As promised, here is a second slightly different format for keeping the annual performance review a positive and worthwhile experience for the individual, the manager and the organization. This is a slightly more open approach than the one described in my last post. Both of them, if delivered in the proper spirit, will get you a much more sustainable, positive reaction from the employee than the old fashioned finger-wagging approach.
Let the individual know a week in advance that you are going to have the review based on the following structure.
1. The employee will get to speak in a free, open-ended and detailed manner using the following sentence start: “What I feel best about in my performance over the last year is…”
and/or, “I did my best work over the last year in the following areas…”
The manager’s job during this initial piece is to listen, mirror and take notes. This is a one-way “send”…meaning that the manager doesn’t interrupt or comment. He or she may elicit more from the employee by using language such as, “Tell me more about that.” Or, “Could you give me one or more specific examples of that so I understand you fully?” This is done in a friendly, genuinely inquisitive tone.
2. Now the manager will speak to the same issue, using the sentence start: “What I feel best about in your performance over the last year is…” and/or “I think you did your best work in the last year in the following areas…” The manager should have come to the meeting with these positive observations in written form; using bullet points is sufficient. The employee’s job during this piece is also to listen, mirror and take notes.
3. Now the employee presents self-coaching points. He can use the following sentence start: “If I were sitting across the table and coaching myself, my suggestions to myself about how to have a great year going forward would be as follows…” The employee should be told in advance that all these coaching points should be phrased in a positive manner. He should also speak to what personal resources he will have to tap to achieve this and what additional support and/or resources he will need from the manager and the organization. Self-criticism can be as negative and de-motivating as criticism from another. Once again, the manager listens, uses “tell me more” inquisitive language, takes notes and mirrors.
4. Now the manager presents his own coaching points to the individual. These also should be in writing prior to the meeting in succinct form…but the manager can certainly add to them based on the exchange. These are all framed positively. The language looks like, “You’ve done a good job in this area. I think you will be even more effective and productive if you add XYZ activity” or “if you tap your team-mates more” or “if you improve your mastery of the technology” and so on. There is a conscious intention to avoid “don’t” type negative language. This isn’t because we think employees are wimps. It’s because we think they are human and humans hear so many “don’t” messages when we are growing up, when we hear them as adults, they tend to trigger an unconscious childhood reaction so that we argue or withdraw. Both of those reactions are sub-optimal for growth. We also avoid personalizing our suggestions in the sense of telling the individual that they let us down or let their team down. We can say, “The team needs more from you in this area…and I am confident you have the capacity to deliver.” That’s about as personal as it should ever get. We want to keep the conversation on accurate information based on performance stats and direct observation by other team-mates anonymously submitted (the well known 360 degree approach) and by ourselves as supervisors. The manager should also address the issue of what personal resources the employee will have to draw upon and what additional support and/or resources the company will be able to provide to help make real the targeted improvements.
5. The meeting is completed by a collaborative effort between employee and manager to winnow through the self-coaching and management coaching points and come up with those areas of maintenance and/or improvement that will have the highest leverage in leading to the specific enhanced performance that will most benefit the team/company. The manager records these points and after the meeting, types them up and emails them to the employee with a heading such as “Agreed Focal Points for the Coming Year for (employee’s name). The employee is encouraged to keep this list in a highly visible place for self-reminding. The manager should do the same because
6. This list should be re-visited every month without fail. Sadly, this is where a lot of managers fall down. They “get too busy”. It should never be acceptable to them or top management for anyone with supervisorial responsibility over people to be too busy to track them assiduously. Changes are called for in an individual manager’s perspective or actual schedule if this happens…and pronto.
Once again, this approach is based on a good hiring process that has brought you serious minded workers capable of honest self-appraisal and self-correction. When you treat such people with the respect they deserve, you are far more likely to get the best of what they have to bring to their responsibilities on a sustainable basis.
Note of appreciation: I adapted this process from one I learned in my training at the Pasadena Institute for Relationships during my Imago training. I'm grateful to Drs. Bruce Crapuchettes and Francine Beauvoir for having taught it and to Dr. Harville Hendrix for having created it. It was not initially designed for workplace settings. However, since organizations were my wheelhouse, I immediately began to apply it to the workplace with excellent results and those results have held.
C 2011 Bob Kamm
Note of appreciation: I adapted this process from one I learned in my training at the Pasadena Institute for Relationships during my Imago training. I'm grateful to Drs. Bruce Crapuchettes and Francine Beauvoir for having taught it and to Dr. Harville Hendrix for having created it. It was not initially designed for workplace settings. However, since organizations were my wheelhouse, I immediately began to apply it to the workplace with excellent results and those results have held.
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