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Performance Feedback: Conducting Constructive Conversations

December 10, 2007 It can sometimes be a challenge to change employees’ perceptions of themselves. Heck, perception is a tricky thing for everyone. But, as an employer, at least you can provide members of your team with information about their performance that is accurate, constructive and actionable. 

Whether you provide formal or informal feedback, or both, there will always be performance matters to discuss in cases where something needs to be corrected, improved, recognized and congratulated.

There are a few things you can do to help ensure that your discussions around performance are as constructive, productive and organizationally relevant as possible.

—   If you are providing written feedback, give the employee a chance to read and digest it privately beforehand. Encourage him/her to make notes and jot down any thoughts that he/she would like to discuss with you at the time of the review.

—   At the time of the conversation, ask if he/she has any questions about the evaluation, before delving into the verbal delivery. Many times if they do, it opens up a perfect segue for you to discuss issues in the form of a dialogue rather than overwhelming them with a monologue. 

—   Share your observations of their overall strengths and weaknesses and provide examples.

—   Make sure the evaluation spans the whole review period, not just what is in recent memory.

—   Remain objective. Never become emotional and never, ever argue with the reviewee.

—   Get feedback from the reviewee and set future goals and objectives together.

—   Agree on measurement markers and timeline before ending the conversation.

*Best practice:  Provide formal reviews every six-to-twelve months, semi-formal feedback quarterly and informal performance discussions continuously on an ongoing basis. 

Posted by Donna Flagg on December 10, 2007 | Comments (9)