Performance Reviews Suck - Use This Check-in Process to Rocket Results

Performance reviews are over (it’s so 1980’s). Get rid of them. Adobe was one of the first companies to revamp the process from the ground-up. It’s a check-in process versus a once-a-year-program.

The old “performance” review process is broken for many reasons. Here are a couple of them:

• Employees think they are doing well, but the manager thinks otherwise. Because the employee hasn’t received feedback, they “feel” like the manager is changing the “deal” and is either out to get them, doesn’t like them or doesn’t care. 75% of employees quit because of poor managers (and this is one avoidable issue).
• Employees #1 or #2 complaint today is not enough feedback and not enough career advice. Both of those issues lead to lower performance and lower employee retention. Both are considerable costs (i.e. the average replacement cost for an employee is 100% to 300% of their base salary).
• A manager’s job is to develop employees and get them working at peak performance. Well, someone can’t improve if you don’t give them regular feedback. And most of them work an employee does they can get better at if they get coaching, training, mentoring, help from peers, etc.
• There rarely is enough time in a 1:1 meeting and it’s not the right place to have this discussion. It’s better to have a structured, separate meeting.

You can use this template below to use in your organization (and it works no matter what the size).

When effectively implemented and managed, the check-in process can create a top 1% performing team.

The challenge is the current processes out there don’t work very well. So I created the below best practice process from various companies and influencers. Many of my clients use it and it works very well.

The objective is to create a performance and development process and template that you can use on a quarterly or three times years to assess performance, develop the employee and set up the next goals and priorities. You want to have continuous learning, feedback, and measured improvement (when feasible).

Plan considerations:

• It also has to be relatively quickly and not burdensome on preparation for anyone. I hear all the time managers getting very overwhelmed having to do 5, 10, 20, or 40 performance reviews (and they have to do the bulk of it). The employee doesn’t learn if they don’t shoulder a significant portion of the review themselves.
• Employees need to be actively involved in this process because when they are they can often solve their own challenges. For example, Adobe found that when an employee spoke out loud and discussed their issues, they often thought of a solution in the check-in meeting.
• Check-in meetings also need to be relatively short, 60 minutes.
• Needs to be done three to four times a year.

Plan Structure:

1. Expectation Setting

• First, agree what is expected of employees for the year in terms of deliverables, behavior, and contributions.

2. Feedback

• Next, provide frequent, two-way feedback to see how employees are progressing against expectations and let managers know if they could be doing something differently to better support the employee.

3. Development

• Then, when employees know how they are performing, they can plan actionable goals in terms of learning, career, and experience.

Outcomes for the Check-In:

• Create the highest performing team players and best strategic problem-solvers
• This includes focusing on the employee’s strengths (and helping them improve in areas where they are struggling).
• You also want to move employees out of jobs they aren’t performing as well in and move them into opportunities where they can thrive
• Promote vulnerability, truth-telling, teamwork, clear communication, psychological safety, conflict resolution and caring
• Prioritize developing each person to reach their peak performance to meet evolving business needs and opportunities.
• Help employees create the best career path for them.

Check-in Process

Phase 1: Relationship Management Questions

• Background: No manager I asked could tell me within +/- 1 (on a scale of 1 being poor and 10 being extraordinary) what each of their employees and/or peers would rate the relationship they have with them. Not knowing where you are isn’t strategic. In fact, when they did ask they were often off by more than three with at least one person (and they were very surprised). Know where you stand with people. It’s essential in being an extraordinary leader and manager.
• Why would you do this: You go through this first because it sets up you as being vulnerable, open, accountable, helpful and committed to help the employee be successful as possible. It will also help transition the employee into the next sets of questions/conversations and have them be much more engaged.

1. You also earn the right to check-in on them because you did it first. This is key. You can improve the chances an employee implements the feedback by 40%. That makes your life easier and makes you more productive.

• Questions:

1. How would you rate our relationship on a scale of 1-10 (1 being poor and 10 being extraordinary)?
2. Why?

• Feel to free to ask more questions here to get clarity. Having a debate is fine as long as you don’t get overly emotional.

