Don’t Panic: Fail-Proof Performance Review
“Performance Review” — what do you feel when you hear this term?
Whether on the giving end or the receiving end, most people have a negative connotation, thinking of time spent on a heavy and dreadful process, inducing stress, unpleasant emotions and some bad memories.
But it doesn’t need to be like that at all!
Why does the performance review suck?
First, there is almost always no guidance to managers and directs about the content and delivery, only how to use the tool for the review.
As it is infrequent, it’s not practicable, which adds a lot of stress, and at the same time is high stakes.
But the most important reason is managers don’t do the hard work during the year. They are often not requested, taught and trained to do it, and are led to believe that the right thing to do is to give feedback once per year. If you go to the gym only once per year and wonder why there is no change in your fitness, it’s really the same.
Managers don’t give constant timely feedback, both positive and negative, so the directs are not given the chance to improve. How fair is that?
Then, they share the performance evaluation with their own manager and with HR, but only as observers, as they had nothing to do with the performance.
What additionally happens sometimes, is averaging or inflating of reviews — even though managers know very well how is a top performer and a bottom one, they give similar reviews. This is because they are well aware that they didn’t do their job giving feedback.
In these cases, the performance review is a complete surprise for the direct, positive or negative.
To make things even worse, some performance reviews are only a numeric evaluation, without any elaboration, and without resulting development plans. These are more common in companies that use them only for compensation discussions.
As if that’s not enough, in many cases the manager didn’t keep a journal of the directs’ highlights and lowlights, examples and progress, resulting in the performance review containing mostly the past 2 weeks and something big that happened in the past.
The origin of the performance review
The performance review originated in the army, where commanders might get killed in battle, and quickly appointing the next commander is crucial.
This performance review was not shared with the individual, only with the commander.
As you see, the performance review was not intended to improve performance!
The real purpose of performance review
Most companies are off a battlefield — they have other needs.
No question, that some companies do performance reviews because others do them and they believe that this is the core of performance management, that this is the single event, in which feedback is finally given to the employee, after a year of withholding.
Companies that are deliberate in their practices use them for:
Succession planning: In case the current manager leaves abruptly or in a graceful manner, the organization needs to know who the person is who could take the lead.
Compensation reasoning: Whether fighting for a raise for your direct with your boss, HR and Finance, or whether justifying no increase to the direct — that’s the data to base your recommendation upon.
Promotion discussions: Whether you want to promote your direct, or they request a promotion, again, you need data to justify and communicate your decision.
Layoffs: In case of unfortunate discussions about who to lay off and who to keep, have data rather than feelings. The well-prepared manager may keep more of their people.
How to do an effective performance review?
The performance review doesn’t have to suck and be a source of anxiety.
Let’s cover the ongoing work and the event of delivery.
Preparation
Constantly throughout the year:
- Give ongoing positive and negative feedback in 1:1s or immediately after events.
Think of it as driving the highway — you make small constant corrections over big turns.
This feedback is about hard skills, soft skills, company values, the group’s subculture, your expectations, the job description and the career ladder - “Journaling” — collect and document feedback and data throughout the year per direct. You will not remember things after a year and waste time looking for them. Have examples prepared as well — behavior, not judgment, e.g.:
> “avoided helping colleagues during an incident”, not “were not a team player”
> “presented architecture review in a clear manner…”, not “good communicator” - Coach the directs, prepare IDP — tap into their strengths and perhaps weaknesses that limit their effectiveness or career
- If eventually there is a mismatch, don’t wait for the performance review to let someone go. It hurts the team and the individual and reduces the performance
For the evaluation:
- Write the evaluation according to your company’s form, based on the journal
- Don’t surprise with new feedback, it’s just a summary of already discussed topics. An exception might be new information learned in a 360 feedback from peers
- Have one clear message they can easily repeat (backed by all the elaborations and examples):
Rating, e.g. “meets expectations”
Result: either no change (not a good thing, everyone progresses around us), more responsibility (e.g. facilitate, reporting), ready for promotion, take over a new area, reduce responsibility, demotion, termination
Ramification: whatever the result is — the plan to get there, such as creating new relationships, learning a new topic, taking over some tasks. - If haven’t done so, prepare IDP for them now with measurable goals
Conversation
- Schedule 90 minutes in advance to talk about the performance in 1:1
- Send an email to the directs explaining to them what to expect in the meeting and to fill in their self-assessment on time
- If there is a direct’s self-assessment, read it before the meeting
- In the evening before the scheduled meeting, share your performance review with the direct, so they are not surprised during the meeting, not listening to the key message
- Be fully present — no email, slack or phone
- Keep eye contact, smile, remain calm without arrogance, no voice raising or yelling
- For each section, read out loud their self-assessment and your evaluation, and discuss any differences. As mentioned there should be no surprises for the direct at this point, if you did your job
- State the clear message they’d take away. If you only make recommendations for such changes without required approvals, do not promise these changes
- If there are approved compensation changes or lack of, state them now
Summary
You owe your organization and your directs a great management experience.
Following this guidance is much more likely to not cause anxiety and emotions because the direct knows where they stand, nothing is a surprise, assuming an ethical manager.
Performance reviews are effective, not time-consuming and less stressful when the manager does the work throughout the year. They are a theater full of drama when they don’t.
Further details
High-resolution guidance can be found on the Manager Tools ‘ podcast.
