In my travels and conversations, it is fairly common to discover people that absolutely abhor performance reviews, with some people skipping them entirely.? I’ve found one sub-culture of an organization that was quick to brag that they’ve only done a performance review once, and that was on a golf course.??
I find this to be a shocking travesty and a missed opportunity to pour life and love into your subordinates, helping in any small way to help them become the ‘heroes’ that we all want them to be.? (A great reference on topic is Dave Ferguson’s book, ‘Hero Maker’, which we will talk about more shortly.)
Regional Culture Adaptation Question: Hero is a very individualistic concept.? If you are leading in a more collective society instead of an individualistic society, how would you adapt this messaging but have the same impact?
?Acknowledging the common attitudes about performance reviews, I find that it is really helpful and important to shift the paradigm from performance reviews → professional development.
[format for the conversation]
- 3 strengths
- 3 things you are working on (not weaknesses)
- Feedback for me (boss) and our organization
- What do you want to do when you grow up? [or other culturally appropriate and personal leadership style appropriate question to genuinely convey care]
- [Optional Chief of Staff emphasis area example:] Do you have a mentor??
[Email draft: from manager to all subordinates:]
It is that time of year you have been waiting for!? Annual performance reviews!? I would like to focus on professional development, so if you could prepare your own thoughts on the topic (nothing written needed, no format required) on the following thoughts that would enable an efficient conversation:
-three things you are working on improving for yourself
-feedback on how we as your bosses or the organization can do better
Let me explain why I find this format is so helpful:
This will help to keep the subordinate engaged instead of being on the defense.??
- It puts your subordinate in the conversational driver seat.??
- From my experience, you get the opportunity to agree with your employee 95% of the time and pour into their lives with amplification or ways to help them with things they want to improve.??
- I find it very rare (1 in 20) to have a point of frustration with an employee that they don’t naturally bring up in their list of ‘things I’m working on’.??
- When you do point out an outlier, they tend to listen and act.??
- The alternative is a higher stress, boss initiated, these are all the things wrong with you, ‘subordinate on the defensive’ type conversation.
Some practical tips for you on the format as you conduct the professional development focused performance review:
3 strengths
- I like to write quick notes on examples of successes in their work to highlight why I agree with them
- Often times we have an HR form that this should go into; I’ve taken quick notes in this doc but ONLY if it is efficient and not distracting to ‘leaning in’ to listening to your subordinate.
3 things you are working on (not weaknesses)
- I like to write down notes while they are talking:?
- examples of ‘signs of great progress’; sometimes I get to encourage them with ‘you know, I’ve seen so much progress here this year, I’d bin this as a strength for you’.
- Book recommendations (which means you need to know or have read lots of books!)
- Tips for how to improve, or inquisitive questions about their practical plans to get better, if not already offered
- For example: Communication skills: ‘Toastmasters’ for people working on public speaking, more responsibility that requires them to provide presentations, etc.
- Hold off, though, don’t be talking yet!!!? It is very important to set the tone with your response to the next part…
Feedback for me (boss) and our organization
- If you are quick to be defensive, take a deep breath.? Listen, understand, repeat back to ensure you understand, ask questions that seek to understand the real issues or needs, to make sure you have it right.
- If you are ready, you can start with commitments to do better.
- If you are emotional about the feedback you’ve received, it would be best if you can acknowledge that you really appreciate the feedback, that you’d like to process it, and see if you can schedule some time or follow up in a day or a week or whatever suits your contemplation style.?
- 1Sam12 - Samuel had the same approach, asking Israel if anyone had anything against him before he reprimanded them.? Hopefully you have little to reprimand your subordinate for!
- This sets the tone, with your receptivity to your employees feedback, so that any negative (growth) feedback that you have or advice to help on things that they’ve brought up will be well received and more likely to be acted on.
- Remember the leadership by example ‘Say-Do’ gap; you need to track what you commit to and follow through on it!?
- Part of being a manager is tracking your conversations, and especially your commitments.
- However you track your normal one-time and recurring tasks, make a deliberate point to log those commitments and actions to follow-through with them.?
