How to Give a Good Employee Review

Be specific. Provide examples.

Delivering a good employee review can be an uncomfortable situation for both the manager and the employee. Even if the preponderance of information in the review is positive, tensions may still be high during the review meeting. Reduce meeting tension and create a positive, productive employee review session by being well prepared and providing an environment for interactive conversation. Accentuate the employee's positive attributes and create an action plan to improve weak areas.

Instructions

1. Review the employees' achievements and strengths. Begin the meeting on a positive note by focusing on the contributions the employee makes to the company. Identify at least one or two ways the employee's work has furthered overall corporate growth, then discuss internal contributions within his department.

2. Discuss areas for growth. Be specific about identifying the areas for improvement and use examples. When discussing improvement areas, never refer to those areas as "weaknesses" or "low areas." Instead keep the meeting tone positive and open the floor for discussion. Ask the employee for her impression on growth areas---would additional training help or job shadowing? Find out where she feels uncomfortable so you can create an action plan together to improve those areas.

3. Set goals and create an action plan to help the employee achieve goals. Collaborate to set specific goals for the employee to reach, then create a step-by-step action plan to help him reach those goals. Decide which goals are priorities for the next six months to a year, how the employee will achieve them and what tools are necessary. Identify necessary software or training to reach goals.

   Ask the employee to create a list of corporate self improvement goals. For example, if the employee works in sales but is still shy about cold-calling, make "learning to be more comfortable with cold-calling" as a goal. Work with him to develop an action plan on how to increase his comfort level with cold-calling.

4. Encourage the employee to ask questions and reflect upon the review. Throughout the review process, allow the employee to freely ask questions, but also encourage questions and comments after the review. Provide open, honest answers to questions; if you don't know the answer, tell the employee that you'll do some research and get back to her.

   Also, communicate that once the review is over, the employee's questions don't have to stop. Be clear that you will be available to meet again to review the actions plans and goals at any time to help the employee stay on track.

Tips & Warnings

• Avoid using generalizations during the review such as, "I know you can do it" or "It was just a tough year for our company." Always be specific.

• Never use a boilerplate method of review---don't cut and paste most of last year's review into this year's to save time. Each review should be fresh and pertinent.

• If you see that the employee is becoming agitated during the review, ask if he needs a break or allow him to vent. This is his review---don't argue, just listen.

References

• Working with Insight: Struggling to Give a Good Employee Review