables "Coaching versus Telling" and is designed to deliver "feedforward" in addition to feedback. This approach allows for a comfortable two-way dialogue between the leader and the team member. Remember, the ultimate purpose of a performance review, beyond providing an accurate reflection of their YTD performance, is to provide insights and Coaching to inspire the reviewee to increase their overall performance in the future. By implementing the Coaching strategies outlined in this article, leaders can provide their teams with the support they require to feel valued, inspired, and motivated to reach their full potential.?

Common Mistakes To Avoid During a Coaching Performance Review:

• Not Being Present and Prepared:?Unfortunately,?too many reviews are conducted by leaders who are unprepared and not fully present. To implement the Coaching review method, the leader must be fully attentive and concentrate solely on their team members' development during the review. Staying present can be very challenging, with numerous other distractions competing for your attention. However, it is essential to remain present and give undivided attention to ensure the success of this approach. Have all the necessary information about your team members' performance in advance, including their YTD performance goals, metrics, and feedback from colleagues or customers. If you cannot be fully "present and prepared," it's critical to reschedule the meeting until you are.
• Generalizing Versus Using Specific Examples of Performance: To ensure a high-quality Coaching performance review, it is essential to avoid making general statements about the employee's personality. Instead, the leader should focus on specific examples of the team members' positive performance and areas that require improvement. Using fact-based examples and highlighting positive behavior modification ideas, the reviewee will feel supported to excel in their role and meet the organization's expectations. This effective approach combines supportive Coaching and accountability, fostering a results-oriented work environment.
• Not Fully Engaging Your Team Member in the Review Meeting: Instead of discussing how they should perform their role, ask the reviewee to share their thoughts on their performance at the beginning of the review with a summary of what is working well and what areas they feel they need to focus on to improve. As the leader, your primary role is active listening in the Coaching review to show your team members that you genuinely care and want to engage in a supportive review dialogue. This approach encourages your team member to take responsibility for their future development and enables a candid and natural discussion about their growth and areas of improvement.

"People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care." Theodore Roosevelt

Six Steps to Implement Powerful Coaching in a Performance Review:

1. Provide More Frequent Feedback & Celebrate Success:?In our new working world, annual feedback no longer cuts it if you want to retain your top and emerging talent. The Coaching review process provides the reviewee quarterly, less formal "coffee sessions" in addition to your formal annual review process. This approach allows you to regularly respond to any emerging issues your team members may want to discuss on their performance while providing an opportunity to celebrate their successes along the way.
2. Be Authentic and Focused On Your Team Member's Goals:?The?cornerstone of the Coaching review process is allowing your team members to understand you genuinely care about their success, which will encourage them to be honest and open in the review discussion. Instead of directing the conversation, ask your team members to reflect on their performance since their last review and express their thoughts and ideas openly. Provide authentic stories on your career journey that exemplify how you overcame challenges to reach your career goals. Ask the reviewee open-ended questions on their remarks to gain deeper insights into their feelings about their performance. This approach will ensure the review session is a two-way dialogue where both parties actively participate and exchange ideas on performance improvement.?
3. Provide Feedback and Feedforward:?The Coaching review is a method that incorporates both fact-based feedback on performance to date and "feedforward." Marshall Goldsmith, in his article "Try Feedforward Instead of Feedback," explains this approach. It involves concentrating on future-oriented goals and offering specific examples to help team members improve their performance. By adopting this technique, you can confidently facilitate reviews focusing on team members' growth and development using a positive tone. When discussing areas for improvement, focus on specific behaviors that the reviewee can modify over time.
4. Focus on the Strengths of Your Team Members:?The Coaching review is designed to enable team members to reach their full potential and focus on their strengths while addressing areas for improvement. Ask your team member to provide feedback on their strengths, how they may leverage them more, and how they would like to approach their development areas that require improvement. Adopting a strengths-based approach will inspire and motivate employees to stay on track to succeed.
5. Develop an Action Plan and Set SMART Goals:?The Coaching review method always aims to achieve specific goals and inspire team members to work towards achieving them. To set these goals, work collaboratively with your team members to establish SMART goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. Once you have agreed on the SMART goals, ask the reviewee to develop an actionable plan, including clear milestones, deadlines, and the support they will require. While it is essential to define goals and targets for your team, it is equally important to allow them to pursue these objectives in their unique way, ultimately leading to greater ownership of their success.
6. Close the Review With Support and Commitment:??Coaching requires providing your team members with holistic support. This approach considers their stress levels and work-life balance as part of the review discussion. Ensure you offer ongoing support, providing all available tools, training, and mentorship, including external executive coaching to help them succeed in their development journey. Regularly check in with team members to offer guidance, feedback, and encouragement. When closing the review meeting, make sure to gain full agreement from the reviewee on their ownership of the go-forward plan.

Conclusion:?Incorporating these six strategies above provides leaders a template to facilitate a powerful and successful Coaching performance review by enabling and inspiring your team members to meet their development and growth goals. This coaching method has proven effective by providing more frequent and personalized performance reviews focusing on team members' goals. It also incorporates "feedforward" in addition to feedback, emphasizes individual strengths, helps develop SMART goals, and, most importantly, gains commitment to the agreed-upon performance improvement plan. Transform your team's motivation and engagement levels by implementing this approach.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts and comments on this topic.

Tony Colangelo?is a Certified Executive Coach and Founder of eXecutive Factor Coaching. Tony is also a Speaker and Author of the Blog Series "49 Leadership Lessons I Wish I Learned When I Was Younger". Tony has over 30 years of experience in Leadership roles in the management consulting and information technology industries.?

Contact Tony on LinkedIn DM for a free consultation to help you reach your full Leadership potential.

This article is Leadership Lesson # 17?from Tony's Blog Series "49 Leadership Lessons I Wish I Learned When I Was Younger,"?

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