Performance reviews: prepare for the meeting, offer constructive feedback, discuss tough topics

Performance Reviews

Get up to speed fast on essential business skills. Whether youre looking for a crash course or a brief refresher, youll find just what you need in HBRs 20-Minute Manager seriesfoundational reading for ambitious professionals and aspiring executives. Each book is a concise, practical primer, so youll have time to brush up on a variety of key management topics.

Advice you can quickly read and apply, from the most trusted source in business.

Titles include:

Creating Business Plans

Delegating Work

Finance Basics

Innovative Teams

Getting Work Done

Giving Effective Feedback

Managing Projects

Managing Time

Managing Up

Performance Reviews

Presentations

Running Meetings

Performance Reviews

Evaluate performance
Offer constructive feedback
Discuss tough topics

HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW PRESS

Boston, Massachusetts

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Performance reviews : prepare for the meeting, offer constructive feedback, discuss tough topics.
pages cm. (20 minute manager series) Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-63369-006-6 1. EmployeesRating of. 2. EmployeesEvaluation. 3. Performance standards. I. Harvard Business Review Press.
HF5549.5.R3P478 2015
658.3125dc23

2014041167

ISBN: 9781633690066
eISBN: 9781633690073

Preview

Youve just received word that its time to conduct annual performance reviews for your direct reports. You know these evaluations offer a great opportunity for change and growthfor stellar employees, subpar performers, and those in between. But year after year, you find yourself ill prepared, and your assessment ends up being more of a formality than an opportunity for employee improvement. This book walks you through the step-by-step process of conducting performance reviews so youll be better equipped when it comes time for this crucial task. Youll learn to:

Use direct observation and other resources to make an objective assessment

Formally document your evaluation

Discuss both achievements and performance gaps

Turn negative feedback into a productive conversation

Set challenging but achievable goals

Make feedback and follow-up an ongoing part of your job

Contents

Performance Reviews

The Basics

The Basics

Every year youre faced with the same task: You must conduct performance reviews with your direct reports. When handled correctly, this process can result in better job performance and higher morale within your team, which can have a positive influence on your entire organization.

But reviewing and assessing a persons performance, not to mention discussing your evaluation with that individual, can be demanding and stressful. This is your opportunity to help your employees improve, but like most managers, you probably dont enjoy telling people theyre not performing as well as they could or should. Its particularly challenging to broach the topic of constructive feedback with an employee whose overall performance is less than satisfactory. And even a review of a high-achiever requires careful preparation, documentation, and follow-up to be effective.

This book will teach you the basics of conducting performance reviews, from evaluating an employees performance and documenting your assessment to having the conversation, recording what happened, and following up. The advice in this book will also help you grow more comfortable with the performance review process by giving you techniques for tackling those tough conversations. Finally, youll learn how to make evaluating performance and giving feedback a regular part of your job throughout the year, so that when review time rolls around again, youre not left stressed and scrambling.

What is a performance review?

A performance review is the process of evaluating the quality of your employees work and discussing your assessment with them. It is usually conducted annually, with follow-ups as needed. These formal appraisals are an important part of performance managementwhich includes activities such as goal setting, regular feedback, review, and employee developmentand is used to measure and improve employee effectiveness on an ongoing basis.

Just like a doctor conducting a yearly physical, an annual review affords you the opportunity to identify whats going well with an employees performance and to diagnose problems before they worsen. For the recipient of the review, it answers two critical questions: What is expected of me? and How well am I meeting those expectations? Both the recipient and the reviewer then have the chance to discuss opportunities for growth, strategize how to correct course if problems exist, and collaborate on new yearly targets so the employee can move forward in his job and career.

Performance reviews also provide organizations with vital data needed to make and justify staffing decisions by assessing the overall strength of their workforce, identifying top contributors and candidates for promotion, and pinpointing subpar performers. In addition, these evaluations protect your organization with documentation in the case of legal challenges by disgruntled employees who have been terminated, demoted, or denied a raise.

Attentive guidance and coaching, whether scheduled or spontaneous, should be an ongoing part of your working relationship throughout the year (and, in fact, are pivotal to having an accurate depiction of your direct reports performance when review time comes around again). But a formal annual review reinforces that effort by giving you a predetermined op portunity to share feedback with your employees and to officially record that feedback for the organization and for future reference.

The performance review process

Your organizations HR department may already have an established performance review system that you should follow or a formal evaluation form you need to complete. If so, be aware of those requirements, and shift your implementation of the process outlined in this book accordingly. If your organization doesnt have any formal procedures or documentation in place for performance reviews, this book provides a process and tools that you can use. This process includes: