How to create positive change through performance reviews

The debate over the benefits of performance reviews is running wild on social media platforms such as LinkedIn – some see them as crucial steps to ranking staff while others believe they’re a waste of time. Like all good things, performance reviews are good in moderation and if you do use them, position them as a tool for unlocking future growth.

What’s the purpose of a performance review?

• Performance reviews evaluate whether your staff have achieved key performance indicators (KPIs) over a set period, how they have developed in a role and whether they feel the company/management supports them.
• As a result, you will assess their strengths, weaknesses and overall contribution to the company. This will help both you and the employee determine what happens next if they’re underperforming, high-achieving or ready to take the next step in their career.
• Overall feedback should also provide an opportunity for employers to reflect on the organisation as a whole. For example, are you providing enough training opportunities or are your managers showing effective leadership?

Why are performance reviews being criticised?

The latest round of criticism that performance reviews are facing comes from the Financial Times where the author refers to research where for every 7.5 minutes an employee spends writing self-reflections for their review, a manager spends a whopping eight seconds reading them. 

Just eight seconds.

And in many ways that sums up the traditional problem with performance reviews. Fewer than 50% of American organisations believe their performance reviews accurately measure staff output while only 14% of employees truly believe their review leads to improvement.

If workforce performance and development is your goal, then it’s time to get serious about performance reviews. 

Reviews are not the time for surprises

A traditional performance review takes place every 12 months, often at the end of the year. Some companies will conduct them every six months, or when a contract’s nearing its endpoint.

That means there’s a lot of ground to cover especially if managers are not regularly checking in with their staff. Therefore, performance reviews cannot be the time for surprises. This should not be a meeting where employees are told they’ve been underperforming and their contract will not be renewed. Any issues – or positive actions – by an employee should be highlighted as they occur with the appropriate measures taken right away. 

“Throughout the year, I keep progress notes from weekly one-on-ones with my team members. When I see things going well, I speak into them, acknowledging what I’m seeing or experiencing and how it’s working to advance their work,” explained Sheila Ellian Lewis, Leadership Coach and Transformation Strategist.

“Together we note what went well and why so that it can be repeated on upcoming assignments that may hold bigger impact for the organisation. Similarly, when I see things going off the rails, I ask questions to better understand the situation, the potential impact, what they contributed to it, and if/how I can help.”

“I stay close to these trouble spots to assist in achieving a favourable turnaround and then we do a debrief to continue our alignment on what truly took place,” she added.

This is where a combination of formal and informal reviews helps. According to data from Seek, there’s a neat three-way split between companies: one-third rely on formal reviews, one-third on informal feedback and the other third a combination of both. 

More employees (94%) agreed that informal feedback was more valuable than formal performance reviews (86%), indicating that balance where feedback can be given at any time has the greatest impact. 

How should you approach reviews?

No matter how your review process is structured it must revolve around how you can help employees grow and develop. Focusing and investing in them will help drive their improvement and better outcomes for you as a whole, whether they’re a care worker, accountant or team leader.

Claudia Johnson, a Communications and Public Affairs Advisor and Consultant, shared the following tips to foster growth:

• Keeping it authentic: Describe the issue and impact, and help find solutions
• Asking curious questions and coaching: What would be helpful to you?
• Celebrating achievements, strengths and uniqueness
• Expanding possibilities: what if we added to this?
• Be kind – some truths are hard to hear

If you incorporate those tips into your next review, everyone will walk away with a clear picture of how they can take their performance to the next level.