5 Executive Tips for Successful Employee Performance Reviews!

As a business owner or executive, you need to establish what’s expected overall in the form of a policy manual. Once employees are given the ‘rules of the road’ for their specific job titles, performance must be measured throughout the duration of the employee’s career.

Employee performance reviews not only iron out the kinks in the workplace, but also help employees improve for the future. Reviewing the positives is important as well as reviewing the negatives surrounding an employee’s performance, but you must do so in a manner that is not a personal attack upon the employee. And most importantly, you must not deliver the review in such a manner that the truth is vague or unclear. If an employee is performing poorly,   they need to know, and it needs to be documented in the event that the end result is termination.

                                                       

Here are 5 tips for management when conducting employee performance reviews:

1. Schedule Reviews Often: Once a year employee performance reviews do not allow employees to stay on track. Quarterly reviews are much more effective when it comes to measuring an employee’s performance, success, and room for improvement. Also, as working environments change, so may an employee’s job responsibilities. What’s relevant to a good employee performance review today may not be relevant in a few months.
2. Be Honest: We know it’s hard to deliver negative news, but the truth is much better than leading an employee to believe they are doing everything right. An honest assessment will uncover job performance areas an employee may not know they are performing poorly in. It will also give employees a benchmark, and room for improvement.
3. Prepare: Give some thought to how you are going to deliver the employee performance review. Will you start with positives, or negatives? And have you given any thought to how much they have or have not improved since the last review? Create an outline for your review so that strengths and areas in need of improvement can be addressed independently.
4. Be Specific: Nothing is worse than a vague, 5-10 minute review that seems more like homework than a genuine attempt at improving performance. Most employees work very hard for their employers, and a concise, respectful and honest review should be conducted.
5. Ask About the Future: Where does your employee want to be next year? What about 5 years down the line? This is an important question to ask during an employee performance review because it’s very relevant. How is he or she performing today, and what is it going to take to reach their career goals? Let them know, so that they can work on it, and you can support them.