As one of South Florida’s leading staffing services firms, Future Force knows the end of the year means more than just holiday parties and vacation time. Before you can cut loose and enjoy, you need to conduct annual performance reviews. While it’s a process everyone dreads – from managers to workers – there are some steps you can take to make them easier and more effective too. Here are 6 tips to help you get there:
Tip #1: Set goals for each review.
Before meeting with individual employees, set goals for what you want to achieve during each review. For instance, for one employee, it might be to improve in a certain area. For another, it might be to help them get promoted. Your goals will be different for each worker. However, when you set clear, specific ones, it makes it easier to keep the conversation on track and to get more from it.
Tip #2: Create an agenda.
Another tip for making reviews more effective is creating a self-evaluation form and an agenda for each employee and sending them out before the scheduled reviews. This helps to give all parties involved ample time to prepare. Not only that, but it also can help keep the meeting a conversation, rather than a one-sided lecture.
Tip #3: Focus on the good and the bad.
Some managers can focus too much on the negative, while others will avoid it altogether. But the most effective performance reviews take a balanced approach. This means looking at the good, the bad and the ugly from a particular employee’s performance over the past year. Doing so will offer your employee a more well-rounded review and give them a better sense of where they stand.
Tip #4: Discuss development.
Beyond performance, you should also be focusing some of the discussion on the development of the employee. Talk about their career aspirations and where you see them fitting in going forward. Also, if they’re interested in getting promoted, discuss the steps they’ll need to take and the skills they’ll need to acquire to get there.
Tip #5: Offer a summary.
Before you complete your review, offer a summary and outline the key points you discussed. Also, thank your employee for meeting with you and talk about how you’re looking forward to the year ahead and working together. Don’t forget too to ask your employee about your own performance and how they can help you to better support them.
Tip #6: Walk away with action items.
At the end of the conversation, both you and your employee should have a good sense of what needs to be done in the year ahead. It doesn’t have to be a long or complicated to-do list, and both of you can have different items on your list. But it should set clear goals and expectations that are realistic and achievable for all involved.
So busy with performance reviews that you need help hiring?
Call the experts at Future Force. As one of South Florida’s leading staffing services firms, we can handle the sourcing, interviewing, testing, and evaluating – all so you can make great hiring decisions in 2017. Contact Future Force today to learn more.