Performance Reviews Don't Have to Suck!

It's that time of year when managers would love to be like bears, go into hibernation until the whole performance review process is over. And employees, like a bear's cubs, would love to join them as they're not fans of the process either. But performance reviews don't have to suck. After all, the number one thing employees want and need from you is feedback. Feedback. And you could become a powerhouse evaluator by making just a few shifts, whether you're the giver of a review or the receiver. And we're gonna talk about it all through this episode with tips and strategies, both from the viewpoint of the giver and then the viewpoint of the receiver. Keep in mind, every single employee from the ground floor to the C-suite offices are given performance reviews, and they need and want feedback just like you, so they can be more effective, more productive, and more successful in the role that they're doing. So stay with us. Welcome, welcome, welcome to Shedding the Corporate Bitch, the podcast that transforms female corporate executives into powerhouse leaders by showing them how to shed the challenges and overwhelm along with any fear, insecurity, self-doubt and negativity holding them back. I'm your host, Bernadette Boas of Ball of Fire Coaching, bringing you powerhouse discussions each week to share tips, advice, and sometimes tough love so you create the riches in your work and life you deserve. Okay, be honest. On a scale of 1 to 10, how do you feel about performance reviews? 1 being bad and 10 being, oh, I love them. You're probably somewhere in the 4 to 5 range if you're like many, many managers. And employees might dip a little lower. And yet performance reviews don't have to suck. Yes, for managers especially who have small to large teams, they can be time-consuming, not only writing the reviews and really taking into consideration what it is that they need to say and convey, but at the same time, then meeting one-on-one with each of their employees. And if they're doing it right, it is time-consuming because you want to ensure that you're giving each and every one of your employees sufficient amount of time. From a receiver standpoint, oftentimes what I find is many employees, even managers, senior managers, are ill-prepared for their review, and therefore they often walk out of the review feeling disappointed or feeling like, oh, I forgot to ask about this, or I forgot to get information regarding that. So I want to walk through with you from both first a giver's perspective and then a receiver's perspective, some tips and strategies you could be doing to ensure that you actually go up that on a scale of 1 to 10, from more of the 3 to 5, whether you're a giver or receiver, up to like the 7 and 8. You may not fall in love with the process, but at the same time, you can realize that the process of giving feedback does not have to be intimidating, does not have to be stressful, does not have to be anxiety-ridden. It could actually be a very productive, collaborative, conversation between you and another person regarding whether it's about your career path or you're the one giving and therefore you have to provide feedback to someone else about both their strengths and their areas for improvement. So let's take a look at first, let's take a look at the giver's side of things. All right. So first, from a giver's perspective, What I want you to think about and the shoes I want you to step into are your own when it comes to what do you think about when you're preparing your own performance review to be turned in, and then your manager is going to kind of provide input to it and then sit you down. What is it that you're looking for in order to ensure you have the information that you need from both a, what you've accomplished, what you're strong at, where you really excel, as well as, all right, so where are those areas that I could have done a better job or I totally screwed up or I'm just lacking? And therefore then another part of that conversation is, all right, so what can be done and what can I be doing in order to kind of close those gaps and really enhance and enrich how I'm showing up each and every day. So you want to ensure, as the giver to one of your employees, that you're really thinking about, okay, so what is it that I want to need? Because they probably do too. And wouldn't it be really unfair if you went into your performance review very prepared, very thoughtful, very intentional, about what you are going to be expecting from your manager, but yet you don't provide the same to your employee. And that has to do with not only the content either. It has to do with the approach, the environment, like where you're going to have it. You want to be really thoughtful about what makes you comfortable, what gives you more confidence to open up and feel safe. So you could be transparent and have a very productive dialogue. And what really is the outcome that you're looking for from your own performance reviews? And say to yourself, you know what? My employees deserve the same. And even if they don't know and they're not prepared or equipped to really be thinking through all of that, well, guess what? That's why you're a leader and they work for you. It's for you to coach and develop and guide them as far as how should they be prepared to come into this discussion with you. And that touches on our number 2, which is focusing on future goals and expectations as opposed to just kind of making reviews all about the past. And first, about the future goals and expectations, I would hope that you provide feedback on a regular basis. When someone does a good job over and above what they typically do, I would hope that you purposely, with great intention and thought, provide feedback to them as far as their contribution, their efforts, how they showed up. As well, if something goes astray and something gets screwed up or someone fails to do something, you're also ensuring that you're providing that constructive feedback right then and there, not letting it kind of pass, not ignoring it because you don't like conflict. But