Simple Performance Reviews

June is often recognised as a time of year to set budgets, review the previous 12 months and do some planning with your people.

There a few activities you could do around this time to measure engagement, take a read on your culture and check in with your people.  One of those activities is an individual performance review.  A chance to sit down with your employee and review their progress and reset goals.

Here is a simple process you could implement with your team.

Pre meeting planning and questionaire

There are many people we work with who benefit from planning in advance an gathering their thoughts.  Others may not need to plan but they may need a few prompts to get them thinking about what they want to discuss.

Below are some examples of the questions to send out in advance:

• What went well for you and your role in the last 6-12 months?

• What didnt go well for you?

• Did you achieve your goals or targets? Why/Why Not?

• How did your manager help or support you to stay on track/achieve your goals?

• If you struggled, could we have helped or supported you more?

• Has your role evolved or changed in the last 12 months?

• Have you been challenged and motivated by your work?

• Do you need any training to help you get to the next level?

• Other than salary what motivates you to work here?

• What do you want to achieve over the next 12 months personally and professionally?

The questionnaire is designed to consider engagement, culture, and performance. We want to know that our employees feel valued and enjoy coming to work.

The questions and answers can act as your agenda for your meeting.

The meeting

Utilise the pre- quesetionairre as your agenda or guide  for your discussion and work through each question, engaging in a robust conversation, listening to their feedback, thoughts and comments, while providing feedback, guidance and clear direction.  You want your employee to walk away knowing exactly where they are with their performance (good and bad) and be clear on the following, all the while, feeling good about the discussion:

• They know whether they are meeting/exceeding your expectations

• They know what to do to continue to meet or exceed expectations

• They know exactly how to rectify any improvement areas

• They have a plan of priorities or goals aligned with the business

• Any concerns they raised, were addressed and they have answers 

Following up regularly

Create the habit of checking in (with a bit more formality) regularly with each employee.  Depending on the role, responsiblities and tasks this may be monthly, quarterly or biannually.  The employee has the opportunity to share things from their perspective and for you to redirect, motivate or provide guidance as needed.  It also provides you the opportunity to raise performance issues in a less confronting way.

Whatever you choose to do, keep notes and documentation on anything you discuss or agree to.

Taking a regular structured approach with a bit of formality, can help avoid HR issues down the track.

Never done this before? Reach out for a chat.