Making Employee Reviews Less Scary

Have you ever had to do a review where you were the one being reviewed and you were nervous about what you were walking into? On the other side, do you get nervous reviewing your employees?

In my first job in finance I worked a sales position and we were reviewed quarterly. It felt like a lot. What made it feel worse was the experience a guy named Ron had when he went into his 1 year review. Ron thought he was getting promoted and walked out of the review with tears in his eyes as he had been fired.

That experience is one I will never forget and is one of the main reasons that people dread giving and receiving them.

If you do a review right, all the work there is to do will have already been done.

The way you accomplish that is through ongoing feedback with your team.

There shouldn't been anything that a team member is hearing at a review that they haven't already heard from you. My mantra is reviews are not reveals.

It's important to give positive and negative feedback quickly. More positive than negative.

Look for opportunities to connect with team members through grabbing a coffee or lunch or, if they are remote, through a phone call or text.

If you do the hard work of communicating the information your team needs to hear throughout the year, that annual review will feel less daunting.