Annual Review: "Evaluating Employees Should Help Them Grow"
17 December 2013
Read by 2121 persons
Stressful, often rushed or too formalized, the annual performance review should be a special time to build trust between employee and manager, says coach Philippe Laurent.
"I have fifteen interviews to conduct before the end of the year. It's a race. I'll never have the time." The annual performance review is now a must for the manager and his or her employee. Its purpose is to review the past year and to define objectives for the following year. The internal procedure imposes a sometimes complicated formalism, where numerous quantitative performance criteria dominate over the few qualitative criteria related to behavior.
This essential interview can be a really stressful moment. For the employee, who is afraid of being poorly rated and not receiving all their bonuses. And for the manager, who rarely has time to prepare properly. The achievement of objectives is too often examined in a cold and quantitative way, using dashboards and key performance indicators - the famous KPIs - which are necessary but very insufficient for a good interview. In the worst-case scenario, objectives were not set last year or have changed in practice, without being able to be formally taken into account in the evaluation.
So what is a good annual performance review? It's an efficient exchange that strengthens bonds of trust, values the other person and builds a motivating future project. It's a special moment without surprises where the employee should not expect any sanctions. A precious opportunity where they can express their feelings, their desires for development, their training needs, and where they can learn from the highlights of the year, successes or failures.
Getting to know your employee better and adjusting your management style
For the manager, it's an opportune time to get to know their employee better, and to adjust their management style to them. For both, it should be a space where trust reigns, far from the reprimand interview, and the opposite of the regulatory chore or settling of scores.
Of course, you need to prepare for your annual performance review, but that's not enough to significantly improve its quality, i.e., its efficiency. Practically, a good interview is done in one go and doesn't last too long or not long enough. It's a priority moment that deserves not to be postponed or constantly rescheduled. The manager listens more than they speak and shows their employee that the objectives given stem from the objectives received in order to give them meaning.
Evaluating performance within a given framework
The objectives chosen for the following year are clear for both parties and formalized in writing, which is always better to sign during the meeting. No manager can claim to evaluate an employee: they can only evaluate their performance within a given framework. The interview allows them to check if their employee is in the right place and in the best possible conditions to give their best.
It also allows them to value their successes and encourage them on their failures by helping them to learn useful lessons for the future. A good interview is also a moment where the employee can evaluate the quality of the relationship they have with their boss and express what they need to feel more supported or accompanied in their development. They can judge the level of interest their boss has in them as a person, which naturally impacts their motivation.
Dear managers, the surest way to improve the quality of your annual performance reviews is to have very regular check-ins with each of your direct collaborators - at least once a month, up to once a week - clearly distinguishing the "operational control" part, which focuses on the execution of the "what", from the "individual support" part which focuses on the well-being of the "who".
This will take time - even if ten minutes may be enough - but it will save you much more. By allowing your employee to express what they feel, their personal obstacles and any relational difficulties with their team or within their team, you will prevent the sedimentation of unspoken issues and encourage anticipation of problems.
Setting perspectives with serenity
The free expression of their emotions, including on your own management style, will help your employee feel better in their job and immediately boost their energy at work. By doing so, the annual review will be an extension of your usual meetings and will help you set perspectives with serenity. If you are the CEO, believe that the quality of your individual interviews with the members of your management committee influences the entire chain of individual interviews in the company.
How will you know that your annual review was successful? By the relaxed atmosphere during the exchange, if you agree on the areas for progress for the next year and by your employee's smile when they leave. A valuable annual interview makes evaluation a powerful means of development.
Philippe Laurent.
Lexpress.fr
Published on December 4, 2013.
Posted online on December 17, 2013.
"I have fifteen interviews to conduct before the end of the year. It's a race. I'll never have the time." The annual performance review is now a must for the manager and his or her employee. Its purpose is to review the past year and to define objectives for the following year. The internal procedure imposes a sometimes complicated formalism, where numerous quantitative performance criteria dominate over the few qualitative criteria related to behavior.
This essential interview can be a really stressful moment. For the employee, who is afraid of being poorly rated and not receiving all their bonuses. And for the manager, who rarely has time to prepare properly. The achievement of objectives is too often examined in a cold and quantitative way, using dashboards and key performance indicators - the famous KPIs - which are necessary but very insufficient for a good interview. In the worst-case scenario, objectives were not set last year or have changed in practice, without being able to be formally taken into account in the evaluation.
So what is a good annual performance review? It's an efficient exchange that strengthens bonds of trust, values the other person and builds a motivating future project. It's a special moment without surprises where the employee should not expect any sanctions. A precious opportunity where they can express their feelings, their desires for development, their training needs, and where they can learn from the highlights of the year, successes or failures.
Getting to know your employee better and adjusting your management style
For the manager, it's an opportune time to get to know their employee better, and to adjust their management style to them. For both, it should be a space where trust reigns, far from the reprimand interview, and the opposite of the regulatory chore or settling of scores.
Of course, you need to prepare for your annual performance review, but that's not enough to significantly improve its quality, i.e., its efficiency. Practically, a good interview is done in one go and doesn't last too long or not long enough. It's a priority moment that deserves not to be postponed or constantly rescheduled. The manager listens more than they speak and shows their employee that the objectives given stem from the objectives received in order to give them meaning.
Evaluating performance within a given framework
The objectives chosen for the following year are clear for both parties and formalized in writing, which is always better to sign during the meeting. No manager can claim to evaluate an employee: they can only evaluate their performance within a given framework. The interview allows them to check if their employee is in the right place and in the best possible conditions to give their best.
It also allows them to value their successes and encourage them on their failures by helping them to learn useful lessons for the future. A good interview is also a moment where the employee can evaluate the quality of the relationship they have with their boss and express what they need to feel more supported or accompanied in their development. They can judge the level of interest their boss has in them as a person, which naturally impacts their motivation.
Dear managers, the surest way to improve the quality of your annual performance reviews is to have very regular check-ins with each of your direct collaborators - at least once a month, up to once a week - clearly distinguishing the "operational control" part, which focuses on the execution of the "what", from the "individual support" part which focuses on the well-being of the "who".
This will take time - even if ten minutes may be enough - but it will save you much more. By allowing your employee to express what they feel, their personal obstacles and any relational difficulties with their team or within their team, you will prevent the sedimentation of unspoken issues and encourage anticipation of problems.
Setting perspectives with serenity
The free expression of their emotions, including on your own management style, will help your employee feel better in their job and immediately boost their energy at work. By doing so, the annual review will be an extension of your usual meetings and will help you set perspectives with serenity. If you are the CEO, believe that the quality of your individual interviews with the members of your management committee influences the entire chain of individual interviews in the company.
How will you know that your annual review was successful? By the relaxed atmosphere during the exchange, if you agree on the areas for progress for the next year and by your employee's smile when they leave. A valuable annual interview makes evaluation a powerful means of development.
Philippe Laurent.
Lexpress.fr
Published on December 4, 2013.
Posted online on December 17, 2013.
