"Imagine a speech in which the CEO refers to the employee as the company's most important resource. Imagine that the same company that fails with anchoring and implementation, that fails with strategic conversations, with the employee appraisal interview. What does it do to the relationship between manager and employee when this particular conversation becomes a duty and the relationship fails to exploit the potential of the performance review?"
Written by Rune Semundseth, CEO of businessMastering
In the opinion of myself and many others, the performance review is an opportunity. An opportunity to create a sense of belonging, to lay the foundation for mastery and to create meaning. So why is it that the appraisal often feels more like a duty than a unique opportunity to develop talents, the right skills and build close and reciprocal relationships? And why are these conversations rarely or rarely followed up? Are there methods and "best practices" that can help ensure that this conversation has a stimulating effect on both manager and employee and that they stick to the plan?
6 MAIN PURPOSES OF THE PERFORMANCE REVIEW
- Reconcile the previous conversation's action points with what has been done or not done (create impact and accountability)
- Agree on which themes and effects are most important to focus on (clarify content and themes)
- Identify gaps between the current situation and the desired situation and outline goals and future scenarios within the selected themes (analyze growth opportunities)
- Develop the collaboration between manager and employee as well as the employee's relationship with colleagues and customers (relationships and work environment)
- Understand which skills, abilities and mandate/authority belong to the work situation (role understanding and role clarity).
- Map training and development needs, and create deliberate skill development based on clear plans (with deadlines) for the way forward (competence development)
The performance review does not always live up to its intentions. The performance review is probably the most neglected management instrument, or tool, in Norwegian working life. We in the businessmastering team recognize this challenge and are continuously working to strengthen the effect of this tool in more than 300 Norwegian companies, large and small. Every single one of these companies had initially implemented this work with fundamental flaws or shortcomings. The most common mistakes can be linked to a lack of anchoring or understanding.
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Problem 1: Lack of anchoring and understanding
Leadership is about creating support. Leadership is about creating meaning. Leadership is about setting direction. When a manager and employee share leadership (employeeship), leadership is at its strongest. The quality of this work is obviously highly variable, but it is in the fundamental phases of this work - anchoring and understanding - and in the follow-up, that the most sin is committed.
Most of the management teams that I have worked with so far have one thing in common: they have not created this instrument together. The leader had either found a form online or received one from their HR department. Both are fundamentally unfortunate and a bad start to such important work.
Solution:
It is a managerial responsibility to facilitate the conditions for successful performance reviews, and it is essential that employees are involved in the planning of the review itself. In this way, the employee, as an equal party, will also be able to influence what the conversation should be about. It's a good start if the entire management team establishes a common platform, e.g. by reading the reflection book "Employee appraisal 2.0" and then meeting in a workshop to define a new and effective structure for the appraisal. Being able to conduct a MAT chat, a chat focusing on the 3 driving factors of intrinsic motivation, Mastery, Autonomy and Trust, is an absolute must. A menu of good questions is also a good starting point, without following templates or forms slavishly, of course. What questions are most important to us? What questions are most important in our relationship? Management is about understanding context. This obviously requires professional and procedural replenishment!
Problem 2: Lack of confidence and coping
In order to grow and develop, we need nourishment and training. Many leaders are uncomfortable offering themselves or accepting and sharing their own emotions in their leadership role. However, we grow to a limited extent in the famous comfort zone. We grow in the growth zone! The consequences of too little training in mastering close relationships and open and honest dialog are that some of the greatest joys and effects of leadership are missed. Open dialogue, mutual trust and mutual recognition can contribute to increased security and significantly better performance and results. Inadequate training in the role of "the close leader" can cause managers to miss out on the best sources of learning and improvement. Sources and solutions you will be able to find in close interaction with your employee - if you take an interest in them and set aside time to lead.
Solution: Time for intimacy and clarity
The ability to be close and open can be developed. Communication can be improved through various forms of exercises/workshops. We know, for example, that 5th division football teams in Norway train 3-4 times a week. In light of this, surely a few training sessions a year are appropriate in such a key area as appraisal interviews? Increased learning and better performance in performance reviews will be achieved when managers are trained to ask open questions, listen in an active and inclusive way and share what is on their mind - in confidence and mutual trust. As the skills and abilities for good dialog improve, the manager will be more in tune with the employee.
Problem 3: Lack of control over what remains of agreed goals and actions
Imagine that you are a manager/middle manager and that you have 7-15 employees who report to you. Imagine further that you have 5-10 initiatives per employee that need to be followed up and implemented by each initiative's deadline. How do you as a manager know that you have the overview? How will you, as a manager, be able to keep track of which initiatives are in process, which are outstanding or which are overdue? In short, stay up to date and keep your commitments? The specific measures and plans that the manager and employee agree on must be followed up, otherwise the effect of the conversation could be net negative, even if the conversation is good in isolation. Increased learning and better performance within the appraisal tool requires trusting, open, close dialog - preferably outside the comfort zone or in the growth zone.
Solution: New technology can provide greater control and empowerment
Who would have thought that online banking would become the dominant tool for private individuals to pay their bills 11-12 years ago? Or that buddy payments would be made using VIPS? New technology can also help both managers and employees to get an overview of which measures need to be followed up and when. This requires that the appraisal interview is concretized in measures and deadlines and that these are entered into a digital solution, preferably a web form where managers and employees are guaranteed joint access. The form should be designed based on the company's needs, and not on the rigid functions and routines of software suppliers. When the web form is designed with user-friendliness in mind and all employees should be able to use the tool (user-friendliness/simplicity), it will be easier to achieve a collective gain. If you think Lean, most people will follow. In such a situation, both managers and employees will have control over action points and backlog items - and in this way almost ensure that these conversations are finally followed up in a good way. Employees must be able to follow up on their own to a large extent, with the manager as a second or coach. The alternative is less control and weaker follow-up, as has been the case for far too many years. Structure and culture are linked. Creating the desired culture without structure seems futile. Today, many opportunities and practical tools are being developed to succeed with basic management tasks. Such an innovative link between structural capital and human capital is mutually reinforcing and can help ensure that conversations and measures are continuously and easily followed up. It's about time!
Read also: Why leadership development is so important.
One more solution to ensure follow-up: Let employees write the minutes themselves!
When the employee writes the minutes themselves, at least three things happen:
- The employee will gain a deeper ownership of the goals and measures to be implemented as a result of the conversation - greater implementation power.
- Time as a resource. The manager's time is freed up so that he/she can better succeed with the secondment of the employee.
- Smarter accountability. An employee who has deeper knowledge of his/her own challenges and desired development areas will utilize this knowledge to a greater extent when he/she is empowered and held accountable - the quality of both the conversation and the minutes will improve.
Conclusion
Understanding why your company should conduct performance reviews is a fundamental start to the work. The management team must establish a process that involves the employee - after all, it's called the performance review and not the management review !
Good conversations characterized by safety, honesty, openness, interest/curiosity and empathy - combined with new technology that helps us to realize goals and initiatives - will lead us to exploit the potential that the performance review truly offers.
When defined development goals, work goals and outlined measures are followed up, and we learn from each other - in conversations characterized by closeness and equality - this will be a very good tool in the development of both manager and employee. But it requires a thought behind it - a certainty about what we want to get out of the work, and how we ensure that it is anchored in both the employee's needs and the company's strategy and puts human resources at the heart of the business.
