For many organizations this time of year is when managers have to complete the performance reviews of their teams. Unfortunately, so many of these performance reviews can become unintentionally destructive.
There seems to be a tendency in managers to focus on weaknesses, what is not right, what can be improved. This is natural as it easy to see what is missing rather than what is there. Many performance reviews have a paragraph or two of bland descriptions of positive achievements then list areas of improvement. And the discussions aren't better: ultimately the focus is on what is not right.
This is flawed. People feel demotivated by negative feedback and can easily slip into an attitude of assuming that is something they are not good at and never will be. A focus on weaknesses undermines confidence and therefore performance.
If you want to give performance reviews that actually improves performance you need to do the following:
- Praise the behaviour you want to see more of. Don't limit this to things you have seen a lot. Every positive behaviour you witness should be praised. The more you do this, the more you reinforce their confidence and knowledge of what is good and also that they have those qualities.
- Define their contribution positively. Someone who is very contradictory and negative about others' ideas actually is a positive member of the team as they challenge group think and raise standards. Every negative can be viewed positively. You just need to give guidance when it is best for them to contribute.
- Stress their tangible contribution. There is always a danger of slipping into criticism of how something was achieved rather than what was achieved. List their achievements in bullet point format. Structure this by saying: "Without you we wouldn't have achieved x, y or z."
- Don't ask for feedback from peers or other managers. This is usually an opportunity for some to put the knife in or for a focus on areas of improvement. Ask them instead for 5 things that they they think the team member is good at.
- Ask them what they are going to get excellent at in the coming year. People want to be experts. They want to be world-class. They want to be known for being fabulous at something. Let them choose and support them. This will have the single biggest effect on their performance. To dream big, people need to know that their dreams are not out of their reach. Your job is to make this seem possible.
Apply these positive steps to your performance reviews and see the impact on the teams' performance.
How else would you improve performance reviews?