Annual Performance Review

In every organisation there are performance reviews and there will be informal and formal checking and monitoring of performance.

The information below is a guide or set of tips for managers who chair performance reviews in their organisation and this is how I get the most out of the review meetings (basically by asking A LOT if questions).

Traditionally managers would be used to looking at WHAT you have done at performance review. It is just as important, if not more important, to consider HOW tasks have been completed and WHY; thus assessing the workers behaviour along with performance and results.

The Aims

1. To engage with the employees, find out what they are thinking and how they feel about their job.
2. To discuss past/current/future organisational objectives and how they impact upon their role.
3. Discuss personal performance to date (ties in nicely with the Octopus development tool from earlier).
4. Discuss the future of their career and personal development.

Tips
Do not give away information...the chances are you will know the answers to the questions, but it is better to get the employee to think about the answers and respond.

Pre-setting

When arranging performance review meetings it is a good idea to give the employee some advanced warning. This way you have given the employee the opportunity to prepare for the meeting. Give them a copy of the notes from their review from last time so they can take time to figure out what they have achieved versus what was agreed previously.

The setting

You need to break down the formalities to make everyone feel comfortable.

1. Sit side by side...don't have the traditional set up where the manger sits across from the employee;
2. Get a drink or water or a cup of tea/coffee;
3. Give the employee some paper and a pen in case they want to write notes;
4. Explain that you are going to take notes about your discussion;
5. Give the employee an indication of how long the review will last.

Introduction

Describe the process to the employee and the structure of the meeting including the aims.

Starting off - the past

Go on to talk about the period between now and the last review (refer to notes from previous review)

1. How has your job changed in the last 6 months/1 Year - is this a positive change?
2. What do you feel you have achieved in the last 6 months/1 Year?
3. Have you met your objectives? Why/why not?
4. What challenges have you encountered?

Talking about now

1. Describe the job role that you fulfil at the moment.
2. How does your job fit in with the rest of the team/organisation?
3. What do you like the most about your job?
4. What do you like the least about your job?
5. Currently, what would you say are your main objectives?

Go on to focus on the objectives for the next period and provoke thought by asking questions, which may include: -

Customer Focus

1. How do you think your role impacts upon the customer service?
2. What do you currently do, in your role, to enhance the customer experience?
3. What would you say your strengths are with regards to customer service?
4. Do you have something unique that makes you stand out from the rest?
5. In your role, how do you think you can improve the customer service?
6. Do you feel that you really know what the customer wants?
7. Comment on the recent survey...why do you think we were rated as we were...do you think this truly reflects our service? Why/why not?
8. What kind of challenges do you face when trying to be as customer focussed as possible?

Meeting Targets

Rate your own performance from 1 to 10 - What are you measuring your performance against?

1. How do you motivate yourself?
2. How do you get things done?
3. Who measures your performance?
4. How do you make sure you meet your targets?
5. Are you an organised person?
6. Is there anything you feel that you could be doing better?
7. How do you organise yourself?
1. Do you prioritise your own work or does someone do that for you?
2. How is your work prioritised?
8. What challenges to you anticipate in meeting your objectives?
9. What challenges do you face in your day to day routine?

Behaviour

When we talk about be behaviour we are talking about professionalism and how that behaviour is tailored for people working inside and outside of the organisation; the customer and the people you work with.

1. If someone was to ask you what you do for a living...what would you tell them?
1. Do you promote the organisation outside of work?
2. What if I said to you "Act professionally"...what would that mean to you?
3. Do you enjoy your job?
4. Are you proud of what you do?
5. Are you enthusiastic about your work?
6. How do you feel about your job?
7. Why is it important to be professional ?

The working environment

1. How would you describe the current working environment?
2. Can improvements be made?
3. Are you doing everything you can to make sure there is a good working atmosphere?
4. Who's job is it to maintain a good working environment?
5. What do you think we can do to improve the working environment?

What about the future?

1. What do you see your self doing in the future?
2. What are your aspirations?
3. What do you feel passionate about?
4. What do you think you could be doing to improve your job?
5. Is there something that we do already that you would like to get involved in?
6. How do you see you career progress in the
1. Short term
2. Medium term
3. Long term
7. What kind of support do you think you need?

Tips

1. Follow up appropriate questions with 'why'
2. Do not give away too much...get them thinking by asking a lot of questions, for example: -
1. How does that make you feel?
2. Why is that?
3. What could have been done to improve that?
3. Normally with any question you ask you should have a good idea of the response you are going to 3. get. It's best if you know what you are looking for when you ask the question, then you can comment on anything that is missing, or elaborate on specific parts of the answer.
4. Feedback your opinion on performance with <em>constructive</em> comments.

Closing the meeting

1. Give an overview of specific areas including the agreed objectives for the following period;
2. Give praise where it is due and comment on areas that require improvement;
3. Make sure the employee has something to think about when they leave the review meeting;
4. Agree your next meeting date/time.

Managing the process

As before it is important that the manager is well organised.

1. Make sure you organise your notes
2. Make sure you read over your notes from the last meeting so you know what you want to cover
3. A day or so later, feedback to the employee with minutes of your meeting, detailing current objectives and agreed actions for both employee and manager.

Thanks for reading,

Chris

Writing a Management Report

As a manager there is a good chance that you will be asked to write a performance review report for your relevant department(s). I have listed a few tips that should help you to structure and present a report in a professional way so that your report will be taken seriously and, if you are lucky, it will actually be read by your manager!

