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It’s clear that the annual performance review should be a thing of the past. Both employees and managers think this system is ineffective. Because of this, organizations are shifting their performance review approach--a survey by Training magazine found that 73% of employees met with their supervisors at least monthly.
This is a step in the right direction. Employees crave more regular feedback. Consistent one-on-one meetings creates stronger relationships with employees and makes performance reviews part of day-to-day business.
To take employee engagement to the next level, employers should be conscientious about how they approach feedback. Using technology as an aide, organizations can transform performance reviews from an annual downer into an organizational culture win.
TINYpulse’s research shows that the number one problem with performance reviews is that they’re simply too long. In fact, when asked what they wanted to change about performance reviews, 44% of respondents put making them shorter at the top of the list. Employees also said that the timing of performance reviews was poor. Those concerns at the beginning of the year are lost by the time performance review season comes around.
If your company has ditched the annual review in favor of more frequent feedback, you’ve already started to address these issues. Initiating monthly or weekly conversations with employees means that you can respond more effectively to employee concerns. It also means you’re more likely to provide performance feedback on a wider range of issues rather than focusing only on recent matters.
But frequency isn’t the only problem. Employees consistently reported that managers often critique their performance but offer little in the way of guidance. Moreover, employees reported that supervisors rarely help them reflect on what went wrong or what they could have done differently. When this happens, you’re more likely to get complaints about manager bias. Additionally, TINYpulse’s research has found that fewer than one in three employees feels valued or appreciated. You can bet that bringing in a laundry list of an employee’s “areas for improvement” isn’t going to improve morale.
Managers should approach these meetings in an informal but focused manner. Before the meeting starts, turn off your phone and mute your laptop. Being distracted by a notification or a message communicates to the employee that you don’t value their input. Consider holding the meetings either in your report’s office or in a neutral space such as a break room. Walking meetings outside of the office are also a refreshing change of pace. Set up each meeting as a recurring event in your calendar and don’t cancel unless it’s a legitimate emergency. You may want to begin by first checking in to see how they are doing. All of these recommendations are intended to put the employee at ease and foster genuine conversation about obstacles and opportunities.
Management needs to be vigilant if they want to convert performance reviews into engagement opportunities. Research demonstrates that employees are looking for the following:
Short, frequent, and productive meetings
Critiques accompanied by actionable steps for improvement
Performance measured by objective goals and metrics
A two-way conversation allowing both sides to discuss their concerns
We may think of instant, less personal communication as the opposite of the timeless one-on-one meeting. But you can use technology to support and enhance direct feedback.
Instant communication ensures that you’re providing brief, timely feedback to employees. You can also use technological tools to set clear objectives and then track progress for those objectives. Praising employees for a job well done and offering specific steps for improvement has never been easier.
Take the example of OceanDesign, a New Zealand-based branding firm. The company had an internal communication and transparency problem. By using TINYpulse to provide instant performance feedback and relevant data, OceanDesign has improved communication between managers and employees. One sign of trouble brewing is a lack of alignment--when employees and managers don’t see eye to eye on performance. Since adopting an instant feedback model, alignment between managers and employees has increased by 28%.
Scrapping the annual performance review is just the start of revolutionizing feedback systems. As organizations move from a hierarchical model to a flat model, performance reviews will evolve with them. A system that effectively uses instant communication in tandem with one-on-one meetings will be the way forward.
Kevin Nakao is the Head of Marketing at TINYpulse, an employee engagement solution company that offers feedback and performance management tools. Prior to TINYpulse, Kevin was the cofounder and CEO of MeritShare, acquired by TerryBerry in 2014. He is also the former COO and President of WhitePages, Inc. He has served in senior roles and as an officer at publicly traded companies including RealNetworks, Fox, and Universal Music. Kevin has an MBA from Harvard Business School and BA from Whitman College. He is also a guest writer for Mashable, TechCrunch, and GeekWire on marketing and employee engagement.
