Using the Performance Review To Make Staff Members Famous

As leaders, each year we are required to complete a performance review on each staff member who reports to us. It is a time of anticipation and concern for both the reviewer and the reviewed. A lot depends on the results of your evaluation. It may mean a pay raise, a promotion, a special assignment or a gut check that says you can do better. At the extreme, it may mean the loss of your job for not meeting company standards, a layoff, downsizing, rightsizing or whatever you want to call it.

There is a sense of uneasiness at review time that otherwise would not be there. One morning you’re having coffee with a co-worker, making small talk, enjoying each other’s company, and the next morning you’re evaluating his or her performance. In the back of your mind, you wonder if he or she will ever talk to you again in the same way as before the review. However, duty calls, so you suck it up and do the review to the best of your ability, for the good of the company.

I sometimes wonder, who am I to be passing judgment on the merits of staff, whether they met, did not meet or exceeded standards? Perhaps someone with human behavior skills would be a better choice, some expert on organizational behavior, maybe a Ph.D. in organizational efficiency or productivity. Well, maybe not a Ph.D. Why me? A little voice in the back of my head says, because you’re the boss, that’s why they pay you the big bucks, that’s why they call it a job. So quit complaining and procrastinating and go do it and do it well!

That initial moment when you sit down with a staff member to do a review can be awkward. Most communications books will suggest an icebreaker. You might want to try this: “As you know, the company requires an annual performance review on all employees and one of my responsibilities is to evaluate your performance for this past year.” That gets rid of guilt and the unworthy issue. You’ve reminded the staff member and yourself that it is your job to do this evaluation.

Next, I ask the staff member how he or she thinks the year went. Hopefully the staff member will talk about his or her performance for a period of time. You may hear items that you can highlight in your review comments. Now it’s time to give your review. Start with positive remarks reinforcing the staff member’s analysis of his or her performance. Then comes the moment when you must discuss what areas need improvement. Be direct and offer ways to improve performance.

I’m not sure why it is that we focus so much on standards that were not met, but it has always bothered me even, though I have done it myself. For example, “Jeffrey, in my twenty-five years as a supervisor, you are finest staff member I have had the pleasure of working with, and you have had an extraordinary year. But there is one thing you need to improve on.” The staff member goes home to his or her family, they ask how the review went and the staff member answers, “There is just one thing I can’t seem to get right.” All positive comments are lost.

One way of overcoming this problem is to begin summarizing the performance review with what needs improvement. Get a clear understanding of what must be done and offer options to make improvement. Now you are free to reaffirm positive accomplishments of the past year. Here comes the surprise for the staff member. Before you close the review meeting, ask the staff member to review the scores and upgrade one item to the next highest score as a bonus for his or her efforts and contributions to the success of the company.

Don’t miss the expression on his or her face. It will range from joy to disbelief to “Are you nuts?” Finally, sit next to the staff member and hand write a note in the comment section of the performance review. The note can be as brief as “Thanks,” “Thank you for all your efforts,” or “Our company would be a lesser place without your efforts and support.” Make sure you write the person’s name in as part of the note, date it and sign your name.

The staff member will show your note and talk about the bonus to everyone he or she sees, or at least to everyone who will listen. You’ll get the improvement you requested and then some. Most importantly, you made the staff member famous with his or her family and friends. A nice side benefit is that you made yourself famous along way.

I’ll see you in the front row of success.