There are several benefits to writing management reports: -

• Over time a collection of reports will prove as a great portfolio and growth measurement tool;
• It's a great opportunity to show your manager what you have achieved.

Report Preparation

The following considerations should be made prior to, and during, report writing: -

1. Who is the report is for?
1. How much do they already know about what you are writing about?
2. Why do they want this information?
3. Who else may possibly read it?
4. What do they want to use the report for? (Consider any economic or political influences)
2. Appeal to the stakeholders best interest, for example: -
1. Profit
2. Revenue
3. Productivity/Achievement
4. Sales growth
3. Appropriate formatting should be applied
4. Spelling and grammar should be checked
5. Keep the report professional & factual as possible
6. Keep the report as concise as you can

The Report Structure

Here is an example of what should be included in a management report: -

Front Cover

Title, author and date

Contents Page

Summary of contents

Summary/abstract

Contains a summary of the report. Briefly comment on how you feel about the performance of the department to date. A Small paragraph, enough to let the reader know the content and relevance of the report.

Expectations vs Reality

Include a comparison of your initial expectations and the most recent time frame (if it is a 3 month report then you would consider your objectives from 3 months ago and weight them against your current state)

Unit Performance

Provide a brief outline of the department/unit performance over the time period and provide reasoning for unexpected growth or decline/excellent or poor performance, etc. Provide charts and graphs if appropriate to illustrate your points.

Projection of Performance

Project performance for the next 3 months (or time period agreed by line manager) – provide reason why you believe this to be the correct projection. Provide charts and graphs if appropriate.

Current Objectives

With reference to the last three months and achievement to date, what are your current objectives and the course of action toward achieving these objectives.

Ideas and Concept Proposals

Give indications of what changes you would like to put in place and include proposals and structured ideas/concepts, based on factual data and information. Provide a SWOT analysis of any decisions that are to be made. Provide charts and graphs if appropriate.

Conclusion

Provide a summary of the main report and link into recommendations. No new information or data should be included in this section.

Recommendations

Recommendations based on previous analysis of objectives and concept proposals contained with report. Your recommendations should be clear and concise; a summary that can be read quickly and understood.

Acknowledgements

Reference to other published work and credence to personal assistance. Location of where data and information was obtained from.

Line Manager Comments

Allow your line manager to make comment and feedback on contents of report and recommendations you have made.

Important considerations

Providing factual information and data to make your recommendations look concrete is vital, it must be obvious where this data was obtained and that it is from a reputable source.

I hope this provides you with a starting point for writing a management report!

Thanks for reading,

Chris

Employee Personal Development

I'm sure that in your organisation you will have some sort of internal review process/performance review, although sometimes it is not enough to just have a meeting once per year or to just focus on the goals related to the role the employee plays within the organisation. This development tool focuses upon the individual with reference to their PERSONAL objectives, on an ongoing basis.

I have designed a development plan that can be used for all team members and I have made them available for download as .pdf documents ( Stage 1 - Self Assessment and Stage 2 - Agreed Objectives).

I personally really enjoy spending time with people and get them thinking about the future and what their aspirations may be. I want to support them in whatever it is they want to do and this tool helps me to do that in a structure way.

A planned development strategy will allow you to: -

1. Spend structured, formal and regular time with individual team members.
2. Constructively recognise employee strengths and weaknesses.
3. Agree objectives and work on areas of development.
4. Give them more exposure and room to develop.
5. Monitor their performance and give them direct and constructive feedback.

There are many advantages for the employer and the employee: -

1. A skilled, knowledgeable and engaged workforce
2. The individuals know that you care about their personal development
3. High team morale
4. The team begin to really enjoy their job
5. Everyone feels involved and that they are achieving something

Remember to use questions to get information and facilitate discussion.

Stage 1

( .pdf)

Using this form you can either choose to sit down with the employee and discuss or send them away with the form to complete the questions and get back to you...then discuss at a later date. The main idea here is to get them engaged in thinking about their career path and what development they require in order to get what they want. Question 7 "Do you have someone at work that you would consider your best friend" is really just about finding out if there is someone that the employee can fully trust, which I think is important in the workplace.

As far as development is concerned, the main areas to concentrate on are questions 2, 3 and 8. Question 8 is a good place to start you will be able to get a good picture of what the employee is working towards, which will than allow you to approach the areas of development required in order to meet their goal.

Stage 2

(.pdf)

The stage 2 form is then used to break down the goals into smaller chunks, perhaps even tasks that need to be completed in order to develop. You use one form for each objective and you may end up with 4 or 5 which may all be of different time scales.

Remember to make the objectives SMART and give the employee a clear deadline for things to be completed.

When you come to review progress you can use the section at the bottom of the form to take notes.

Building a Portfolio

After you start 'ticking boxes' and making progress you find that you start to build up a nice portfolio of achievement for the employees. This could possibly be used as a tool for promotion.

Adopting the correct leadership style

You have to be prepared for things to not go the way you planned. Also, there will be some who require little coaching and guidance to meet their personal objectives, and some who require much more attention. You won't know until you start the process and find out who needs what attention from you and what style of leadership you will need to adopt.

Managing the process

As the manager it is up to you to check progress and organise the meetings; you are the key support in their development. You will find that if you do not keep on top of it things will not be achieved, although it very much depends on how engaged the employee is. Remember to follow up on any agreed actions; organise a training course, send someone an email or schedule another meeting, for example.

Take the time after each meeting to review your notes and jot down what you think is next and schedule the next meeting in your diary before you forget.

Thanks for reading,

Chris