Performance Reviews

Performance reviews, when done right, can be a powerful retention tool for both your business and your staff. Providing your staff with regular feedback not only lets them know objectively how they are doing, but it also allows them to become a more integral part of your organization. Essentially, it comes down to providing your employees with suitable information to help them understand and fit into the culture of the company.

Beyond just helping employees become better at their jobs, performance reviews can also help prevent turnover; they cultivate top performance, professional growth, and engaged employees.

Good performance reviews involve coaching, planning, and presenting concise and useful unbiased information that employees will carry back to the job. The following provides an outline of the do’s and don’ts for conducting the most productive performance reviews.

Be prepared, don't wing it. Be ready or reschedule. Surprisingly managers are often not fully prepared or lack all the information necessary to conduct an effective appraisal.

Don't get caught up in pleasantries or small talk. It's easy to get started in polite conversation. This is not the time for that.

Turn off cell phones and hold calls. Don't be distracted. Employees will have some nervousness during the process so it's important not to have any distractions. They deserve to have your undivided attention. 

Keep the meeting private. Shut the door. No one wants to discuss personal information with the door open for coworkers to hear.

Stay on topic. Don't be a "negative Nellie” . Feedback must be constructive not destructive. Discuss their performance, not other people’s.

Keep your emotions out of the conversation--stay objective. Managers that are obsessive about a particular employee's performance can find themselves overstepping boundaries and alienating the employee.

Let the employee talk. Don't talk over them, or finish their sentence or cut them off. Be respective.

Proactively listen and actually hear what the employee is telling you. Allowing them to make their point will give them a sense that they are a part of the conversation and that their voice is being heard.

Don't give out platitudes. "You're great, you're wonderful, a hard worker" can be interpreted as insulting. If your goal is for someone to leave the evaluation feeling like it was a waste of time, then don’t use those tired old expressions like "you're the best."

Overall, it's critical to the success of the review process that you have a well-thought out approach that is fair and equitable to both the employee and the company. Mistakes can be more costly than you might imagine, including lost productivity, loss of faith in management and loss of commitment to the tasks at hand. It can literally take months or years to regain employees' lost faith. So by avoiding these common mistakes it will help you to conduct more productive performance reviews, designed for team members to grow and learn.