{"id":5152,"date":"2021-06-10T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-06-10T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sonusbenefits.com\/?p=5152"},"modified":"2021-06-10T10:17:47","modified_gmt":"2021-06-10T10:17:47","slug":"take-the-formality-out-of-performance-reviews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonusbenefits.com\/take-the-formality-out-of-performance-reviews\/","title":{"rendered":"Take the Formality Out of Performance Reviews"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Let\u2019s see if this scenario is familiar.<\/p>\n<p>You call your employee into your office. You review their strengths and weaknesses, assess their performance, and set goals. You may even use a rating scale to show the employee if they met, exceeded, or failed to meet expectations.<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019ve just conducted a formal performance review, and when it comes to this process, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gallup.com\/workplace\/249332\/harm-good-truth-performance-reviews.aspx\"><span>organizations lose anywhere from $2.4 million to $35 million a year<\/span><\/a><span> in working hours for employees to participate in reviews. <\/span>Yet 72% of companies still conduct annual performance reviews.<\/p>\n<p>So maybe it\u2019s the process of conducting performance reviews and not the reviews themselves that need to be changed.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"font-weight: normal\">What should be included in a performance review?<\/h3>\n<p>You may hear <em>performance review <\/em>and <em>professional development <\/em>used interchangeably. But they are two different things. A <em>performance review <\/em>measures past performance and how well an employee performed in their expected role; <em>professional development <\/em>looks forward and inspires employees to improve.<\/p>\n<p>Both have their place, but a performance review is geared toward just that: Performance. Consider these things as you\u2019re conducting reviews:<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"font-weight: normal\">Ask questions<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>To ensure there are no surprises, send the review agenda to your team member beforehand, so they\u2019ll know what will be discussed. Ask them to provide feedback about the agenda; doing so gives them co-ownership of the conversation.<\/p>\n<p>During the review, ask <a href=\"https:\/\/fellow.app\/blog\/management\/employee-review-questions-every-manager-should-ask\/\">open-ended questions<\/a> to gain the best responses. Close-ended questions that only allow a <em>yes <\/em>or <em>no <\/em>answer won\u2019t allow opportunity for insight and make the review unnecessarily formal.<\/p>\n<p>Here are some questions you can ask:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What accomplishments are you the proudest of?<\/li>\n<li>What goals did you meet?<\/li>\n<li>What skills do you have that we can use more effectively?<\/li>\n<li>What about your role helps the company succeed?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>You can also allow employees to do regular self-evaluation. While there are myths surrounding self-evaluations like \u201cEmployees only want to explain away their bad performance,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/hbr.org\/2017\/03\/why-you-should-make-time-for-self-reflection-even-if-you-hate-doing-it\">reflecting helps make employees happier and less likely to burn out<\/a>. When coupled with an open and honest culture, self-evaluations will also be open and honest.<\/p>\n<p><span>Consider doing a weekly check-in with self-reflection questions that look back at performance and how well team members feel they did over the past week:<\/span><span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Did you complete your ONE THING item from last week?<\/li>\n<li>What was your greatest success over the past week?<\/li>\n<li>What was your biggest challenge over the past week?<\/li>\n<li>What did you learn this week through training and insight?<\/li>\n<li>What is the ONE THING you must accomplish over this coming week?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>You can use\/revise this template or any number of templates you can find on the web by searching the term \u201cemployee self-evaluation template.\u201d Choose whatever fits your company culture.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"font-weight: normal\">Treat performance reviews like conversations<\/h3>\n<p>Think of a review like a conversation, and it will remove any stress or burdens on you and your team members. But keep in mind exactly <em>how <\/em>you word things. Even things you meant as praise could be misconstrued as negative feedback if not worded correctly. Avoid:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Definitive terms like <em>always <\/em>and <em>never <\/em><\/li>\n<li>Subjective terms like <em>rude, polite, <\/em>and <em>enthusiastic <\/em><\/li>\n<li>Vague terms like <em>good <\/em>and <em>poor <\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Instead, go further and use phrases like:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cI encourage you to continue [<strong>doing this action]<\/strong>. It provides good results for the team.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cWhen you contact a customer after a sale is closed to ask them if they need anything, that shows you go above and beyond.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cI advise you to stop <strong>[doing this action]<\/strong>. It results in <strong>[this consequence]<\/strong>.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>You can also keep the review language and tone conversational by:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Not using a formal rating system<\/li>\n<li>Making clear what factors of the review are tied to employee raises<\/li>\n<li>Assuring employees this is a check-in as opposed to a performance judgment<\/li>\n<li>Focusing on creating a culture of listening and growth<\/li>\n<li>Having open conversations as opposed to formal discussions<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 style=\"font-weight: normal\">Consider your cadence<\/h3>\n<p>Having a performance review once a year is a traditional approach. But that may not work for your organization. Think about what would be the best: Quarterly reviews? Monthly? Weekly? Consider your current framework and process and adjust accordingly.<\/p>\n<p>Also, couple reviews with open feedback. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gallup.com\/workplace\/249332\/harm-good-truth-performance-reviews.aspx\">When leaders provide their team with frequent and honest feedback<\/a>, your team is more likely to be motivated and engaged at work.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"font-weight: normal\">Show your appreciation<\/h3>\n<p>No matter what kinds of questions you ask and how often you conduct reviews, they aren\u2019t just about formality, ratings, and numbers. They are a way to show your employees appreciation for their work and help both you and them develop a better future. And that is a good thing.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 18px\"><em><span style=\"color: black;background-color: white\">Content provided by&nbsp;<\/span><\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.q4intel.com\/employers\/\"><em><span style=\"color: black;background-color: white\">Q4iNetwork<\/span><\/em><\/a><em><span style=\"color: black;background-color: white\">&nbsp;and partners<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Photo by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.123rf.com\/profile_amenic181\">Somsak Sudthangtum<\/a><span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/track.hubspot.com\/__ptq.gif?a=1652561&amp;k=14&amp;r=https%3A%2F%2Finsights.q4intel.com%2Femployers%2Ftake-the-formality-out-of-performance-reviews&amp;bu=https%253A%252F%252Finsights.q4intel.com%252Femployers&amp;bvt=rss\" alt=\"\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" style=\"min-height:1px!important;width:1px!important;border-width:0!important;margin-top:0!important;margin-bottom:0!important;margin-right:0!important;margin-left:0!important;padding-top:0!important;padding-bottom:0!important;padding-right:0!important;padding-left:0!important\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Let\u2019s see if this scenario is familiar. You call your employee into your office. You review their strengths and weaknesses, assess their performance, and set goals. You may even use a rating scale to show the employee if they met, exceeded, or failed to meet expectations. You\u2019ve just conducted a formal performance review, and when&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":5155,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[33,29,43],"tags":[34,31,44],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.12 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Take the Formality Out of Performance Reviews - Sonus Benefits<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/insights.q4intel.com\/employers\/take-the-formality-out-of-performance-reviews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Take the Formality Out of Performance Reviews - Sonus Benefits\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Let\u2019s see if this scenario is familiar. 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