The Difference between Performance Reviews and Performance Management
The Difference between Performance Reviews and Performance Management
Every employer has daily opportunities to provide employees with information about their performance that is accurate, constructive and actionable. On the positive side, this does not mean that a pat on the back is necessary every two seconds. In fact it reminds me of my first boss who told me that I should assume I was doing fine as long as I didn’t hear from her. I think her exact words were, “No news is good news.” That was her way to give me the information I needed without having to interrupt us from our work to inform me that I was doing a good job. For me, it was highly effective because I knew she was pleased, until she wasn’t, in which case she told me on the spot. But what made it all work was that my annual review became a review of the conversations we’d had and not had as well as a forum to plan out a strategy for the weeks and months to come.
So no matter how one manager chooses to evaluate his or her employees over another, what’s important is that the employees are crystal clear about where they stand and how they are doing, for better and worse. It is far superior an alternative than sitting someone down after the fact with a laundry list of “strengths and weaknesses” to let them know how they did, only when it’s too late for them to do anything about it. And for an organization trying to reach its goals, delaying feedback, delays the possibility of improving results, which in theory and practice makes no sense.
There will always be performance related matters to discuss when something needs to be corrected, improved, recognized and congratulated. And a healthy balance of formal and informal feedback is the way to create the kind of continuity that strengthens employee performance to in turn improve organizational performance. A good rule of thumb is to conduct formal reviews every six-to-twelve months, provide semi-formal feedback quarterly and offer informal performance discussions continuously on an ongoing basis.
Meanwhile, there are a few things you can do to help ensure that your conversations around performance are as constructive, productive and organizationally relevant as possible.
— If you are providing written feedback, give the employee a chance to read and digest it privately beforehand. Encourage him/her to make notes and jot down any thoughts that he/she would like to discuss with you at the time of the review.
— At the time of the conversation, ask the employee if he/she has any questions about the evaluation, before delving into the verbal delivery. Many times if they do, it opens up a perfect segue for you to discuss issues in the form of a dialogue rather than overwhelming them with a monologue.
— Share your observations of their overall strengths and weaknesses and provide examples.
— Make sure the evaluation spans the whole review period, not just what is in recent memory.
— Remain objective. Never become emotional and never, ever argue with the reviewee.
— Get feedback from the reviewee and set future goals and objectives together.
— Agree on measurement markers and timeline before ending the conversation.
— Add a section to employee reviews that evaluates how well they have taken the feedback they have received and incorporated it into their performance.
The Difference between Performance Reviews and Performance Management - To learn more about this author, visit Donna Flagg's Website.
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All too often, in many companies performance reviews are treated as an annual event. But in order to truly be useful, evaluating employees and providing feedback should really be a continuous function in every organization – all the time. It’s not enough to tell someone retrospectively once a year how he or she fared over the course of twelve months, nor does doing so fully capture an accurate picture of that individual’s value to the business, or lack thereof.
Every employer has daily opportunities to provide employees with information about their performance that is accurate, constructive and actionable. On the positive side, this does not mean that a pat on the back is necessary every two seconds. In fact it reminds me of my first boss who told me that I should assume I was doing fine as long as I didn’t hear from her. I think her exact words were, “No news is good news.” That was her way to give me the information I needed without having to interrupt us from our work to inform me that I was doing a good job. For me, it was highly effective because I knew she was pleased, until she wasn’t, in which case she told me on the spot. But what made it all work was that my annual review became a review of the conversations we’d had and not had as well as a forum to plan out a strategy for the weeks and months to come.
So no matter how one manager chooses to evaluate his or her employees over another, what’s important is that the employees are crystal clear about where they stand and how they are doing, for better and worse. It is far superior an alternative than sitting someone down after the fact with a laundry list of “strengths and weaknesses” to let them know how they did, only when it’s too late for them to do anything about it. And for an organization trying to reach its goals, delaying feedback, delays the possibility of improving results, which in theory and practice makes no sense.
There will always be performance related matters to discuss when something needs to be corrected, improved, recognized and congratulated. And a healthy balance of formal and informal feedback is the way to create the kind of continuity that strengthens employee performance to in turn improve organizational performance. A good rule of thumb is to conduct formal reviews every six-to-twelve months, provide semi-formal feedback quarterly and offer informal performance discussions continuously on an ongoing basis.
Meanwhile, there are a few things you can do to help ensure that your conversations around performance are as constructive, productive and organizationally relevant as possible.
— If you are providing written feedback, give the employee a chance to read and digest it privately beforehand. Encourage him/her to make notes and jot down any thoughts that he/she would like to discuss with you at the time of the review.
— At the time of the conversation, ask the employee if he/she has any questions about the evaluation, before delving into the verbal delivery. Many times if they do, it opens up a perfect segue for you to discuss issues in the form of a dialogue rather than overwhelming them with a monologue.
— Share your observations of their overall strengths and weaknesses and provide examples.
— Make sure the evaluation spans the whole review period, not just what is in recent memory.
— Remain objective. Never become emotional and never, ever argue with the reviewee.
— Get feedback from the reviewee and set future goals and objectives together.
— Agree on measurement markers and timeline before ending the conversation.
— Add a section to employee reviews that evaluates how well they have taken the feedback they have received and incorporated it into their performance.
The Difference between Performance Reviews and Performance Management - To learn more about this author, visit Donna Flagg's Website.
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website |
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
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