- See notes on “How” below for what you need to be doing to prepare for the next professional development meeting!
NOW, you are ready to circle back to the three strengths, 3 things your employee is working on with your honest assessment:?
- “You are doing a [great/honest assessment] job, I am really thankful that you are on our team.”??
- I’ve had a few people return afterwards to ask about their performance if you forget this part.? Don’t forget!? They want to know!
- “I agree with your strengths [maybe a few examples!], and I am happy to hear about the things you are working on.”
- ?[Discuss any outliers, recommendations, extra questions, professional development suggestions with books, practical things to help [public speaking, responsibility, etc]
What do you want to do when you grow up??
- A more professional HR version of this would be “what do you want to be doing in the next 3 to 5 years?”??
- That also sounds like a very typical job interview question, just might elicit the defensive response you are trying to avoid, and possibly a practiced vanilla answer, at least if they are proficient interview takers.??
- I prefer to be informal here, lean in, and allow the genuine love and interest in what they aspire to do to come through.? Every leader is different.
- In Christian contexts, I sometimes add, “Do you feel God calling you to anything in particular?”
- You’ve already demonstrated that you sincerely care for building your employee up into the hero that we all want them to be.? I really like a concept that is useful here from Dave Ferguson’s book, ‘Hero Maker’
- “I see in you…” a future _____
- You can use this to inspire them to levels of responsibility beyond your current position, if you can squint at them and see a future strategic leader.
- Squint hard.? Imagine what you were like at that stage in your career.??
- Now you are really making your genuine interest really clear.?
- What is your path to get there???
- What can we do now to get you ready for that path???
- Does that align with the things you are working on??
- Do you need more responsibilities to prepare you for that future vision??
- What are the steps we can work on now?
- Another resource on this topic, if you really don’t genuinely care for your subordinate, is “Leadership and Self-Deception” by the Arbinger Institute.??
- Take a deep breath, reflect, and be honest with yourself.? Read the book above if you are in any doubt.??
- A mentor told me, when handing me that book, “This is a book that I don’t think you really need, but that you will get a lot out of all the same.”?
- I’ve had to explain to a few managers that they don’t seem fit to lead people because they don’t seem to have genuine love for their people.
[Optional ‘Chief of Staff’ emphasis area]?
- It may help from time to time, if you really want to change the culture of an organization, to have every leader in the organization talk to every person in the organization about a particular topic.? The Chief of Staff might want to institute that and change it annually or as appropriate.
- For example: if you were trying to institute a mentoring culture at your organization, you could ask,
- Do you have a mentor??
- Schedule, time commitment?
- Effectiveness?
- Difficult to find a mentor?? Can I help you?
- [some references to available resources and training on the topic would be incredibly helpful]
Some practical tips beyond the coaching above for the person conducting the professional development focused performance review:?
Who: Manager and subordinate.? Sometimes it is helpful to have two bosses in the room, if a more rounded perspective on their professional development is in order.
When: I recommend semi-annually.? There is often a less formal (less paperwork) version at the 6 month mark; if you have two people in the formal one, then just the most direct supervisor could be in the semi-annual one.??
What: See above!? If formal counseling is required annually, one of the engagement periods during the year should include delivery of this and conversation on topic, but the basic foundational two-way conversation should be the same.
Where: In a private, comfortable location.
How: As discussed above, with one caution for subsequent engagements.? Nothing says “I don’t care” more strongly than if you received some feedback the previous year and a) don’t remember it, b) didn’t do anything about it, and / or c) are defensive with them bringing it up again!? It is VERY IMPORTANT to review your notes from the previous year, reflect on how well you have done (and how well your subordinate has done!) from the conversation you’ve had.? Hopefully you’ve taken down good action items from the previous year and actually followed through on them to avoid any sticky situations like this!
Why: Because it is a tremendous blessing to be involved in our people’s lives, to help in some small way to see them to be the hero that everyone wants them to be.? Dave Ferguson’s book, ‘Hero Maker’ again!