11 Tips To Conduct Better Performance Reviews

Regular performance reviews are an essential part of running a successful business. Performance reviews are your chance to sit down with your team members to formally shine the light on the good, the bad, and the ugly of their performance at work. This post highlights a few tips that will help you to conduct better performance reviews for your employees.

Professional drawing three smiley faces during performance review

Performance reviews are important because they help your employees grow and develop as professionals. By providing pertinent feedback, you can help your team members reach their full potential. This can also help to drive your company to success and ultimately boost your bottom line.

Mastering The Art Of Delivering Bad News To Employees

Conducting performance reviews can be super simple or it can be a total nightmare. Below you’ll find a few tips to help you conduct better performance reviews:

  1. Fair And Balanced – Never let emotions play a role in performance reviews. Work in a team to proved non-biased feedback.
  2. Build Rapport – Touch base with your team members regularly so that you know and understand your workers.
  3. Give Regular Feedback – Don’t wait until the performance review to give feedback. Make it a regular activity to ensure you promote good habits and stop bad habits ASAP.
  4. Exchange Feedback – Create a two way conversation so that you both give and receive feedback.
  5. Plan And Prepare – Put in the time to properly prepare for each review session.
  6. Pick the Right Location – Find a private space where you can have an open and honest conversation.
  7. Schedule Plenty Of Time – Allot enough time to cover any and all issues that might arise.
  8. Use Specific Examples – Providing specific examples of good or bad behaviors can reinforce feedback.
  9. Explore Solutions – After giving feedback, create a plan of action to set team members up for success.
  10. End On A Positive Note – If at all possible, try to end the conversation on a positive note.
  11. Follow Up Accordingly – Give people time to process their review or the time to make a change. Then, follow up with workers in a timely manner to ensure they are on the right track.

The Art Of Giving Feedback To Employees

Performance reviews are your chance to formalize feedback and to coach your employees to success. As a formal, written document, performance reviews can have long term implications for your employees. To alleviate some of the shock and stress associated with performance reviews, make a point of working with your team and providing feedback on a regular basis. When people know what they’ll hear in the formal performance review it will make everything go a little bit smoother.

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