Season 3 Episode 8
Season 3 Episode 8: Build Competency through Job Performance Review
Practice of the Week: Grow your habit and system to talk about job performance.
Performance feedback is A LOT less scary when it is regular, so get into a habit or system of talking about it! Talking about job performance and giving feedback will take you and your team to the next level. To thrive in uncertain times, you want to normalize these conversations.
What’s the difference between a “self assessment” and a “yearly appraisal?”
The idea behind a self assessment is just that: you want the people you’re working with to assess their own work. - Ask a few coaching questions and you’ll be surprised how good people share strengths, growth areas and commit to strong next steps.
The idea behind the yearly appraisal is: you want your team members to understand their strengths, growth areas and receive direct feedback. - Build the habit of regular self-assessment conversations and regular check-ins, the yearly appraisal is the opportunity to set a marker each year for how things are going and what’s next.
Here are just a few more tips when it comes to planning and working on job performance review:
- Ask more questions. People learn the most when they identify their learnings themselves. Don’t just talk at people during job performance review.
- Start with positives. First, this gets us in a better frame of mind for the whole conversation. But too often job performance review only focuses on the negative. Highlight progress and strengths so that people continue to do these things.
- Give direct feedback with examples. For growth areas, it’s important to speak directly to the problem and give examples. Don’t speak in broad strokes. If a person needs to be more concise in their communication, say that and then give an example of a time they were not concise. This is for both the person receiving the feedback so that they can learn – and the supervisor to make sure you’re giving the right feedback.
- Use feedback to build people up. Too many of us are afraid of feedback, growth areas and performance reviews. If your mindset going into these conversations is for the growth of the individual and team – they’ll feel it and it will make a difference.
Are you’re practicing and preparing this week, here are a few questions:
- On a scale of 1 to 10, how do you feel about giving positive feedback and feedback on growth areas? What would be different if you scored a 9 or 10?
- What are some normal check-ins, meetings or other opportunities to add a conversation about job performance?
- What is one thing you heard about providing feedback in this episode that you want to incorporate into your leadership?