actually confronting it and embracing it because what you need to be thinking about as a giver, which is a manager/leader, is whatever feedback I provide them is meant to be done in kindness and generosity as well as to serve them in a better way to make them better contributors. Don't get selfish in that you kind of neglect and fail to provide feedback when necessary, not just at the beginning of the year or mid-year because it's an item on a checklist, but more so you're providing feedback on a regular basis because it's going to help that individual feel important, feel valued, feel as if they're making a contribution and a difference on your team. The second part of the future goals and expectations is that will also enhance and enrich the expectations or the instruction you're providing your people as far as how they should show up and be prepared for their performance review is this is your opportunity, whether it is at the beginning of the year, it is during one of those regular sit-downs. Or it's a mid-year, but you're also discussing with them and collaborating with them on the goals and expectations that both they have for themselves. But then you contribute what your expectations and goals are for them as well. And so you want to definitely make sure that one, they're providing input to that. It's just not being passed down to them because People won't own what they are not part of. And so you want to make sure that they're part of what those future goals and expectations are. And hopefully you've communicated them along the way. At the same time, it may be new discussion, you know, at the beginning of the year when you're establishing the new year's goals. So again, two things: setting goals and expectations of how they should appear to discuss their performance review, as well as then setting those future goals and expectations that you have of them for that particular year or time period, I should say, and that you're collaborating on them. So then they take ownership and support what those goals and expectations are. Now, of course, performance reviews are a snapshot of the past. How did you do up against the goals that were defined for you before? But I would strongly, strongly recommend any leader to really make that like 25% of the performance review and 75% of the focus being on the future. Because certainly, if there are big issues or there are big accolades from the past 12 months, that should definitely be focused on. But then you need to move on. And really where you want your employees' head to be is, all right, so now how do we leverage all of that good, bad, and ugly? How do we leverage that as we go into this new year? Because what you want to ensure is when they go to leave that room, they're kind of armed with their toolbox of goals, expectations, areas for improvement, whatever the case might be from you. And they have, you know, no outstanding questions, which we're going to get to in just a minute. All right. So focus on future, not as much in the past, and then get everybody moving forward. So that brings us to number 3, appropriately, and that is be sure to give specifics and examples and not just generalities. This happens far too often and it's really, really unacceptable. When managers will make comments, good or bad, to an employee during a performance review, and the employee will be confused because maybe they haven't heard it before. At the same time, will immediately ask, "Okay, so can you give me some examples? Is there anything specific in regards to when I X, Y, and Z?" The manager is like, "Well, no, not really. It's just, you know, it happens." Well, that's unacceptable. If you walk in as a giver of a performance review, if you walk in and you can't defend and you can't provide that clarification to your employee, then I would coach you to leave it out. Leave it out or go and find the examples because you may not— be witness to them all the time. They may be, you know, from a third party, but go get the specifics, go get the facts, go get the details of the feedback that you're providing, because that's the only way your employee is going to, one, understand it and be really clear about it, but two, be supportive of receiving it. So leveraging that information trusting in it and taking ownership and accountability for it. So please, please, whatever you do, ensure— look over your performance review documentation or your notes that you're going to use in that one-on-one, but especially that documentation. Be sure it provides specifics and examples. All right. It's only fair to them to get that information. Whether or not it's good or bad feedback. They want to really understand it and really be clear on it, or they're going to walk out of that review and, you know, not only is their morale going to be busted, but also their view of you and then their feeling of value and contributing as they move forward, let alone the fact that, well, they're never going to get the specifics and the details of any of their performance. So they're going to lose a lot of trust in how you are going to support them and how you are going to coach and develop them as you go forward. And that's not your intention, nor should it be as a leader. And so just ensure that you have those specifics and those examples. Now, number 4, and I had mentioned this briefly with an earlier tip is feedback should be regular. It shouldn't be just at performance reviews, beginning of the year, mid-year. Feedback should be a natural part of your coaching, your development, your support of your team members. So ensure, put it on a schedule, have a frequency that you're meeting with each of your employees one-on-one, whether that's face-to-face, on a Zoom call, or a phone call. But Make sure that you have feedback as a standard practice as a leader. Keep in mind, too, the performance reviews beginning of the year, mid-year, they're a lot more formal than the type of feedback that I'm talking about. It could be a 5-minute conversation. It could be an email that simply highlights what the situation was and then how the individual performed. Closing statement