A Key Factor for Employee Reviews

The dreaded performance review. Not only does the employee fear it, the employer is unprepared and doesn’t know what to say. Does this sound familiar? In all of my businesses, I took performance reviews very seriously. But I didn’t want to either intimidate the employee or put a burden on the manager. So I followed a simple outline that made the performance review a pleasant experience for both.

My managers were expected to have weekly one-to-one meetings with all their direct reports. We used an agenda template that had specific headings, such as “What needs attention this week” and “What has been accomplished.” There was also a place on the agenda to note employee performance. By writing down this information, completing a yearly performance review became a fairly easy and enjoyable task.

The advantage of doing this once a week is that the things that aren’t going well get caught early and all the things that are positive get the recognition they deserve. I always encouraged my managers to acknowledge when an employee was doing a good job. I believed it was well worth the effort because my employees loved this approach. Not only did they understand what was expected of them, they were being congratulated and appreciated for their efforts.

-barney