1. How can I move it closer to a 10?

• Key here is to be accountable. You’ll want to review where you are with them in the next check-in meeting.

Phase 2: Review Last Quarter’s or Four Month’s Goals (I’d set up no more than three main goals)

1. You (as the leader) are primarily listening and prompting rather than talking. So this process makes it easier (and much less pressure) for a manager.
2. Many times just asking the below questions will result in employees verbalizing issues and solutions without you having to say anything.
3. If you do need to provide feedback, this is a natural and helpful style and process to do that.
4. Employee to send the answers to the following questions 72 hours in advance:

• Employee (verbally) goes through their written answers they submitted
• Did you achieve your goals?

1. Why or Why not? (no more than one paragraph)

• On a scale of 1-10, (1 being poor and 10 being extraordinary), how would you rate your performance?

1. Why that number? What data supports it? (No more than one paragraph or four bullet points for each goal)

• What do you think you need to do more or less of to move your performance closer to a 10?
• Where are you stuck? What’s getting in the way? Where do you need help?

1. Manager celebrates employee success and accomplishments

• We often skip over praise to go straight to feedback. This is the time to celebrate and give genuine praise. Don’t make things up. If there isn’t much to celebrate then skip this step.

1. Manager provides feedback here after they’ve listened to the employe

• They could say something like, “I appreciate your feedback and taking the time to think about it. If I were to rate you at this moment, I would give you a 6 because you aren’t doing XYZ and it’s having a bigger impact on the team than you may realize.”
• Invite a conversation to discuss their performance.

1. (Optional) Employees can ask the following questions to get more feedback

• “What do I do well that makes me effective? Why is that impactful?”
• “Are there any areas of performance concern that I need to be aware of?” Ask for specific examples.
• (Manager): When providing feedback, state the specific facts that you know: “I have observed that you do/say
• __________and it impacts me in this way ___________.”
• Additional questions employees can use to elicit more feedback
• “What should I stop, start, continue to do?”
• “What is one thing, looking forward, I could change or do more of that would make me more
• Effective?”

1. Manager/Employee discuss any areas of improvement and collaboratively agree on what needs to change

• “What will you do differently in the future?”
• “What help/support would you like from me (your manager) or others to help you stay on track?”

1. Goal setting For the Next Period (sample template) (employee to send these 72 hours in advance)

• “Over the next period of time, what are the critical priorities that we must accomplish and why?”
• “How are you and the team supporting the overall business? Are they aligned with the business goals?”
• “What are your key deliverables? Can you quantify them?
• What other business teams are involved? Do you need to get their buy-in?”
• “Are these goals stretching you enough?”
• “What obstacles could arise?” “How do you plan to overcome them?” What resources will you need?”
• “How will you report progress? To whom?”
• “What are your immediate next steps?”

Phase 3: Development Plan

Every business has a plan to accomplish more than the year before. Every person needs a development plan to reach those new milestones. This is the area to discuss this.

It also will help fill in any gaps in performance and behavior.

Employee to send these answers 72 hours in advance (go through the answers in-person):

1. Explain what you find most and least satisfying about your current role and why.
2. Explain what you believe your strengths and development areas are (in terms of making progress for your career goals). Here are four core areas to focus on.

• Technical/Job Skills
• Soft Skills (i.e. self-awareness, emotional intelligence, empathy, communication, collaboration, etc.)
• Relationship building/management
• Management/Leadership (if applicable)

3. Explain your short-term (up to 12 months) and long-term (2-5 years) career aspirations.

• Manager shares what the next logical steps are from their perspective and why.
• What coaching, learning, skills, and experiences do you need to grow and develop? What impact will they have on your role and the business?
• What specific actions are you planning to take? What resources/help do you need?
• What’s a realistic timeframe to accomplish this?
• How will you measure it?

I'll be sharing best practice tips (including scripts on how to give feedback, engage and interact) on my blog. You can also get my free team building and employee engagement game, Cards Against Mundanity. It's been used by more than 10,000+ people and dozens over leading organizations. If you are interested in leadership, management or employee workshops or coaching services, click here (the average financial ROI is 3-5x per engagement).