Top talent is an essential ingredient for successful businesses, but one of the secrets to development and retention is that it requires thoughtful investment from employers who are willing to give feedback to, coach and support their workforce. For many, performance management still means waiting until the dreaded annual review. But performance management should be a flexible and meaningful process that is about much more than just checking a box. Good performance management engages the manager and employee in a meaningful, thought-provoking conversation that's focused on the future.
Performance Management By Design
Know what you hope to accomplish with any performance feedback system you use. Conducting an annual review simply because it's what you've always done is not productive. The review conversation must create value for everyone involved. Experiment with different approaches to performance feedback until you find one that supports your beliefs and values as a company. Whatever framework you choose, real-time feedback and genuine dialogue are best.
Performance Management Methods
Annual reviews are just one way to think about performance management. For startups and other fast-paced companies where priorities shift frequently in response to the market, infrequent evaluations can be impractical. Dynamic companies require the ability to swiftly identify what is and isn't working, iterate and respond to unforeseen changes.
Other options in your performance management toolkit may include:
Quarterly check-ins: It's impractical to condense a year's worth of feedback into one evaluation. Quarterly check-ins offer continuous feedback with the advantages of a structured discussion framework. Employees will know they have a chance to step back periodically and discuss their overall performance and impact.
Regular one-on-one meetings: Frequent, coaching-based conversations enable real-time feedback and support employee development. Consider creating a document to track achievements, challenges and goals discussed at each one-to-one meeting. Encourage your team members to do the same. This will also come in handy during formal reviews.
Manager feedback: A true feedback culture means that feedback flows in both directions. It can be difficult for employees to be open with their managers due to the power differential. Annual or quarterly performance conversations create a natural opening for managers to invite input on their own performance. This can be as simple as asking, "What behaviors should I start, stop and continue?"
Self-assessments: Any performance conversation should invite employees' self-reflections about what they do well and where they would like to improve. Bonus points if you take the opportunity to ask whether your direct report feels valued, challenged and a sense of belonging.
Preparing For The Conversation
Performance management means building on strengths as well as managing poor performance. Even if an employee is struggling in one area, they're also likely to be doing many things right. Be sure to recognize their achievements and thank them for their contributions. For less experienced employees in particular, gaining a sense of their strengths and how they are perceived in the workplace is useful for developing their sense of professional identity.
Addressing Performance Challenges
Be clear on your intention and desired outcome before addressing performance challenges. Are you giving feedback or are you having an accountability conversation? There is a time and place for each.
Supportive feedback on performance challenges is offered with a spirit of curiosity and a desire to see employees succeed. Have you ever worked in a fear-based culture or had a critical or impatient boss? In these environments, it is not safe to make mistakes. Imagine the gift it would have been if your performance challenges had been approached with the assumption that you were doing your best with the knowledge and tools available to you.
As simple as it sounds, a desire to understand what is getting in the way of people doing their best work can transform challenges into success stories.
Accountability conversations can help when clearly stated expectations have not been met, or a line of acceptable behavior has been crossed. Your goal is to clearly state the problem, the impact of their behavior, and expectations going forward. You need to talk openly about consequences if the behavior still doesn't change.
Be intentional about which type of conversation you're going to have, and be careful not to talk first about accountability before the employee knows there's a performance problem.
Preparing Employees
Before any formal review, let employees know what to expect. Be clear that reviews include strengths and areas for employee growth, and that you're looking forward to hearing how you can better support them. Consider giving employees an overview or a copy of your notes before meeting so that they feel prepared to discuss any uncomfortable feedback. Allow space for the emotions that might come up during difficult conversations, and be open to changing your perspective on employees' performance based on what they share with you. There are two sides to almost every story.
What's most important is that managers and leaders give and invite feedback early and often, as a way to establish a healthy feedback culture.
