The last few weeks have revolved around employee feedback - giving and receiving, and as we discuss in sessions, there are a few ground rules that support best-case outcomes. Let's dig in.
Long before the performance evaluation, you and your employee should have a chance to prepare. Before you begin, acknowledge the elephant in the room. Employee performance evaluations are anxiety-inducing for all parties. Calling it out lessens those anxious thoughts and feelings.?
Some best practices/ground rules:
- Performance Evaluations are conversations - not presentations.?Be ready for anything.
- Focus on performance, not personality.?(probably the most important rule ever).
- Report the facts (what you're observing) - nothing more/less.?Assigning feelings and blame or labelling behaviour is subjective. Try:?You've been working collaboratively with your team, improving your problem-solving while reducing bottlenecks. Well done!
- Avoid words like always, never and worst.?
- If possible, don't follow You with a negative comment.?Example:?You didn't meet your target.?Instead, try:?The performance target we agreed on was (this). What kept you from reaching it?
- Ask questions instead of doling out criticism.?Often, your employees will know what they did wrong and offer improvement solutions. (Psst: they're doing the work for you)
- When criticisms are unavoidable, tie them to a future goal.?A great way to do this is to acknowledge and record lessons learned. Try:?Thank you for acknowledging that you didn't reach our agreed-upon target. What have you learned that will help you achieve this year's target?
- Stay curious.?Don't criticize or judge what you don't understand. If you need help understanding, ask more questions. Try:?You've been absent more frequently lately. What, if anything, can we do to support you?
- Manage your volume and tone.?Nothing gets folks more anxious and defensive than an emotionally charged employer.
- Consider the employee's contributions above and beyond the numbers. Performance metrics are important, but so is leaving them with dignity and self-esteem.
- Discuss compensation and promotions with care.?Transparency and honesty are paramount.
- Highlight the employee's strengths and celebrate their wins and growth.
- Ask the employee to identify growth areas, then ask them what they need to be supported.?If unsure of what they need, respectfully share real, actionable ideas.
- Connect the dots.?Employees sometimes need help to see how their work impacts business objectives and strategies. Let them know that their work matters.
Most important is recognizing that you both want the same thing: what's best for the individuals, the team and the organization.
- Conclude your performance evaluation with next steps.
- Keep the conversation going. Don't wait for a year to pass before course-correcting and celebrating. Your presence will assure them that you are, in fact, on their side. That's a motivational hack!
?Ready for that performance evaluation?
Tina Collins, PCC | Executive Coach for Individuals and Teams.
?Transformational Leadership Coach & Visibility mentor to visionary female leaders - break through the inner obstacles to SUCCESS AND SHINE your light with clarity, authentic confidence and purpose.
2 年The worst development review I had in my career...I had been killing my new job and delivered everything that was expected of me and more in an extremely complex and challenging work environment with multiple stakeholders. We had to mark ourselves out of 10 for different categories. Then our boss had to also give us their mark out of 10. My boss marked me down from my original score in every single category. He said it wasn't a "self congratulatory" exercise - and that development reviews were to focus on areas of improvement. Whilst I understood the sentiment, I was only 3 years into my career and 3 months into a new high pressured job and my self esteem never recovered in that particular role. I can see now that I had been relying on my technical skills and was at a point in my career where I was transitioning into needing to learn better relationship/people skills. But my loss of confidence from that interview massively impacted my ability to do the job successfully after that. It repeated a pattern of "not being seen" in my working career and is another reason why I do what I do now!!