of an attaboy or keep up the good work or keep trying, whatever the case might be. Feedback again, number one input, number one want and need from managers, from their employees. And it also includes the managers wanting feedback from their managers. So it's not just like an individual contributor employee who's asking for this. It's also you as a leader is asking for the same from your own managers. So kind of build a practice and get comfortable and find your structure and your process of preparing and presenting it down. So then you can make feedback a regular thing because as you do, your employees are going to feel more accepted. They're going to feel more involved. They're going to feel more valued. They're going to feel more satisfied and fulfilled. Good or bad information being given to them, they're going to not feel like they're out on their own on an island without any type of life jacket in their manager. And again, from all— and I've mentioned this on previous episodes— from all of the work that I've done over the last year and a half, Feedback was the number one thing, but it was also the number one requested thing when it came to the question of, what do you want as meaningful recognition? What do you want? And they had their choice of anything. There wasn't kind of these options given and they pick an option. And, you know, many would think, many managers would think, oh, they want money, they want free lunches. They want gift cards. No, the majority, and I'm talking like 98% of the employees wanted feedback. So make it a regular thing. And if you don't have, if you're not comfortable with it, if you don't have those processes, if you don't have that practice, if you don't have that confidence in doing so, then just be sure to reach out to me and let's talk about it. Go to coachmebernadette.com/discoverycall and stop making an excuse. Of I don't know how, I don't like conflict, I have too many employees, it's too time-consuming, you know, so forth and so on. If you want to be a leader, then you need to put in the work. All right. And part of that could be if you need some coaching and some support in understanding how best to give feedback. All right. So number 5, when it comes to the giver, is The performance review is not about you. It's about your employee, right? So if that's the case, then you don't want to necessarily go in and start reading off kind of from the performance review, let alone— and I've heard this way too often— let alone sliding the piece of paper across the desk to the individual or having emailed it before your phone call and just having them look it over. And sign it. And/or you might say, because you want to get off the hook of having to give feedback, you might say, do you have any questions? Now, we'll get to the receiver in a minute, but you as a giver, you as a leader, your responsibility is to ensure that they do fully understand it. They are very clear about it, that there isn't any gaps or any ambiguity. And therefore, you need to be asking them questions. So what more do you need to, need to know? Does this make sense? What can I be doing for you in support of your growth and your development, or in these areas of improvement that I've highlighted? And I understand it's not always comfortable to hear it, but I'm here for you. What is it that I could be doing to support you in closing these gaps and addressing these areas of improvement? So you need to really lean in and ask the questions, not just make statements, to really fully understand if your employee feels very supportive and very clear on what feedback you just provided them. Because what you want is them to get off that phone or walk out that office and feel pumped up, feel motivated, feel supported, regardless of the information that they've received. Because you can leave someone feeling very satisfied, feeling very optimistic, feeling very engaged with— even when it's not the best input and it's the best feedback. And it's just a matter of preparation and how you present it. So that's for you, Giver. And of course, there's so many other tips and techniques and ways you can go about given a performance review. However, these are the most important ones that I have found that many managers are struggling with and/or they don't even, they don't even have in their toolkit. All right. So let's move on to the receiver. So now you, even as a manager, are receivers from your manager. And then, of course, we talked about how you as manager giving, you want to kind of put yourself in the shoes of the employee, the receiver. So now you're a receiver. So now you're sitting in those shoes, right? What do you want to do? Well, first off, even if you're going into a conversation about future goals and expectations, like we mentioned as number 1 for the giver, you want to prepare your thoughts, your inputs, your strengths, your recognition of areas for improvement or mistakes or gotchas. That occurred. And again, we want to spend 75% of, you know, your performance review thinking about the future, 25% on the past. But you definitely want to be identifying what you want to share and what you want to add to your performance review and make sure is included in your performance review, as much as you want to identify what it is you need from your manager, um, as input. And you really want to be thoughtful. You You want to lay it out. You want to outline it. Make a little checklist if need be. You know, have your questions prepared to ensure that when you leave that room, you understand the expectations, your goals, areas for improvement, what is needed, like what is your career path. So many individuals will go and leave their performance reviews or any conversations with their managers throughout the year and really not have a clear idea of what's next. I get that all the time. I have no idea what my career path is. I have no idea where I can go from here. I have no idea what my next step is, let alone I have no idea how my boss feels about me or whether or not he has plans for me, he or she, or part of a succession. That's a big one. But at the same time, it's all the