Conducting Productive Performance Reviews

By Michael Sullivan | Posted December 17, 2014

For many organizations, year-end brings with it one of the least popular supervisory tasks: Conducting annual employee performance reviews.

Supervisors often question the value of performance reviews complaining that they are a waste of time, give employees anxiety and sometimes create confrontations, all without achieving any desirable results.

Nevertheless, human resources professionals maintain that properly conducted performance appraisals are vital to organizational productivity and growth as well as the professional development of employees. Furthermore, a well-documented employee review may at times prove to be essential in the event of litigation against the employer.

The principal reason many supervisors dislike conducting reviews is that they approach it as an isolated event rather than the culmination of a year-long process. Instead of playing catch-up at year’s end, supervisors should provide feedback and assess job performance throughout the year, so the annual review itself is thoroughly grounded in 12 months of actual on-the-job experience.

Following are some other points to help make the review process more productive and harmonious:

• Schedule the review at least several days in advance rather than when a time slot suddenly opens in your calendar.  Allot sufficient time for the meeting to enable an unhurried give and take.
• Avoid “recency bias.” That means don’t focus the discussion solely on the latest experience, such as a performance problem that may have occurred in the past month.  It’s demoralizing and unfair to allow a recent problem to obscure prior achievements. Of course, recency bias can work both ways and one should guard against letting a very favorable recent event overshadow the entire review period.
• Be generous with praise where it is warranted, but don’t hesitate to point out needed improvements. Some supervisors simply want to avoid confrontation. However, remaining silent about an employee’s shortcomings results in a disservice to the organization, the employee and yourself.
• Do not dominate the conversation. Allow the employee time for self-appraisal and to disagree with aspects of the appraisal.
• Recognize that recent economic conditions have resulted in many employees assuming the responsibilities of more than one position; if relevant to this employee, acknowledge that fact openly and take it into account in the review.

Yes, proper annual employee reviews require considerable time and effort from supervisors. But don’t regard it as something onerous. It is a tool to help supervisors make their departments work more efficiently and produce better results for everyone involved.