Performance Reviews
A performance review is meant to create an opportunity to support an employee through an honest and objective evaluation of their work over a specific period of time. We must be as objective as possible.
While no performance review can be entirely objective, we can strive for agreement in what we have seen take place over time and the effects of their behaviors.
The work being reviewed should not be a surprise to your employee since the worklist will come directly from their position agreement. Work that has not been established and accepted on their agreement should not be included in their performance review. You should schedule a separate meeting to discuss additional responsibilities.
The manager and employee should each fill out their own Performance Review form completely, both rating the employee in the specific areas listed so that in their meeting they can engage in an exchange of information (some good, some bad) toward reaching agreement on the employee’s ability to achieve specific results.
Holding a performance review meeting where only the manager is sharing information, creates an environment that does not support change where change needs to take place, nor ownership of problematic issues that need to be addressed.
You may not reach a complete agreement with an employee on a particular issue. As difficult as this may be for some managers, the payoff for the employee is in the form of increased strength and skill as well as an improved self-perception that comes from meeting a challenge or shortcoming head-on, and seeing it through to completion.
