In a lot of companies, performance reviews are fraught with worry and anxiety from the staff. From the HR department's point of view, they can be tedious and may not reveal much about the employees.
Ideally, performance reviews should help the company realize how its employees are developing over time. In reality, that's usually not the case. There are too many factors that are influenced by anxiety and expectation that impact the effectiveness of the results.
So how does a business address the ineffectiveness of its performance reviews? Fourteen experts from Forbes Human Resources Council examine how HR departments can keep performance reviews useful while making them painless to execute for both the employer and the employees.
Members share tips for streamlining the performance review process while still ensuring it's effective.
Photos courtesy of the individual members.1. Don't Wait Until The End Of The Year
Don't wait until the end of the year to capture commentary for performance reviews. You are already meeting with your direct reports on an ongoing basis – take notes from conversations and put them in a file for each employee. When it's time to complete a formal review, refer back to your notes. You will be surprised how much you may have forgotten over the course of six months or a year! - Kelly Lockwood Primus, Leading Women
2. Be Consistent And Transparent
Ultimately, we all want feedback, but we want to do it with people who are invested in us and create a safe space to have those conversations. The easiest way to form your performance reviews is to establish consistency, perhaps on a weekly or biweekly basis, and allow those sessions and data to create part of a formal performance review. Transparency on how you go about your process is critical. - Shalini Duggal, CentriLogic
3. Make Sure There Are No Surprises
There should be no "new news" in a performance review – the best managers talk openly and candidly about performance all year long, so that expectations are clear and course corrections can be made continuously. When the employee can trust that their manager isn’t going to spring unexpected feedback on them in the performance review, it builds better relationships and greater productivity. - Debbie Pollock-Berry, Save the Children US
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4. Align With Your Core Values
Make sure you align your core values to your performance reviews. In aligning these two, you create an everyday high-performance culture that everyone knows and understands. - Cathy Smith, Novalis U.S. LLC
5. Make Them An Integral Part Of Workflow
Performance reviews are scary because they're a disruption. The best way to make them painless is to make them an integral, ongoing part of employees' workflow. Not only does this make reviews easier, but it also keeps the employee more engaged and gives them the chance to correct as they go. Cultural changes like this can be greatly helped along by implementing good human resource management systems. - Danny Shteinberg, Gloat
6. Evaluate Employees On Personal Growth
Instead of judging employees on benchmarks, evaluate them on personal growth – this lets you customize each employee’s review and tie evaluations to your organization’s goals. For example, one of our values is “we act as owners and work as teams.” When I onboard employees, we discuss what it means for their position. As they progress, we evaluate how they’re serving the team and owning their work. - Katie Evans-Reber, Wonolo
7. Begin The Review With Recognition
Beginning the review with recognition not only creates an environment of mutual respect but also helps the employee stay open-minded about constructive feedback as the conversation progresses. Given that 90 % of employees report that recognition motivates them to work harder, recognizing employees during reviews is likely to encourage stronger performance after the review concludes. - Natalie Baumgartner, Achievers
8. Use A System To Capture Your One-On-Ones
Utilize a system to easily capture your one-on-ones. Your one-on-ones are a constant performance check vs. a one-time event. Focus on progress against goals, and coach around where the employee is "crushing it" or may "need help." That conversation will result in coaching to drive high performance. Capturing it in the system helps identify trends, align to your rewards and other talent management processes. - Elisa Gilmartin, Fuze
9. Frame Questions For Better Responses
One strategy for super-effective reviews is to frame employee questions for better responses. Instead of asking for a list of accomplishments, ask what they are most proud of. Instead of asking for a list of goals, ask what assignment will most challenge them. Always add "and why." The better the review questions, the better the dialogue. It gives managers a chance to reinforce desired behavior. - Karen Crone, Paycor, Inc.
10. Digitize An Immediate Crowdsourced Process
Digitize an immediate and "crowdsourced" process. Two key tenets to good performance management are feedback at the time of the event and feedback from multiple sources. By using mobile-enabled digital technologies, companies can "Uberize" the process. You can set on-the-fly objectives, ask for feedback and receive it immediately from anyone. This enables continual on-demand development. - Alvin Piket, Saudi Aramco
11. Tell A Story About The Individual
Use the process to tell a story about the individual. A performance review should encompass both the successes and opportunities over the review period. Be sure you are clear on the ratings and categories. What does "meets expectations" mean? Why was an individual given the rating they received? Make good use of the comment sections. This matters much more than the actual rating. - Tina R. Walker, California Community Foundation
12. Have Frequent Conversations
Frequent conversations (minimum of three) between the manager and an employee in the year should be strongly encouraged. During these conversations, there needs to be a good balance between setting expectations (early in the year), providing positive and constructive feedback, encouraging a longer-term career conversation, and ensuring there is good closure year-end. - Tonushree Mondal, Tonushree Mondal Consulting LLC
13. Involve Your Employees In The Process
Involve your employees throughout the process and let them drive the goal-setting process so they are bought in. Don't be afraid to push them. Stretch goals and assignments will actually motivate your employees and improve engagement. Throughout the year, take notes on their performance and do frequent check-ins to avoid a time-consuming process at the end of the year and eliminate recency bias. - Jessica Sheets, GlobalHealth
14. Use A Performance Management System
Use a performance management system that doesn't suck. Such a stigma has been created by the performance management process that unless you combat the angst it causes, you'll probably lose. When dealing with employees who dread completing a review, the software should at least be something they enjoy using. If continuous feedback's the goal, you want people to be incented to continuously log in. - Jeremy Ames, Hive Tech HR
