The concept of a performance review can stir up feelings of anxiety for both managers and employees alike. However, a performance review is a significant opportunity to evaluate your team member’s strengths and opportunities in a mentoring environment. If the idea of conducting a performance review makes you nervous, keep reading for some helpful tips from the experts at HR Anew.
Establish a Set of Goals
Before you even schedule a performance review, it is crucial to sit down and plan out what you want to accomplish during the meeting. Start by reviewing the employee’s position description and your informal notes and records of deliverables and accomplishments for the employee. Review past performance reviews to assess the progress the employee has achieved. If there is any documentation about past performance reviews available, it is essential to review those before going into the meeting. Review any notes or goals that have been established for the employee before the meeting. We find it helpful to ask other internal leadership, clients, and colleagues who engage with the employee regularly to inquire if they have any accolades or mentoring moments for the employee to contribute before the review.
Create an Agenda
As we mentioned above, performance reviews can sometimes cause anxiety for employees. We recommend creating a shared agenda and sending it out before the performance review. Allowing your employees to have time to review the agenda and be prepared for what will be discussed could help alleviate some pressure. An agenda can also enable the employee to prepare answers to questions ahead of time instead of answering during the review.
Balance Positive Feedback with Areas of Improvement
Balancing positive feedback with areas of improvement is essential in ensuring an employee’s hard work and opportunities for professional growth don’t go unnoticed.
Listen to What Your Employee Has to Say
Performance reviews should never be a one-way street, nor shall there be any surprises. It is crucial to listen to any insights your employee may have for you, their team, or the role itself. Allow your employee adequate time to speak about their experience in the workplace and if there are any areas of improvement to make their job better. Suppose you have an employee who has not performed as well as usual. In that case, a review meeting is an excellent opportunity to listen and understand if there are external factors that may be affecting their work performance.
Work with HR Anew
Do you have questions about how to improve your performance management and productivity system? Is it time to update position descriptions to ensure you are hiring the right people to fit your organization and ensure they are aligned with your organization’s mission and strategic goals? HR Anew wants to help! Connect with us when you want innovative ideas and solutions to address the topics above. Or if you are going to optimize recruiting and hiring, orientation and onboarding, productivity, employee relations, communication and collaboration, workplace education, and training for employees and management to include diversity, equity, and inclusion. To help you enhance and strengthen the workplace by leveraging our team of Recruiting, HR, EEO, and Training experts and specialists as well as our resources, schedule a meeting with us: https://hranew.com/contact/.