little stuff too that so many employees are not ensuring, and I believe it's your responsibility as the receiver, whether you're a manager or not, but as a receiver, it's your responsibility to ensure you're getting the information you need for your development. Because if you happen to have a so-called leader who is not good at coaching, not good at developing, not good at leading or dealing with conflict, Well, then you're going to have to feed that. You're going to have to ensure that you get what you need, even from someone who's not going to offer it up front. You need to be well prepared as you go into your conversation as far as what is it that you want and need. Now, this could go— I'm going to expand this a little bit. This could go as far as what's working or what's not working. Here, you know, they're going to give you feedback. You're going to contribute your input to your performance. And your future goals and expectations, but you might extend it. You might extend it to kind of be like, you know, I need to discuss what's worked as far as my teaming with others, my partnering with you, the development, the feedback or lack thereof, the communication style. I feel that maybe I'm not being supported as far as how I like to work in the environment that I work best in, the type of communications I need in order to do my job, so forth and so on. You really want to cover all the bases when it comes to that opportunity you have for a one-on-one with your boss. Because again, feedback should be frequent and, you know, recurring throughout the year. But some of it's going to be like for 5 minutes, others are going to be for a half hour. And then you have your more formal mid-year and beginning of year. But you always want to ensure that you're covering all of your bases. So you're feeling very prepared and very ready to do what you need to do to be the best contributor and achieve your goals and aspirations that you have for your career. It's not all, all about the boss and about the business. You want to ensure that you're getting what you need. So many people will say to me, well, can I really ask for a mentor? Can I ask for a coach? Can I ask for training? Can I? And I'm just like, I'm not going to answer that. I need you to answer that. And I would hope the answer is, of course you can. They may not approve it, but you need to be ensuring that anything and everything that you want and need, you're discussing it with your manager who's supposed to be your, your partner in your career development. All right. And if they're not, you need to find someone who would be and/or you need to have that tough conversation to say, This isn't working and this is what I need. All right. So that's the first one for the receiver. And again, number 2, I kind of already emphasized that, but you need to prepare your inputs. You need to prepare what it is you want to talk about, what it is you want to accomplish, what it is that you want to understand. You want to lay it all out. And if you happen to walk in you know, with your journal or your notebook or whatever the case might be, and you're checking off and you're kind of creating the pace of the conversation by ensuring that you're taking time to guarantee that you're asking all the questions and getting all the things discussed that you want to discuss. Well, so be it. A checklist or an outline is the best way for you to control the pace and the the experience you're having in your, in your performance review. And for number 3, you as well as the giver needed to, but you need to understanding not only of you even when it comes to your review, but also your manager. You know, if you don't really understand how best to communicate with them, how best to work with them, partner with them, how best to support them, how best to deal with conflict with them? If there's anything about your relationship with them or your relationship with others, you know, who should I be networking with? Who should I be partnering with? Who should be my stakeholders? Who and what should I really be focused on beyond even my initial goals and objectives and expectations? You know, what would those stretch goals be? What would that stretch work look like and how can I go about doing it? Ensure that you don't walk out of there and be disappointed that you forgot to ask something or that, you know, there was a whole subject totally overlooked or you still walked away with uncertainty and confusion and maybe some frustration and anger, you know, because you didn't ask the questions about something that was that was stated by your manager in your review. You know, it's a fine line between when people say to me, "Well, my boss didn't raise this up," or, "My boss didn't mention my career path," or, "My boss didn't give me input on what I should be working on or what I shouldn't be working on." It's not only up to your boss. It's up to you to be sure you're asking the questions that will ensure you have that feedback from them. Number 4, and it stuns me even to this day when I coach a lot of managers on giving performance reviews, I coach a lot of employees on receiving their performance reviews, and it never surprises me when individuals will have no self-awareness. To anything that they need to work on, anything that needs to be improved on, let alone if there were mistakes or there were oversights or there were complete failures during the year. They're kind of just brushed aside. They're, you know, they're not necessarily owned and, you know, confronted and solved with recommendations of what they're going to do next. They just want to highlight and talk about kind of, okay, so what's my level going to be? What's my raise going to be? And, you know, how can I get a bonus this coming year? And if that's what you're focused on, especially if you are a manager of one or many, then you're going to stay— I'll still stay in that so-called manager space and not be a leader because leaders focus on ensuring that they have the information, they have the plans, they have the structure to enrich, enhance, and expand and not just focused on the money or