7 Must-Have Elements in Job Reviews
If you've ever been part of Corporate America, you know the year-end calendar is usually accompanied with a ominous assignment: the dreaded task of writing and receiving "performance evaluations." The angst isn't typically about receiving feedback, but about the stilted, awkward process of forcing evaluations (grades/numbers/ranks) into a bell curve and then defending the employee's ranking as entirely objective. Or maybe it's uncomfortable because the supervisor doesn't know the employee very well or the job description is poorly understood. There are plenty of pitfalls for everyone to fall in.
Most people I know dread the review drill and, to be generous, question its effectiveness. Rarely is the problem the people in the process; the craziness is about the system.
A couple of years ago I read an article where the author, Samuel Culbert, railed against the ridiculousness of writing job evaluations. I distinctly remember he argued that reviews do more harm than good. Culbert made a good case and the article (here) had lots of zingers such as:
"The performance review done exactly as intentioned is just as horribly flawed as the review done "poorly." You can't bake a great cake with rotten milk, no matter how skilled the chef."
Ouch! No matter how skilled you are with people, your review will be terrible.
Still, the system shows no signs of disappearing, so rather than fighting back, it's more helpful to figure out how to make the ritual useful. I've survived over 25 years of reviews (giving and receiving) and here are my seven non-negotiables when I'm giving someone feedback :
1. Know the person
No one really cares about your opinion unless you know them.
This doesn't mean you have to be hanging out on weekends, but if you don't know that the person you're reviewing has been struggling with an aging parent or ill child, your input will be marginalized. They may respect your authority, but that's where your influence ends.
Relationship paves the way to influence. Do your work of relationship building before you show up to evaluate the year.
2. Identify strengths
Your employee's greatest opportunity for growth is by fully leveraging their strengths. If you can't describe what each person on your staff does well in a few words, you need to figure that out. I use StrengthFinders 2.0 as an off-the-shelf tool, but I also love the Action & Influence tool. Your organization may use these or Myers-Briggs or Birkman or Right Path.
The point isn't the tool, but the knowledge of how your team, in general, and each employee, in particular, contributes. When you know what you're looking for, you can speak to those strengths in the review.
3. Discuss challenges in advance
Nothing you say in a review should surprise the employee. If you have something negative to say, don't ever, ever, EVER let the review be the first place the employee hears from you. They will, rightfully, feel set-up, and you've destroyed the trust in the relationship.
Have tough conversations as soon as necessary. Challenges are like weeds in that they are always easier to pull when they're small. Do corrective work early and avoid surprises always.
4. Customize the form
Don't let the "official form" cramp your style. Write what your want to say and communicate the information in a way that makes sense to you and your employee. The form is supposed to SERVE the people in management. Management doesn't exist to serve the form!
Marginalize whatever doesn't work so you can have a productive conversation.
5. Acknowledge the dance
If the review/compensation process is illogical, antiquated, or, worse yet, gamed, don't act like it's not. Respect the intelligence of your employee. If you have to fit everyone into a bell curve grading system, acknowledge the constraint. Be transparent.
When people see behind the curtain, they may not be happy with the process, but they will respect the honesty.
6. Ask "How can I help?"
If you manage people, hopefully you know your success is tied to your staff's success. Therefore, you have a vested interest in making "their deal" more important than "your deal." You are, and should be, serving the needs of your staff. The most basic way to reinforce this fact is to ask the question, "How can I help?"
One warning! If you ask, you must listen and follow up with the answer.
Ignoring the answer is worse than not asking the question.
7. Cast a vision
Finally, any review primarily looking in the rear-view mirror misses the point. The goal of an evaluation is to set up an employee for future success. You should spend more than half of your time during an evaluation discussing what's next. This requires leaning on your knowledge of the employee and the organization, of course. More importantly, this part of the conversation means you should show up with a clear vision of where you're heading.
If the path forward is cloudy to you, you can't expect an employee to see beyond the fog you're in. Think through where you're headed and be prepared to share the vision.