Traditional employee performance reviews have been receiving a lot of criticism lately, the reason being they are not effective at driving performance.

Performance reviews, irrespective of their frequency, are often a herculean task for the managers. The strategies listed in this article can help the supervisors create positive experiences to cheer their team members and motivate high performance.

Performance reviews, otherwise known as performance appraisals or evaluations, are two-way, individualized conversations between managers and employees about performance impact, development, and growth. They are a vital element of an organization’s overall performance management plan.

Conventionally, performance reviews that aim at evaluating past performance happen once a year. However, appraisals in recent times take place on a quarterly or monthly basis and focus on improving forthcoming performance.

Performance reviews are crucial as they:

• Impact employee engagement and retention.

• Help build trust among employees, managers, and the organization at large.

• Enable employees to identify their needs, desires, and challenges.

• Provide opportunities to discuss feedback, celebrate achievements, and strengthen organizational alignment.

• Help managers identify the strengths and weaknesses of teammates and devise ways for improvement.

• Allow managers to connect employees to the bigger mission and goals of the organization.

• Offer the data an organization needs to make important decisions related to compensation, promotions, development, role changes, exits, etc.

How Can Employers Help Managers?  

Research has revealed that managers aren't too fond of the whole performance appraisal system. The reality being that several managers don't know how to optimize the appraisal process, it requires the employers to offer them proper training to make the most out of it. Experts suggest taking care of the following points during the training to witness a more efficient appraisal process:

• ‍Do not highlight administrative details: Instead of viewing it as an administrative task, employers should promote the appraisal system as a necessary process. This can improve the workforce's performance in the future and uplift the business goals.‍

• Explain common mistakes: Managers make several mistakes in the performance review process. Their tendency to have biases (either positive or negative) towards the employee being reviewed tops the list of mistakes. Other common blunders they commit include, rating every employee around an average, evaluating employees based on recent projects/ events instead of the whole period of review, etc. ‍

• Set clear expectations: Supervisors should know both the time frames for completing evaluations and the standards against which their evaluations will be judged. They should be asked to let the employees be prepared for the evaluation, identify key issues/themes that need to be discussed. They need to clearly explain accomplishments and failures to the team members by documenting both good and bad performance. Make sure they are constructive in their approach as the focus has to be on what the employees need to do next to develop knowledge and skills for improving performance. Also, they have to be reminded to avoid details that don’t pertain to the employee’s performance.

Note: Gallup's research shows that personalized recognition tailored to an employee's strengths can be beneficial.

What Needs to be Done by the Managers

1. Understand The Elements of an Effective Performance Review

Here are some of the major components of the review process that managers have to consider.

• Performance reviews should happen frequently. The traditional annual review system needs to be replaced with a more frequent (quarterly or monthly) evaluation process.
• Managers should provide immediate coaching and help their teams overcome the roadblocks to efficiency.
• Performance reviews should be two-way conversations. Managers and employees should equally contribute to the conversation, and every conversation should promote trust, reduce anxiety, create clarity, and promote alignment.
• Performance review conversations should not be solely about past performance. They can address matters like career growth and development, alignment to organizational goals, key messages from the management team, peer feedback, customer feedback, etc.
• Performance reviews have to be future-focused. Though it is important to acknowledge past performance, your employees should be given immediate feedback so they can improve performance on the go. A future-focused approach reveals that you care about their future.

2. Gather Employee Data and Examples from Various Sources.

To ensure the objectivity of the appraisals, managers have to collect data and examples from a variety of sources such as recent recognition, engagement survey responses, 360-degree feedback from other managers or colleagues, talent review ratings, one-on-one notes, goal progress, hiring documents, etc. To avoid bias and misinformation, every statement made by the supervisor should be fueled by data, and not by their individual opinion.

3. Encourage Active Participation of the Employees.

Employees will have a high opinion of the appraisal process if they are active participants in it. To achieve this, self-evaluations must be a part of the performance review process. Also, see to it that you include 360-degree feedback so that every employee can assess the performance of their managers and peers. Before the appraisal meeting takes place, managers should work with each employee to create a clear, shared, and collaborative agenda with main points of discussion.

4. Link Performance Appraisals to Organizational Goals.

Experts claim that when your employees realize that they are going to be graded on the progress they made toward goals the entire company shares, they will alter their behavior accordingly. By bringing up the organizational goals in the performance reviews, employees will be reinforced to improve their efforts to fulfill the company’s objectives.

5. Ask The Right Performance Review Questions.

It becomes important to ask the right questions to keep you focused on the topics that are vital to the success of your employees in particular, and the organization in general. You may include some of the following questions in your performance review:

• What accomplishment(s) from the last quarter are you most satisfied with?
• What areas do you think you need improvement on?
• What impact has your performance had on the team/ organization?
• How can I improve as your manager?
• What goals do you have for the next quarter?
• What hurdles are standing in your way?

6. Choose Your Words Cautiously.

When you meet with your employees for the appraisal, you’ve to be thoughtful, considerate, and take the time to prepare. Make sure you stay positive and constructive, focus on solving problems and suggesting growth opportunities, emphasize the individual and avoid bias, and treat good performance with respect.

7. Identify How Negative Feedback is Received.

Managers should understand how the employees react to negative feedback. When providing adverse feedback, it is vital to adhere to the facts and focus on steps that help the employees improve their future performance. This will give them a clear idea about how to avoid the same issues and mistakes while moving ahead. It must be kept in mind that the motive of a performance review is not to point out the negative aspects. You must highlight the notable skills or aptitudes demonstrated by the employees to balance negative with positive feedback.

8. Listen Actively.

Since performance conversations should be a dialogue, listening to the employees will help managers understand them better. After an employee shares their feedback, you may repeat what you heard. This allows you to check that you correctly understood what the other person said.

9. Close The Conversation with Agreed Upon Next Steps.

Performance conversations shouldn’t come to a close when the meeting is over. Managers should make sure that they and their employees review notes, define the next steps, and follow up with shared comments and feedback. Employee performance follow-up is an integral part of an effective review. By keeping the conversation alive and maintaining an open-door policy, your employees will feel motivated to perform better in the upcoming quarter.

‍Bonus Tip: Track the success of your employee reviews. This requires the managers to build a strategy that lets them keep track of their employees’ progress in the future.

In Conclusion

It’s high time employers and managers realized the need to abandon their yearly performance appraisal system. To enhance the performance of your employees, you require novel and flexible solutions to keep pace with the industry trends in these challenging times. We’re sure the strategies outlined in this article will help you craft an effective system for performance evaluation that in turn contributes to your organizational growth.

OnBlick assists you with HR Services that upgrade your employee experience and bestow you with a more productive workforce. We will also keep you posted with the latest immigration developments as they become available. To know more about us, book a demo today!

‍

‍

‍

‍

‍

‍