For your organization, the sky’s the limit when you’ve got the right talent in place. Of course, it’s important to nurture and grow your team to ensure a healthy company culture and happy, productive employees.
So how do you make that happen? Deliver continuous, constructive feedback to help individuals develop. Leave no room for surprise, disappointments or, what may feel like, ambush punishments. If formal performance reviews don’t make sense for your team, commit instead to a quarterly check-in.
If you feel as if you don’t know where to begin – how to help set goals or how best to deliver necessary feedback – that’s okay. We’ve put together a few tips to help you develop your own methodology for regular employee check-ins.
Find Tools that Work
Make a plan for how you want to structure your feedback plans and implement a specific process across the team. If you’re lost on where to start, don’t worry. There are a variety of helpful tools available to help facilitate the process, both for leaders and their teams.
- Goal Setting: For goal-setting and tracking of 1 on 1 reviews, Lattice and Small Improvements are good options.
- Engagement Surveys: To survey employees and see how they’re feeling, Tiny Pulse and Culture Amp offer great plans.
- Performance Reviews: If you’re in need of a solid performance review model, try BambooHR or Namely.
- Recognition: Specific recognition ideas can be found in Seven Geese.
- All in One: Comprehensive solutions are offered by Reflektive and Paylocity.
Above all, find an approach to performance feedback that supports your best practices as a company, and ignore ones that don’t.
Start with Clear Expectations
Before you can measure performance or offer suggestions for improvements, clear expectations have to be set for each employee. These should include tasks and a timeline for completion of work. If anything runs the risk of being abstract or hard to quantify (for example, creative work), be sure to set a realistic volume of projects for the individual and gather as much anecdotal feedback as possible. If possible, get buy-in from the whole team on their goals, and never let anyone feel as if they’re being set up for failure.
Foster a Culture of Respect
If an employee is falling short of their goals or struggling to meet expectations, they should be able to come to you or another leader to discuss opportunities for improvement. Alternately, leaders should regularly seek feedback from their teams in a proactive way. Success is a two-way street and just as you’re able to deliver feedback to your employees, they should have an open invitation to offer feedback about your leadership. If you foster a respectful culture and let staff know that everyone wants to get better, you’ll be able to solve conflicts faster and promote greater productivity.
Financial Rewards
Though pay raises can be a large factor in measuring and rewarding employees, it’s best to keep the conversation separate from ongoing feedback. It’s important to communicate how the incentive is tied to performance (if in fact it is), but that should be done in a different way so that the motivation for success isn’t just monetary. A “compensation conversation” scheduled
separately from a review, with an explanation of how potential raises are determined, is a sound approach.
Some organizations use percentage-based merit increases based on calibrated feedback ratings; others focus on fairly compensating their team based on market adjustments. Another approach is to set team vs. individual goals, which values collaboration and teamwork above individual performances. Do what works best for your company culture.
When the News is Good
Let employees feel good about their achievements if they’ve done something remarkable. Validation is powerful and can serve as an additional motivation for continued success. Why
not celebrate even small wins? Calling out the positive is always a good idea and can motivate others to perform even better.
When the News Could Be Better
Not all feedback you deliver will be positive. Sometimes recognizing a failure is the hardest conversation you’ll have with an individual, but it’s necessary for progress.
The best way to approach these difficult talks is with empathy, compassion and problem-solving feedback:
- When you have to mention something negative, always describe the impact of what resulted from the employee’s actions so they know it’s not personal, but a response to the risk of harm to the organization.
- Be future-focused in your feedback, and don’t leave anything open to interpretation. The clearer you are, the easier it will be for the employee to correct the issue(s).
- Set clear goals on how to fix any problems and offer developmental feedback to support goal achievement. Ongoing follow-up is a must so they know they’re on the right path.
- Give employees ample time to digest your feedback, then shift responsibility to them for their own goals and development.
- Offer help and resources in addition to feedback. Maybe your employee needs a mentor, or can attend a workshop to improve their skills. Help them develop so they can succeed.
- Be clear that leaders are not exempt from improvement opportunities. Ensure
managers get 360 feedback from their teams, so they know what they’re doing well and where the have room to grow.
Feedback Fundamentals
Regardless of how you choose to structure feedback check-ins, it’s important to remember
the conversation should be a dialogue. Sure, you have to assess the
employee’s performance, and give feedback on their performance, but it should not feel one-sided. Allow individuals ample time to respond and reflect, and bring them in to brainstorm ideas for improvement.