the title or the rating or level of the hierarchy within their organization. They're very consumed with wanting to know what are those skills, those talents, that expertise that experience they need to gain to be better at what they do and/or to even go and take on things that they've never even considered before. So you want to ensure that your performance review, written and verbal, acknowledges your strengths, your accomplishments, your talents. Again, 25% on the past, but the 75% of the future could look like, Well, these are my strengths and my talents and my skills. Would you agree? And as a result of that, I really could be contributing more so or greatly to, you know, strategy 1, 2, and 3. That's the kind of conversation you could be having. While at the same time, I acknowledge the fact that I really effed up, I really screwed up when it came to blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, or I really feel I need to work on and I need some focus. Maybe some training, mentoring, or coaching in these areas. So your review, again, that conversation, whether it's the formal or the frequent one throughout the year, should include a look at your strengths, accomplishments, talents, but also where you need to improve and what needs to, to be worked on or addressed or fixed. All right, acknowledge both your strengths and your weaknesses, your successes and your mistakes. Okay. Number 5 would be touching on everything we've talked about. Many employees say to me, shouldn't HR have a career path laid out for me? Shouldn't they be sitting me down and reviewing it, let alone my boss? Shouldn't they blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, there's a lot of people that should be doing a lot of different things, right? And an expectation that many have had over the decades, over the centuries, have been, especially on certain functions of a business, that certain things should be happening. But you know what? And I've always, always felt this, executed on this, advocated it, coached it, because my father and my mother did it to me and my 11 siblings. You need to take responsibility and control and the lead on your own career path, your own development, your own growth and succession of where you want to go. Because very few times, very few times will someone hand you your map. And there are leaders out there who do, but the vast majority that I've worked with over the decade and a half, and even while I was in corporate, rarely did. And that is no excuse for you to say, "Well, it's on my boss. It's on HR. It's on the company." No, it's on you. You need to take the lead. You need to be regularly formulating that plan, presenting your plan and discussing, you know, any type of gaps, any type of conflicts, any type of disagreements, any type of agreements, any type of opportunities, so forth and so on, that that plan might have. And at the same time, you want to ensure that If there are things outside your realm of role and responsibility, that you lay that out also and have those conversations. Well, you know, I know I've only been in this role for, you know, a year, year and a half, and it's been a tremendous learning opportunity, and I have a lot to learn. However, you know, I would over the next, 18 to 24 months, my goal is to— not necessarily I'd like to— my goal is to move into this other position, might be higher, or this other function or department, whatever the case might be. You need to take the lead in laying all of that out and engaging proactively those individuals that can support you on that, whether that is a mentor, whether that is a coach, whether that is just your boss or even your HR representative. No one's going to know what you want unless you bring it to them, unless you discuss it with them, unless you even advocate and fight for it. Because keep in mind, as yourself as a manager, but say you're just the employee and there's managers above you. The further away they get from you, the less they truly have an understanding of what it is that you're accomplishing each and every day and how you're contributing. So you need to tell them, you need to be your own PR agent when it comes to your career plan and your career path. All right. So ensure that you're taking the lead on that plan. And that you're making those that need to know it and need to support you on it, making them aware of it. Okay. Those were 5 individual tips, both one group for the giver of performance reviews and one for the receivers, because performance reviews don't have to suck. They really don't. They are collaborative, engaging. Growth-oriented, growth-focused conversations between a manager and their employee. And if both of you are armed appropriately, are prepared, you know, you've practiced, and now you're working on presenting that conversation, that discussion, then all it needs to be is a collaborative experience where you're understanding areas of growth, and you're also understanding and getting clear on where things need to improve. You're laying out that plan together, and you're moving on because everyone's goal and objective should be to make every one of those employees as productive and as effective as possible. I understand that this process of performance reviews can be intimidating, can be stressful, can be unclear or uncertain for you. So again, do not hesitate to reach out and schedule a complimentary 30-minute call. All we're going to talk about is the performance review process or whatever it is that you need to talk about, and that's it. So don't hesitate getting the support, the mentoring, and the coaching that you need to walk into it, into that process, feeling very confident, very self-assured, and knowing that you're going to come out with exactly what you need and the other person was looking for as far as performance reviews. So go to coachmebernettedotcom/discoverycall and schedule that time. All right. You are not alone at all. And I am so grateful and honored that you are here for this particular episode. And I'll look forward to having you for a future one. Of Shedding the Corporate Bitch. Have a blessed week. Bye.