I really do love performance reviews.  As an employer I have always looked at them as a way to shape the future.  With so much upside, why do we complain about them so much?

The complaints I typically hear about reviews are:

• Reviews are too much administrative work
• Reviews are uncomfortable conversations
• Reviews are generally a waste of time

Yes, performance reviews can be a lot of work and take time, even if you are filling them out poorly.  If there is no way around the administrative aspect, then we better make the effort worth it!

Giving feedback is uncomfortable only when it is negative.  Let’s face it, its easy to give positive feedback or gloss over the negative.  Telling people they are not meeting expectations is hard.  However, I’ve learned that the best reviews contain no surprises.  The written review is a reflection of the individual’s performance and the feedback they have been receiving all along.  If one of my employees is surprised by their feedback (positive or negative) it triggers me to reflect on my performance as a leader and question why it surprised them.  When I find that I could very easily start every discussion point on the review with “As we’ve already discussed” or “This is the same thing we’ve been talking about over the last few weeks” I know my continual feedback has been at a healthy level.  Doing the hard work in small doses all year long takes the negative bite out of honest feedback.  Besides, giving good honest feedback all year typically leads to the behavior and performance I want, allowing my reviews to be positive, encouraging and resulting in pay increases.  Raises always make for better reviews.

I believe performance reviews are one of the best tools to shape the future.  By taking the time to provide feedback, but more importantly set goals, it creates the workforce I want and the business needs.  I love being forward looking in my performance reviews.  I continually give feedback with phrases like “The next step for you in this area is” or “The way I see to raise this from a 3 to a 4 (or 4 to 5) is”.  (We use a rating scale of 1-5, 5 being the best)  This lays out my expectations for continual development.  Then, when it comes to goal setting, I prefer creating a balanced goal set between project work and personal development.

(See previous post on goal setting: http://ryanposeyblog.com/2014/08/14/you-only-need-3-goals/)

Done poorly, the criticism is absolutely correct that reviews are a giant waste of time.  When done well, they are immensely valuable and worth every minute.