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Do Performance Reviews?
Most of us go through the process of performance reviews each year and this year I thought I’d try to share a few tips on making them more effective for all.
To start with, think about the following:
1. Journal your thoughts
Dedicate 4 pages for every member of your staff. Throughout the year note specific points on achievements, failures, Client feedback, project involvement and results, behavior within the team etc. I love to use a mind map for this sort of thing. So, if Autumn is the season for performance reviews, all you will need to do is whip out your mind map and create a summary for the discussion.
2. SWOT Analysis
This has always been a favorite tool for me. It is really nothing new but it sure is efficient. I typically use page 2 of the employee’s section in my journal to jot down the person’s strengths and weaknesses as they unfold during the year. Then I add to that the opportunities both inside and outside the firm in addition to the threats that I perceive relevant to this team member. I do the same SWOT for the firm as it applies to this employee such as the threat of losing this person to the competition or the opportunity to promote this person to run a new project should we land the big deal next quarter. It is very helpful in keeping my thoughts clear when decision time is upon us managers.
3. Review the Mantra and if you don’t have one… the mission statement will do. This element of the review relates performance to our company’s goals and with our company culture. One thing that I do is compare an employee’s performance with our mantra… Have they helped us to live up to our goals? How can they improve or do the goals need some adjusting? This is what I reserve page 3 of the journal for.
4. Management principles
I am asked once in a while to review a company’s management principles and rate management’s performance against these principles. This is such a ridiculous task since most managers have not memorized the principles and are expected to follow them. The real joke is that the principles are usually very honorable and inspiring but rarely if ever adhered to in the real workplace. These docs are handed to me with pride, but few managers are able to provide concrete examples of how they live up to such ideals in their daily business. How sad is that? My 2 cents… drop the ideals and get a grip on reality. Either write something that your people will use as helpful guidelines or simply stick to the mantra. End of story.
5. Client feedback
Each employee should have a folder or binder containing feedback from Clients. It serves as a reminder of good performance, gratitude and it inspires your people to keep over-delivering. I too keep a list on page 4 in my journal of every instance (that I am aware of) where Clients have provided me with feedback on my employee’s performance and whether it was positive, negative or neutral in each case. I can highly recommend this as it is usually a very real reminder of things that went right during the past year.
Since I have suffered through several ridiculous performance reviews in the past using standardized forms and the happy face vs sad face methodology which inevitably lead to more smiley faces than you can shake a stick at, I decided to ban such nonsense and get on with pissing people off when they need to hear the truth and delighting others when they over deliver and make my Clients happy – I don’t wait until the annual review, I offer my feedback on a job well done immediately.. OK, I am the first to admit… I offer my 2 cents when something goes wrong as well. After all, my goal is to over deliver and thus delight my Clients so that I can live by our mantra and help you to succeed.