This is one of the few times that an employee and supervisor get to talk about this employee and his or her work.

It is a chance to talk about what is going well and what can be done better.

It is a chance to set goals and plan the employee’s development.

It is a chance to have a positive discussion about the future.

Getting ready
The meeting
Raising problems in performance appraisals
Follow-up
Sample form

Complete a draft of the Performance planning and review form.
Ask the employee to fill out the review form before the meeting too.
That way you are both ready to talk about how things have been going.
Schedule the interview.

What would make the biggest difference to this person’s performance?
How can this person help the company reach its goals?
What training, education, coaching or experience does the individual need?
Is it time for this person to take on some new duties?
What goals should this person have for the coming year?

Find out the employee’s view of things first. The performance review isn’t a time for surprises. The employee should know about your concerns from your day-to-day coaching.

This is a time to confirm and discuss progress on issues and goals and plan the future.

Talk about what you like about the employee’s performance. Give examples.

Focus on a small number of areas that are really important to the job.

Ask the employee how you can help the person improve his or her performance.

Don’t make promises you can’t keep.

Be clear about how you would like things to be in the future rather than re-hashing the past.

Find out where the employee wants to be in his or her career. Let the employee know what you are prepared to provide in the way of support.

Develop a small number of goals which address the issues that are important to you and the employee.

Agree on how the goals are going to be monitored.

Even when the employee has excellent performance, the employee may get upset or angry if you indicate you would like to see some improvement. Don’t be unnerved by this.
Listen carefully to what the employee has to say. Make it clear that you want to make a good performance better. Make sure the person understands exactly what concerns you and why it is important.

When you do talk about an area you would like the employee to work on, use examples. Explain what the result is of the employee’s action. Give examples of how a situation could be handled differently.

For example, in the case of an employee who is defensive when you want to talk about problems, you might say, "I am concerned about our being able to talk over things that have gone wrong. For instance, last week, when I said that a customer had made a complaint, you told me as many reasons you could think of why the complaint wasn’t justified. What would be better is if you could acknowledge why the customer was angry. Then we could talk about how we could avoid this kind of problem with customers in the future." For more on improving performance, see Raising problems in performance appraisals.

Get the performance planning and review form filled out right away. If no one can type the form, write it out neatly. Getting it done quickly is what is important. It shows the employee that it is important to you.

Commend the employee for good performance but make sure to include areas that need growth and improvement on the form. You are not doing an employee a favour by not documenting how performance can be improved.

Check into questions or issues that came up in the review and get back to the employee.

Enter any commitments you have made in your calendar.

Give positive reinforcement as well as any reminders you think are needed.

Don’t get in the way of the employee’s goals. Your job is to make sure the employee succeeds.