Why Annual Performance Reviews Don’t Work & What Does

Many leaders are beginning to recognize the deficiencies in conducting annual performance reviews. Here are three problems that I see in this common practice:

• A once-a-year approach delays real-time feedback until the situation is forgotten and the input is no longer constructive. Result: Performance reviews become assessments that provide little if any specific guidance for improvement.
• Most managers don’t want to deal with the tension of a negative performance review, so they provide mostly positive (and inaccurate) assessments. Result: a paper trail of poor performers suggesting they are performing well.
• Annual performance reviews are often not rooted in the employee’s job description or statement of deliverables. Result: it can feel like an ambush when an employee is being held to a standard they had not seen or thought relevant to their job.

Once-a-year performance reviews delay real-time feedback until the situation is forgotten & the input no longer constructive. Click To Tweet When managers don’t want to give negative performance reviews, they give positive & inaccurate assessments leaving a paper trail of poor performers suggesting they are performing well. Click To Tweet

Some think more frequent reviews are the answer but unless the methodology changes, increasing frequency only compounds the problem.

Some managers are embracing a new strategy to more effectivley encourage continual growth and development of their employees – coaching conversations.

Here are Five Ways Coaching Conversations Can Make a Difference

#1: Keep it Real. Coaching conversations are rooted in the actual experiences of employees rather than theoretical constructs. Trainers bring knowledge and information, but coaches bring curiosity and questions.

Trainers bring knowledge and information, but coaches bring curiosity and questions. Click To Tweet

#2: Focus on future potential not current performance. The best coaches tolerate some failure for the sake of learning and higher performance in the future. Mistakes are tolerated as they are a key element to learning. Employees need to be encouraged to get out of their comfort zone and into the discomfort zone where the best learning takes place.

Dear managers: please tolerate mistakes, they are key elements of learning. Click To Tweet

#3: Inner reflection. A coaching manager will ask simple, open-ended questions to foster inner reflection, “What is the most important conversation we can have today?” or “What do you want to explore together?” Reflection is a missing piece in employee growth and development. Deep reflection allows individual learners to pursue what is important to them, not just what matters to the manager.

#4: Ownership. Staff, not the managers, must own the learning process. Too many managers take responsibility for their staff’s growth and development. Coaches keep the monkey on their back for their benefit.

#5: Create a coaching friendly context. Coaching conversations should have little to do with appraisal and evaluation. Managers create a healthy coaching context as they help their staff reflect on their daily actions, discuss their problems and explore opportunities. Fostering trust is the most important part of creating a coaching friendly context.

The best coaches manage the tension between the needs of the organization and the unique needs of the individual. To understand what the employee wants, you must ask, and you must be willing to listen in the context of a coaching conversation.

The highest calling of a coaching manager is to see their staff become the best version of themselves. That is, to see them step into the fullness of their potential, dignity and worth.

Coaching conversations should be rooted in the actual experiences of employees. Click To Tweet Staff, not managers, must own the learning process Click To Tweet Trust between the leader & employee is key to shift from managing to coaching. Click To Tweet The highest calling of a manager is to see their staff become the best version of themselves. Click To Tweet