Performance Management, as easy as 1-2 ... this?

When I googled performance management this is the image that appeared ... YIKES! Tell me it isn't this hard.

Tis' the season ... for performance reviews. Not the ending you were thinking of? Well as an HR guy the end of the year is filled with lots of effort to document a year's worth of accomplishments and results. Oh, and a performance rating. Can I get a collective "yuck" from the audience please?

Yep, supervisors dread it and employees dread it more. Time to sift the seed from the chafe and confirm for 20% of the people who think they are high performing that actually, they are. The rest of you are solid performers, meets expectations or average. Here's the typical response, "Me, are you kidding? I'm high performing; just ask the three people who I've asked to give you performance feedback on me for the 360 you wanted. They'll tell you how good I am."

It's a terrible thing telling someone something they can't see for themselves. Things like, "there are people in this company who have performed better than you, this year.
And last year too." But we try to find ways to make this message easy. It isn't. Best to take it like a bad tasting pill. Quickly, and with water.

Two suggestions for supervisors and employees alike as they approach this dreadful event:

(1) Be honest - If you're a supervisor tell your employee what they are doing well, and tell them what you want them to do better. Provide them with resources and tools to get better, and hold them accountable for improving. If they're not among your highest performers then tell them that too. At least not this year. If you're an employee be candid about those accomplishments you had this year, and equally candid about those areas where you came up short. Being honest on both sides makes you credible. And unless you are perfect, your supervisor already knows about your mistakes and has highlighted them as a basis for justifying your rating. If your year wasn't perfect, you can't expect your rating to be either.

(2) Invest most of the review time on the future, not the past - Reviews are often too much about what happened, and not what needs to happen. Hopefully there has been enough 1-2-1 dialogue between you and your supervisor that neither of you have been stockpiling performance indicators for the review. Performance reviews need to be done in real time. If you are excelling as a supervisor then more than likely your employee already knows what their rating is going to be, before you have the meeting. Dwelling on past accomplishments or past failures is old news. It's a "what have you done for me lately" world out there so focus on what must be done to improve, to get better, and to excel ... next year.

Two simple tips that are sure to make the holidays a bit easier to get through, for supervisors and employees who both just want to get "it" over with so they can focus on time with family and friends, turkey, and some football.