Whether you lead a small team or an entire department, performance reviews are a must for any manager. It is one of the best formats for feedback to be provided on both sides, and it allows you to set expectations for the following year too. Knowing how to conduct a performance review is an integral part of management which is why we have put together the following guide, so let’s get into it.
Goals & Objectives
Before you can begin conducting your performance reviews, you should think about what you want to achieve from them. A performance review serves many purposes. You need to tailor these purposes to your own end by having an idea of your goals for the reviews. Your goals might be geared more towards communicating your expectations and motivating the team. You might decide instead to focus on creating plans to help your employees with their career progression. Or finally, you might decide to use their performance reviews to come up with goals that they need to achieve before their next review. After you have decided on your objectives, you can begin to tailor your performance reviews and think about the things that you want to discuss.
Topics to Discuss
Performance reviews don’t necessarily have to be rigidly planned; it is necessary to be a little flexible and allow the conversation to flow. That being said, you should compile a list of talking points to ensure that you are covering all of the important topics. The best way to keep a conversation flowing organically is by asking open-ended questions that elicit more than a simple yes or no answer. Of course, the questions that you ask will depend on your goals for the review and the business’s goals as a whole, but they might include things like:
- How do you feel you have performed in your role this year?
- Do you have any goals for your professional development?
- What can we, as a business, do to support you?
- Is there any feedback that you would like to offer to me as a manager?
- Have you achieved the goals set for you at your last performance review?
It is all about encouraging an open and honest conversation and building a relationship with the staff.
The Process
The process often follows a loose structure. First, you communicate with your team that the performance reviews are coming up. You then need to compile a few resources, including the job descriptions of the employees that you are reviewing and any existing records regarding their performance. This can be difficult if you don’t have the proper records, which is where something like Factorials HR’s performance management system comes in. It provides you with easy and clear data that you can refer back to. It saves you time by allowing you to set performance review cycles and will automatically send out performance reviews at set times to staff. It also allows for completely anonymous reviews if required so that your staff can feel safe to put down their true feelings.
After you have prepared yourself and your employees, you need to schedule their reviews. When they turn up for their review, you need to ensure that it is a conversation. It cannot be a one-sided endeavour; otherwise, neither party is going to get enough out of it. You should also offer each employee the chance to assess their own performance. This offers you a new perspective on their performance.
When it comes to providing feedback, whether negative or positive, you need to ensure that it is constructive. Constructive criticism is designed to help your employees identify areas of improvement and growth. Positive feedback, on the other hand, is used to motivate the staff by praising the things that they have done well, encouraging them to continue with those behaviours.
After the feedback, it is time to think about setting the employee a new set of goals for the year ahead. Setting goals can be a collaborative effort; decide on them together. Remember to take into account career progression and make sure that they are easily measurable. Towards the end of the review, it comes time to ask for some feedback of your own. Ask your employee whether they have any feedback to deliver to the management team. Finally, you should deliver a summary of the key takeaways. This can be a verbal summary, or you might want to use a performance review form; you can create a copy for the employee and for your records, too. This also ensures that you have a record to refer back to when it comes to the next performance review.
The Bottom Line
A performance review can be an incredible management tool when used properly. The above process is more geared towards a formal review, but it can be customized to suit the needs of your business and management style. In addition to delivering your feedback and expectations to the staff, you are affording them the opportunity to do the same for you. You can learn a lot about your management style and your approach to business. By conducting performance reviews well, you can dramatically improve the productivity and efficiency of your workforce.
