Performance management involves a variety of actions and methods, with the performance review right at the heart of the process.
When done well, performance reviews can enhance engagement and facilitate growth. But how they are done must adapt to changing needs and emerging insights. Today, only 14% of employees feel they benefit from their performance evaluations—and the other 86% are just trying to get through them. Worse, when performance reviews don’t work, the process can actually be harmful to both performance and relationships between supervisors and employees.
In this article, we’ll share advice on how to adjust your performance management process in response to common challenges. By doing so, you’ll achieve more accurate—and beneficial—evaluations and guidance catered to each employee.
Table of Contents
1. The biggest challenge within the performance management process: bias
2. Another performance management challenge: getting employees on board with the process
3. Alternatives and Solutions: Better Performance Management is Possible
4. Successful performance management involves cultivating a culture of feedback and development
5. Effective performance management should empower both managers and employees
6. The role of analytics and performance metrics in the performance management process
7. Primalogik offers performance management solutions for businesses of all sizes
The biggest challenge within the performance management process: bias
Performance management involves assessing employee performance and taking appropriate steps to encourage growth and engagement.
The biggest single challenge to making all aspects of the process function – from reviews to feedback to the interpretation and implementation of results – may be bias.
Bias in performance reviews: the impact on reviewers
In performance reviews, bias can affect reviewers. It can be hard to move beyond outdated assumptions of an employee’s performance, for instance. If a manager has given an employee low ratings in the past, she might be predisposed to assign him low ratings in the future.
Similarly, the “halo” effect can cause a manager to view an employee as excelling in every area because she excels in one key area. Likewise, the “thorns” effect can cause a manager to dismiss an employee as a poor performer due to difficulty in one important area.
Managers may also be biased toward employees who work in an office with them, assigning lower ratings to remote workers. Whatever the cause, allowing bias to persist in performance appraisals causes employee morale and engagement to suffer. To learn more, check out our article about common pain points in performance reviews.
Another performance management challenge: getting employees on board with the process
Performance management can be a tricky topic to bring up with employees. How can managers encourage workers to get involved in the process if they are not feeling confident, are afraid of criticism, or are new to the experience?
Employees often approach the performance review process feeling anxious. Worse, they may perceive their boss as underprepared or biased against them. If they’ve received poor ratings in the past, they might fear their boss will never see them in a positive light.
The impact of performance management processes on employees
A poor or unfair review can leave employees feeling defensive, resentful and unappreciated. Even for those who receive above average ratings, performance appraisals can cause stress.
Employees may fear the review will be overly harsh or critical. After all, the traditional review is more a monologue than a conversation, and employees often have no opportunity to share their perspectives, needs, or reasons for any performance shortcomings.
Alternatives and Solutions: Better Performance Management is Possible
By building trust and motivating growth, sharing quality input with employees creates a positive feedback loop. Strong relationships evolve between managers and direct reports as performance reviews become more effective. Let’s review a few innovative approaches to performance management that make all of this possible.
Continuous feedback
This should be the cornerstone of every performance management process. Couple bite-sized daily feedback with weekly one-on-ones and periodic reviews, as we’ll discuss next.
Agile performance appraisals
This approach is built on consistent coaching. Managers might deliver longer reviews on an as-needed basis, such as after a big project wraps up. Or, they might conduct lengthier performance conversations on a monthly or bimonthly basis, with less formality than traditional reviews. “Today’s agile manager is no longer a commander and detail-checker but a strong coach,” writes Eric Mosley in Forbes. “When employees participate in a two-way conversation, they gain ownership and accountability. They also become invested in a process that helps them decide their own career paths, even as their life goals change.”
Quarterly performance reviews
For many organizations, quarterly reviews provide the right balance of formal assessment and timely conversations. Combined with continuous feedback, they equip managers to share relevant input that spans a time frame they can easily reflect back upon.
Professional performance management tools
Today, software platforms streamline the performance evaluation process. Quality online employee performance review tools can track and summarize the feedback given during light check-ins, helping managers organize their thoughts. Plus, it can glean data from goal-tracking software to highlight key strengths and challenges to address. Use technology-enabled solutions to your advantage, guiding managers in conducting their best performance reviews yet.
Successful performance management involves cultivating a culture of feedback and development
Gone are the days of one-way interviews that leave employees feeling cornered, and managers scratching their heads wondering why they leave interviews with no clear insights. Let’s explore how to foster a feedback-rich environment that encourages open communication and growth.
Let employees drive the discussion about performance
In most exchanges regarding performance management, it’s preferable to allow employees to lead the discussion, says leadership consultant Mark Nevins in Forbes. One excellent way to encourage open communication is by sending prompts in advance. Nevins recommends prompts like:
- What has been going well for you?
- What hasn’t gone as well as you hoped?
- What are your most important goals for the next review period?
- How can I help you achieve them?
As the employee answers each question, the manager can share additional perspectives, ask follow-up questions, and make observations. Asking a question opens the door to a fruitful discussion, unlike a direct remark which could be taken as an offense or form of criticism.
Use clear, descriptive language during one-on-one meetings
Use descriptive performance review phrases that catalyze change. In Power Phrases for Performance Reviews, Amanda Symonds shares some examples:
- “You frequently catch things that others miss. Your attention to detail improves the quality of the team’s output.”
