If you lead a team at work, you’ll likely have to conduct performance reviews for your direct reports at some point during the year. Many companies have a formal performance review process, but not many companies train managers in how to lead through this process. Employees see the performance review process as a chore, and usually, it is because their managers are not treating the process as a beneficial personal development forum. Performance reviews should be productive – they should reward achievement while also encouraging growth and development. How can you effectively lead your team through the performance review process, and ensure everyone walks away from the process feeling like it was worthwhile?
Performance review processes and timelines can vary significantly based on the company. Over the years, some companies have tried to make the performance review process more fair. Some have implemented peer review processes or other means of providing a 360-degree view of every employee. Instead of your direct manager being the only person to provide a review of your performance, you can ask your peers or others to provide input for you. Companies have tried to cut down on the amount of time the process takes up by removing layers of evaluation, including levels of “laddering” meetings where managers gather to sequentially rank every employee at a given level. There’s still a lot to be debated about the fairness of different approaches to evaluating employee performance.
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As a manager, you will be involved in the performance review process by coaching your direct reports and evaluating their performance. Regardless of the details, timelines, and people involved, most companies include these common elements in performance reviews:
- Employee Goals – Every employee creates performance goals for the given performance time period. In some companies, these could be yearly goals, in other companies, they might be shorter-term goals to be completed in the quarter or half-year. Many companies will encourage you to write SMART goals.
- Employee Self Input – Every employee provides input to their goals and their performance. This input is encouraged to include progress on goals, if the goals were achieved, and any other noteworthy achievements.
- Manager Input and Review – Managers review the Employee Goals and Employee Self Input, and then provide their input. This input might be a summary of the employee’s overall performance, or it might be goal-by-goal input in response to the Employee Self Input. There may also be a rating component to the Manager’s Input, ranking the employee’s performance on a defined scale. There is usually a formal meeting scheduled with each direct report for the Manager Review.
As the team lead, you should take steps to ensure you are committing time to this process in both the preparation and the execution. Before the process begins, you should know the logistics: what is due and when, who is involved in the process, and how decisions are made regarding promotions, pay increases, or bonuses. This will help you communicate this information to your team, ensure they meet all deadlines, and answer their questions as they go through the process. You should also understand what the company values and rewards when it comes to evaluating performance reviews. This will help ensure you and your team are giving the best possible effort to be competitive in the performance review process. You are responsible for how well your team does and what value they find in this process.
Here are some specific actions you can take as a manager when executing your tasks as team lead in the performance review process:
Coach your team on writing goals and self-input
Start by sharing all of the information you gather about performance factors with your team. You should have the best understanding as their manager for what performance factors and achievements are being emphasized by the organization for career advancement or formal promotion. Some companies have this defined and published somewhere. If there are performance factors per level that are available for employees, share the information with your team. Other companies will vary performance factors depending on the most up-to-date business strategy for the company. Learn this information and talk through these factors with your team.
This information should then inform on how your team writes their performance goals and completes their self-input. (This information should also inform how you position your team for new opportunities in the company.) The performance goals for the year should focus on growth and improvement while targeting the factors that the company will reward and value.
Example: You know that to be promoted to a manager position in the company, a person needs to show technical competency and management skills. You work with your employee to create goals that reflect these two factors, you help position them to reach these goals throughout the year, and you coach them through completing self-input that captures their achievements in relation to these goals. The self-input they provided will be read by higher-level managers in the performance review process who don’t work with this employee daily, so you make sure they provide metrics and examples that will be understandable by others.
Be deliberate with written manager input
When it comes time for you to provide written manager input to your employee’s performance review, you should prioritize this task knowing what you write may be the deciding factor in their future career opportunities. Although that may seem melodramatic, when you approach this task with that level of seriousness, it elevates the importance and priority. This task is part of your managerial responsibilities as much as your daily project work.
Like your employee’s self-input, make sure you also highlight the performance factors the company rewards and values, especially if you’re trying to get someone promoted or recognized. Your input, positive or negative, should be actionable and specific, with metrics if possible. Point to key achievements or events with detail. Don’t be vague.
If your employee needs improvement or professional development, your written feedback should detail specifically what to do to improve or change. As much detail as possible (with follow-up throughout the year) will ensure your input is taken to heart.
If you need to give a negative performance review, you have to back it up with evidence. It cannot be vague, it cannot be weighted inappropriately compared to other areas, and it cannot be a “feeling” that causes you to give a lower rating. Negative performance has to be factual, specific, and related to your business. There should be actions for improvement recorded in your feedback.
Remember that the written manager feedback in an employee’s yearly performance review should never be the first time an employee is hearing negative feedback. By the time negative feedback is recorded in a performance review, there should have been several conversations related to poor performance and improvement plans. This is your responsibility as their manager.
Example: Your employee exceeds expectations in their performance on your team, they are not eligible for promotion right now, but your company provides performance-related raises or bonuses. You want to make sure this employee is recognized for their achievements so they continue to stay motivated. However, their work is in a very niche part of the company so not many people know of their accomplishments. Because your input will be considered by the leadership team for bonus decisions, you make sure to provide specific metrics and outcomes in describing their achievements. You do not use overly technical language in describing the work for those on the leadership team who are unfamiliar with technical terms. You make sure to emphasize with your examples and metrics how their achievements improve the business outcomes of the company.
Because your employee has 6 more months of work to be eligible for promotion, you also note a specific professional development topic they can pursue to continue learning to be ready for the next step in their career and provide a resource where they can find that information.
Make manager review meetings worthwhile
An often-heard complaint is that both managers and employees see performance review meetings as a waste of time. It is up to you as the manager to make the time spent in these meetings worthwhile. (Don’t go around wasting your own time!) Unless you have an extremely eager employee who will take control of the conversation, you are responsible for the outcome and the environment created during this time.
Approach this meeting with an attitude of care, reflection, and coaching. If you want your employees to succeed and you are earnestly giving them feedback to succeed, this will be a genuine conversation. If it is appropriate to your work environment, you should hold the conversation in person or over a video call. If this is not possible, a phone call should occur. This should be a live, spoken conversation that does not take place over direct message or email.
Review or restate the entire performance review process for the company. Then talk through your performance input for them and the rating you gave them.
If you are tasked with delivering a performance review outcome, such as if they were promoted or not, learn the reasoning for that outcome so you can answer questions they might have about it. Remember to approach this news with sensitivity.
Be honest when answering questions about the process or the outcome. This conversation defines this person’s role at the company and their livelihood, and it is important to give them the care and consideration this conversation deserves.
Example: You coached your direct report through the performance process and provided detailed, specific, and positive feedback in their review that aligned to business factors, but they were not given a raise that you had expected for them. You anticipate they will also be disappointed by the result. You talk to the decision makers in this process and gather information as to why the employee did not get the raise, and make sure to note if it was a performance-related factor for the employee so you could give them this feedback.
During the manager review meeting with your direct report, you review the steps that were taken in the performance process, the feedback you provided to their performance, and the final result in the performance review process for the employee. You also explain why the company made this decision for them based on the information you could gather. You answer the questions that you have answers to and record the others to get back to them. Together, you come up with a timeline to continuously check in on what they can do to be recognized for a promotion in the next cycle.
These suggestions and examples take some assumptions into account, but they can be tailored to your industry and your role as a manager in the performance review process. As long as you remember to be honest and caring with the best interest of your direct reports in mind when having performance-related conversations, you’ll make the process worthwhile for yourself and your team.
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