Most of us are in organizations with personnel
policies requiring annual employee performance evaluations. These are often challenging, stressful and
dreaded by all involved. Now, Denis
Wilson, writing in Fast Company, writes that “The standard-model performance
review is an unhelpful barrage of built up criticism. Instead, give feedback consistently so that
your employees hear the good with the bad and make improvements a matter of
routine”.
According to Wilson, “If the only feedback your
employees get from you is in the form of a 6- or 12-month performance review,
it’s time to change your approach to feedback.”
Instead of waiting for the obligatory performance reviews to come
around, “you should have a built-in feedback loop with your reports.” The best approach is to be giving people
feedback on an ongoing basis about how their performance is lining up with
expectations, and giving them the guidance, support, and helping make
adjustments when needed.”
Here are some tips that Wilson recommends:
Up
your frequency:
Leaders are often unwilling or unable to engage in sufficiently detailed
and consistent dialogue with their people.
The problem is when conversations providing feedback happen
infrequently, they have a tendency to cause more harm than good. Ongoing discussions should provide clear
goals, concrete explanations, a timeline and requirements within which to meet
agreed upon goals. This makes periodic
formal performance reviews more positive and useful.
Get
your motive and facts straight: Much of the work for
effective feedback should take place well before a discussion with the
employee. Having clear intentions for
the conversation will help set an appropriate tone. Ask the question, “What is the desired
outcome of the feedback session?” The
other homework needed is to gather facts and substantive data as evidence of
the review points.
Stay
on track: Keep the
feedback sessions on track, in terms of topic and emotional balance. Don’t let the discussion veer off topic. If the discussion turns emotional, set aside
the feedback for a moment, and show that you have the person’s best interest at
heart. Emphasize the person’s potential
for success and return to the key feedback points.
Create
a candid culture:
It’s important to empower peers to provide each other with feedback and
teach them the skills to do so effectively so performance problems are handled
on the spot and between the people with which they occur. Leaders need to foster the kinds of
competencies needed to create a positive cultural operating system throughout
the organization.
Feedback
as transparency:
Encouraging feedback has operational benefits and it also contributes to
an overall healthy, open culture. That
means communicating about both successes and failures throughout the
organization.
For feedback to be effective, it “can’t be a special
occasion”. Feedback is much too often
given when things are going wrong. Of
course, feedback should always be given when things are going wrong, but it’s
equally important to also give feedback when things are going right. For the full article, go to: http://www.fastcompany.com/3004111/why-year-end-reviews-are-big-fat-waste-time?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=linkedin
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