- “You strive to present a well-reasoned rationale for your ideas.”
- “You try to see both sides of any issue. This sensitivity makes others feel heard and valued.”
As shown here, don’t focus solely on work output; also comment on interpersonal dynamics and communication. These factors strongly affect what teams can accomplish together.
To provide specific examples of behaviours, refer to the Situation-Behavior-Impact (SBI) model for sharing feedback, from the Center for Creative Leadership. In this model, you first present a situation that occurred. Next, you describe the behaviour you observed from the employee. Then, you specify the impact of this behaviour. (Importantly, don’t attempt to identify the motives behind the behavior.) Clarifying all three components highlights exactly what happened and how it affected the team.
Use performance management tools to gather objective data
Data from performance management software, such as goals tracking and employee satisfaction metrics, can guide the direction of the conversation during a performance review. By relying on objective data, you’ll avoid letting bias guide the performance evaluation. If your personal impressions of the employee’s performance don’t match the data, it’s up to you to reevaluate them so you can develop a clear and accurate picture of their professional performance.
Data is also invaluable for taking the necessary steps to retain your top talent, helping you develop strategies to improve employee engagement and performance based on grounded evidence.
Deliver constructive feedback tactfully
Constructive feedback shouldn’t come as a shock. Ideally, you will have already clearly addressed any issues as soon as they arose. Still, if you need to bring up sensitive performance issues during a one-on-one meeting, we suggest using these strategies to share constructive feedback tactfully:
- Be empathetic. Emphasize that everyone has experienced struggles, including you.
- Comment on the quality of the work done, not the person’s character. Feedback should never involve personal judgments.
- Give the employee space to describe challenges that affected their performance. Genuinely listen and make a sincere effort to understand their perspective.
- Highlight positive qualities that can help the employee surmount these hurdles. Then, focus on how to bring about change, as we’ll discuss next. Adopting a clear plan will immediately improve the review process, giving employees and managers a map forward after the evaluation.
Put solutions at the core of your performance management process
According to Robert Half, it’s better to make the focus of your conversation potential solutions, rather than problems. Describe what a more effective performance in certain areas would look like. Describe specific actions the employee could take when engaged in a particular role, task, or project.
Then discuss steps to help employees make these improvements. Together, begin to make a plan for change, outlining the support you’ll provide along the way.
Effective performance management should empower both managers and employees
How can you empower both managers and employees in the context of performance management? There are a few simple guidelines that can make your approach to performance reviews, feedback and even 360 reviews a positive and encouraging experience for workers in both management and support roles.
Empowering managers during the performance management process
Cultivating a coaching mindset among managers will shift the culture of the organization in a positive direction, as Paul Falcone says in Leadership Offense. It emphasizes trust and belief in each person’s ability to change, drawing on emotional intelligence. In your 360 reviews for managers, focus strongly on these qualities, sharing guidance on how they can strengthen these areas.
You can also train managers to conduct effective performance discussions and plans for employee development. This includes learning how to effectively document one-on-ones. Consider providing a quarterly refresher workshop that shares emerging insights and best practices. Managers should collaboratively work with employees to design plans for personal growth, rather than imposing goals on them.
Empowering employees during the performance management process
At the same time, empower employees to take ownership of their growth through practices like self-assessment and goal-setting.
Likewise, empower employees to recover from a less-than-glowing review with the right tools and strategies:
- Seeking feedback from peers on their performance. Additional perspectives can provide clarity and help employees determine whether their manager’s input is on-track or off-base. You might even consider implementing a supervisor evaluation, to turn the tables and find out how your managers are viewed by their employees.
- Preparing follow-up questions to ask their manager during one-on-ones, to gauge progress. Employees can feel better prepared by getting an idea of what to say in a performance review before getting into the meeting.
- Using goal-tracking software to assess their own progress on a daily basis.
These tactics will boost motivation and engagement, helping employees to flourish. Consistent, supportive feedback from their manager will guide their efforts.
The role of analytics and performance metrics in the performance management process
Analytics and performance metrics can help human resources and managers gain actionable insights into employee progress and engagement. By leveraging the appropriate performance management technology and using performance rating scales, you can easily track growth and identify trends, allowing you to make data-driven decisions. Tools like the complete employee performance management suite offered by Primalogik can track individual and team KPIs, assessing progress toward big-picture goals.
Primalogik offers performance management solutions for businesses of all sizes
By following the strategies outlined here, you’ll mitigate bias in your performance reviews. Moreover, you’ll increase their effectiveness and forge stronger relationships between managers and direct reports. By rethinking your approach to performance management and embracing innovative solutions, you’ll drive employee engagement and development.
The perfect employee evaluation may seem like a bit of a dream, but you can get there with the right approach and the right tools.
Primalogik’s complete performance management software solution includes a 360 feedback module, employee reviews and goal-tracking functions, analytics, and more. We’re committed to helping you keep employees engaged and boost productivity, whether you are running an SME or a big company. Our professional tool will help you gain valuable, actionable insights by comparing historical data, comparing results with other employees or other periods, and gaining quick access to averages and benchmarks for easy reference. See firsthand how software can enhance your performance review process— book a demo today!