From the experience and insight I’ve gained throughout my career I have found 5 key reasons why performance reviews generally lack effectiveness. Without further ado, here they are:
Reviews are often a ‘one and done conversation’ and as such are missed opportunities for ongoing coaching.
Here is what tends to happen. Reviews are written (supervisor’s review of employee and employee’s self evaluation). There is a meeting to discuss the reviews. Goals are agreed upon and the meeting feels productive. And then the review is filed away until the following year.
Is this happening at your agency?
You want to be inspiring and make your employee feel good in his/her review…but there is a missed opportunity to provide constructive, honest feedback.
Brene Brown, the author of “Dare to Lead” has a great piece of advice as it relates to giving input: “Clear is kind. Unclear is unkind”.
Two things happen far too often:
- Managers sugarcoat input and the lack of clarity gives the employee a false sense of confidence and therefore, the license to keep up the same behaviors
- the Manager does the opposite – gives input that demotivates and / or undermines the self-confidence of the person being reviewed.
Are you providing any kind of coaching for your people on how to give honest, but effective input and feedback?
Setting goals as part of the review process is standard, but are they “SMAC” goals?
For employees to achieve their goals, it is critical that the right type of goals are set. They should be Specific, Measurable, Attainable and yet still Challenging (SMAC). And timing should be attached to each goal.
Feel free to let me know if you want more information on SMAC goals.
Your perspective, as their supervisor, is critical, but the agency business is a team sport. Are you incorporating feedback from others beside yourself?
If you are incorporating others’ input, that is potentially great. BUT, it can be a problem when people, who are asked for input, are afraid to be honest about the person being reviewed. They feel that their honesty could come back to haunt them.
How do you help your team know that input will be held confidentially and that there will not be repercussions for giving candid, honest input?
Review “season” at most agencies is labor-intensive as multiple reviews are due at once and the pressure to get them done is high. Is there a better way?
I can’t tell you how many people, including myself at times, felt overwhelmed when they have 5-10 employee reviews all due at the same time. And oh by the way, regular work still must get done. The inclination is to just power thru the reviews. In other words, there is more of an incentive to finish them versus making them constructive and true opportunities for growth.
If you want to discuss how your reviews can be more effective, I’d love to hear from you. Please leave a comment below or send me a message.