3. Pre – Meeting Step by Step Guidelines Pre-book meetings two weeks in advance, follow-up meetings Provide employee time to self-evaluate Pre-evaluate employee Review with your manager
4. Setting the Tone Make the employee feel comfortable & welcomed Review process for the meeting No disruptions! Two-way dialogue!
5. How to deliver constructive feedback? Let the employee engage you first – have them share their key goals, accomplishments, challenges, etc… Seek to understand (i.e., take notes, rephrase, ask for examples) Discuss facts & your observations Start with positive feedback (i.e., recognition of strengths) Next, challenges & areas needing improvement, provideexamples, demonstrate what behaviours / results you are looking for?
6. At the end of the meeting, co-write a plan of action How will the employee achieve their goals? What are the commitments the employee and supervisor are responsible for? What does success look like? Develop a plan?
7. Benefits to employee! Record of work history (e.g., projects, job responsibilities, training); electronic resume You know what your accountable for! Opportunity to acknowledge and recognize accomplishments, learning & development and career transition Platform to highlight career paths and needed projects, assignments, learning & development required and/or achieved to reach goals
To conduct effective meetings with employees…there are several strategies that will aid in a supervisors and employees successSteps to take pre-meetingSetting the toneStarting from an Appreciative Inquiry perspectiveCo-planningNot making this a one time /annual event – but an ongoing dialogueDemonstrate value in process for supervisor/employeeLet’s look at these in closer detail
In order to engage in a performance and development plan meeting – there are a few key and simple steps you and your employee should take;Pre-book the meeting…make sure the time is convenient and works for both of you (allow plenty of uninterrupted time) – never a Friday!Always plan follow-up meetings through-out the year…don’t make this a one time event. Have lots of little check-ins built in.Provide the employee with the topics, areas you plan to engage with them on (goals, development, accomplishments, challenges, etc…) ask them to evaluate themselves and collect information to use /support their evaluation.Follow the same steps and outline you provided your employee and do a pre-evaluation. Review with your manager….this helps to ensure there are no hidden biases. Validates that you are identifying and targeting the right goals, etc… (Adds to transparency, fairness)Prepare input/information, etc… for meeting to review with employeePlanning helps set the stage to be successful, it’s not meant to be a chore but an exploration, recognition and supportive opportunity.
By setting the tone (first by allowing plenty of prep time) and now in the initial few minutes of the meeting…you are more likely again to gain their commitment and buy-in to the process; and that you’re genuine it’s not a tokenistic corporate must-do!Make the employee feel comfortable and welcome…perhaps hold the meeting in a neutral, warm and open space that isn’t your office but provides confidentiality.Review what your intentions are for the meeting, what will be the end result, ask them what they want out of the meeting and incorporate where possible or acknowledge and find a way to meet their needs later. Validate!No disruptions…you are there fully – no interruptions, no checking the blackberry, stay focused!Engage in two way dialogue – open ended questions and probing questions are key!!! Come prepared with some questions to help you along!Your on your way to having an effective meeting…with your employee feeling a part of the process, not someone under a microscope!
Delivering constructive feedback requires;Letting your employee talk first…let them review their key goals, accomplishments, etc… it’s a good opportunity to check-in and reflect against what you’ve written … any last minute tweaks that you need to make can occur during this time.Let them know your going to take notes as you want to ensure you capture what they’re saying. Demonstrate by rephrasing that your listening and understanding.Now it’s your turn…discuss facts and observations. Start with the positives…appreciative inquiry is a key to having a good meeting (provide examples – demonstrates that you are actively engaged in their role with the organization). Everyone has positives…if you can’t think of one…ask your direct colleagues and/or your manager before you go to the meeting. Can you add to what they value in their work.Don’t lay blame – tone is very important. Use “I” statements not “You” statements. Next, talk to challenges. Be specific, be clear, it shouldn’t come as a surprise…you’ve discussed this previously and hopefully at the time of the incident or event. Clearly articulate the behaviour/action. What is the impact, why is it significant? Provide examples…demonstrate what you need to see improved…and why it’s important. Relevance is important…to gain their buy-in! Also it has to be achievable…can you affect the change in steps….over a period of time…don’t set a goal that is unrealistic. Everyone no matter how good has something they can work on.Take your time here!!
At the end…you need to co-write a plan of action How are you going to support the employee to achieve the goals?Who needs to deliver what.. (training, job-shadowing, etc…).What will success look like??
Now…your saying great….that information is all good and handy if the employee buys into the performance and development plan. What if they don’t. Take the time to review the benefits to the employee! This is the relationship building piece and taking time to add value to why you want to spend the time. It’s an investment in them from you, the organization and for themselves.If at the end of the day you still have someone not wanting to buy-in…take the process down to smaller incremental steps. Instead of shooting for 6 lofty goals, strive for 3 really meaningful ones…get them bought into the process, demonstrate it works, demonstrate it can be fair and transparent, etc… Let the employee discover it can be useful. Have other employees support the process buy giving their own demonstration or presentation (find champions).If you still aren’t successful – is it performance management vs. performance development and do you have the right person in the right role…supporting your organization???