3 Steps To Conducting Your Performance Reviews (Part 1 of 2)

About this time of year, most businesses begin to conduct their employee performance reviews. Typically, many managers do not enjoy conducting employee performance reviews, and to make matters worse, do not know the proper techniques to getting a review done properly.

Ultimately, performance reviews are an extremely useful tool for both employee and employer. Employees are able to gain insight on where they stand in the eyes of their manager, while managers gain the opportunity to address matters on a one-on-one basis.

To help make your employee review process go smoothly for everyone involved, we have listed below the three most crucial steps that need to be taken for an effective employee performance review.

3 Steps To Conducting An Effective Employee Performance Review (Step 1):

Step 1: Have The Employee Conduct A Self-Evaluation.

Before sitting down for the actual review, have employees fill out a self-evaluation form. This gives employees an idea of what they are in store for during the actual review. Furthermore, it gets employees actively thinking about the work they have done in the past year. Additional benefits of self-evaluations include:

• Involving multiple perspectives in the eventual performance review. Managers cannot remember everything, and even if they can, they only bring one perspective to the table.
• Alerting management of any disparities between what they think an employee's performance has been and what the employee thinks.
• Showing employees that the review process is one of give-and-take-that they have a say in the process.

The mark of a good employee self-evaluation form is the quality of its questions. Here are some examples of general questions to include in a self-evaluation form:

• What work did you enjoy the most and why?
• What skills and talents helped you achieve success?
• What was the most difficult or challenging work you have done?
• What results make you the most proud?
• What existing or new skills would you like to develop in the coming year?
• Are there any new projects or other assignments you would like to do?

Executive Summary: The first step in conducting employee performance reviews is to send out a self-evaluation form a few days prior to the actual reviews. This gives your employees time to prepare for the review by actively thinking about their work in the past year. A good self-evaluation form is defined by the quality of its questions, so take the time to develop questions that will benefit both the employee and your business.