Performance Review Strategy
A once-a-year email based on a stale rubric in Microsoft Word isn't going to be effective.
Employees need coaching. As a manager, you have to give your employees regular feedback and guidance on how to move toward success.
Most performance review problems are
Two options
If you have bad managers
You'll run away your A-players. A-players like to work other A-players. If their manager isn't an effective manager and coach, they're automatically a B-player, at best. Maybe a C-player. What happens when you run off your A-players and are left with B- and C-player managers?
If you have good managers
You'll keep your A-players, get the most out of your B-players, and maximize finding the right next steps for your C-players.
What employees want most is clear direction and guidance on how to be successful.
Where the problem starts
Managers often go lengths of time without giving feedback or coaching to their employees. Employees are under the impression they're doing a good job, only to be blind-sided by performance review they feel contradicts what expectations their manager had communicated all along.
Nothing inhibits an employee's performance more than being told success is one thing, doing that thing, then having you ignore it and talk about something else in the performance review.
What you said success is has to be invariably tied to the employee's performance evaluation. If it's not, you're breaking trust. You're telling your employee their effort doesn't matter because the goalposts move whenever it's convenient for you.
There should be no surprises in a performance review. The performance review should be a recap of all the feedback and coaching you've already given the employee throughout the year.
What you actually need
You need a regular feedback mechanism. Regular one-on-ones where you talk about what's working and what isn't.
You need a few simple tools:
Open-ended review
Describe the employee's output. Give credit where credit is due. Give clear feedback and coaching where it's needed. This is what your employee needs from you.
A, B, or C rating
This keeps a simple way for the manager to evaluate performance individually and talent across the org or team.
Potential: High, Medium, or Low
Hint: Low doesn't mean bad. This gives you a way to find the employees who are primed to take on more responsibility. You might have an A-player with Low Potential—maybe they're great in their role, but they're not someone you'll look to for a management position.
These are what management needs to see how talent across the org or team is shaping up. And it's what your employee needs to continuously improve and be a great contributor in your organization..
Your job as a leader
As a leader of an organization or team, it's your job to ensure these basic principles are being practiced for all of your employees' benefit.
That means:
- No ambiguty for what success looks like
- Pushing managers to invest the proper time and thought into the development of their employees and retention of the talent on their team
- Ensuring every manager is giving each of their employees the best possible opportunity to be successful
- Understanding that if a manager is not doing these things for their employees, they are your C-players
It might sound kitschy, but t's about being a decent human being. Don't be selfish. Build up your employees. Stop worrying about yourself and do everything you can to create opportunities for success for those you're responsible for.
How I help
I want to help you establish a simple system so that every manager has the tools and guidance to be an effective manager and coach for their employees.
I want to help you make your company be a place your employees love working at.