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How To Implement Standardized Employee Reviews: 15 Tips

Forbes Human Resources Council
POST WRITTEN BY
Expert Panel, Forbes Human Resources Council

In the past few years, startups have become legendary for shucking traditional workplace customs — or so the stereotypes go. Ranging from providing built-in coffee bars and froyo to having completely open-space floor plans to flexible remote work hours, startups have become known for eschewing bigger, older, established company culture. Yet, as companies scale, the importance of some tried-and-true processes becomes clear.

For example, more established practices such as employee/manager review checkpoints and annual feedback sessions are valuable for teams of all sizes and growth stages. But for entrepreneurs just starting out, implementing standardized reviews can be daunting. To help, 15 members and HR veterans of Forbes Human Resources Council share their best tips for managers getting started with reviews for the first time.

All photos courtesy of Forbes Councils members.

1. Ask The People

Get the employee population involved in shaping performance reviews, the performance management process, etc. The review and checkpoints should be helpful, not a drag; people will know what will be helpful for them. Create opportunities for two-way conversation, commentary, and feedback. Check in on career and personal goals and aspirations as well as past performance, culture alignment, etc. - Catherine Decker, Outsell

2. Start With Weekly One-On-Ones

This is a small but important step toward beginning the regular feedback loop. By taking 30 minutes a week to check in on the work, approach, progress and challenges, you are able to, in real time, let your staffer know what they should keep doing, stop doing and start doing. This way, when it comes to the review, they will have continually built up muscle and there will be no surprises. - Cat Graham, Cheer Partners

3. Make It A Year-Round Process

As you implement reviews, you must train managers to optimize results. Reviews must be done year-round and there should be a mix of formal/informal meetings. As a best practice, formal reviews should be done quarterly and follow a cycle — establish, review, check progress and final check goal results. Informal reviews should be done immediately, as situations to coach performance arises. - Angeles Escalante, SPHR, Tyson

4. Don’t Force The Process

Improvements should feel natural and organic, smooth response to a growing need as opposed to sweeping, disrupting changes. Provide what’s needed to accommodate growth at the actual pace of your employees. Spot, when simple one-on-one coaching of managers won’t do anymore and see if perhaps training on EQ and giving/receiving feedback, is the next, natural smallest increment. - Juan Carlos Ramos Paulino, Golden Hippo

5. Customize The Standardization

Start-ups should customize the standardized reviews system to align with their unique business imperatives. Think about it this way: Reviews should measure employee performance that is linked to business imperatives. Therefore, take what works from a standardized system and add those areas that will allow your organization to measure what’s important and that can be easily understood by employees. - Bridgette Wilder, Wilder HR Management & EEO Consulting

6. Start From The Interview

Employee reviews are about the employee, so make sure the review process highlights expectations and areas of improvement. Don't wait until the employee has been on the job for a year. Instead, share the performance review paperwork with employees when they start their jobs. Whether it is during the interview or onboarding, set expectations from the beginning and prepare the employee for success. - Michele Markey, SkillPath

7. Find The Right Rhythm

Providing feedback is not a "one size fits all" and shouldn't happen just once a year. It needs to be customized to the culture of the organization, the availability of the manager and subordinate to have a real conversation and the pace of the work and workplace. This could be weekly, monthly, quarterly — figure out the right rhythm first. Then use this info to inform your annual recap. - Tracy Bittner, SPHR, Ionic Security Inc.

8. Start With The Employee Experience

Employers need to take the time to understand what their employees need in feedback, their motivators, and the best delivery mechanism. Creating regular performance check-ins are necessary. Startups should begin by setting goals, guidelines, and metrics that support their overall mission. This will enable them to measure progress and quality toward reaching their mission and strategy. - Charles Ashworth, Copper

9. Adapt And Evolve

No performance review system is going to be a perfect fit right off the bat. Let your review system naturally evolve with trial and error. If you try to stick to a standardized review from day one, you aren't adapting to your culture. Ask yourself what frequency would work best for your feedback loop. You might start off with once a month and evolve into every six months. - Tiffany Jensen, Pure Grips

10. Hire The Experts

Hire an expert to assist you with developing your performance review process. If they tell you only to do them once per year, that's bad advice because performance evaluation should truly be an ongoing process. You should be offering your team feedback throughout the year, both verbally and in writing. Even if you do a more formal review at year's end, it should never be a surprise. - Lotus Buckner, NCH

11. Understand What Is Being Measured

The best tip for managers getting started with standardized reviews for the first time to understand what is being measured and how what is going to be measured. There should be continual feedback with one-on-one and/or team meetings to ensure employees understand what is expected of them and how they will be evaluated. Document well to support an annual recap at the end of the year. - Sherry Martin, OmniTRAX

12. Ignore HR "Best Practices"

The best way to implement a successful annual review process is to not do one at all. I find annual performance reviews to be highly problematic. They are less representative of performance and more representative of a multitude of rater biases, the most prevalent of which are recency bias, confirmation bias, and the halo effect. It is best to institute a review schedule in more frequent intervals. - Gregory Pontrelli, Lausanne Business Solutions

13. Set Goals, Give Feedback And Course Correct

Startups are driven to try new things and fail fast, so the best way to drive business quickly is to continually set/assess goals, give feedback and course correct. This continuous performance management approach works for larger companies, too. The old annual review process doesn't drive business, isn't liked by anyone and doesn't create a positive experience. - Diane Strohfus, Betterworks.com

14. Keep It MECE

The most successful review processes start with a "MECE" framework. Popularized by McKinsey consultants, it stands for "mutually exclusive, collectively exhaustive." Applying this to reviews, it simply means that assessments should cover all aspects of performance, but no two categories should overlap. This helps all team members identify and isolate development areas. - Ken Kanara, Ex-Consultants Agency

15. Focus On Educating First 

Especially at startups where the concept of the review is new, make sure the first cycle includes lots of education (especially for first-time managers) about why these are important and how they can be used to drive better performance and career development for people. Skip numbered ratings and focus on areas of growth over the past period and areas of investment for the next period. - Heather Doshay

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