Oh, the dreaded performance review! Most of my clients, who don’t think twice about performing a complicated root canal on a conscious patient, quake at the prospect of a performance review with their employees. The old adage, ‘the truth will set you free’ comes into play here. As an employer, think about the performance review as an opportunity to solidify a relationship with your employees. While this brief, one-on-one meeting with an employee helps you to re-establish your leadership role and gives you an opportunity for honest appraisal of your employee’s work, it serves a purpose beyond that. Employees need to feel appreciated, and they need to know how they are progressing in their jobs. The review process gives them a clear understanding of what is expected of them, their strengths and the areas needing development. It also gives them a solid sense of their relationship with you, their employer. Rather than feeling uncomfortable about this process, view the performance review as as a win-win for both you and your employee.
That which can be measured, can improve.
Some tips to make the process of performance reviews as smooth as possible:
1. Be prepared.Design a valid review system with a standard form. This will assist you in leading the discussion and focusing on the areas that are important. I will include two .pdf forms which I have designed specifically for dental practices. One enables you to ‘grade’ the results and compare the grade to past years. The other allows you to see clearly the strengths and improvement areas for each employee.
2. Keep it simple. If this is your first attempt at reviews, have the employee complete the form a few days prior to the meeting. You do the same. At the meeting, compare notes. This will initiate conversation and make things easier for you. This is a good way to handle the first performance review for a new employee as well.
3. Keep it real. Lead with a positive, be honest and straightforward, don’t be confrontational, and keep it fairly general (don’t get tangled up in too much detail).
There are some interesting studies showing that performance reviews do more damage than good. A growing number of experts talk about abolishing them. Frankly, I disagree. Without doubt, a badly done performance management process can be worse than no performance management process or review at all. But the process and review executed well builds a solid and critical relationship between the leader and the employee. When performance management is not treated as an event but rather as an ongoing dialog that sets and resets expectations, that shares struggles and praises achievements; it becomes a natural and honest foundation for the leader/follower relationship. The formal performance review becomes a summary of what’s already known, a chance to reflect and learn from the performance period and an opportunity to plan for the next one. Poor execution is no excuse for the industry to abandon something that can add so much value.
Kristin thanks for sharing your forms and keep coaching leaders to do this well!