Only 2% of HR pros would give their organization an “A” grade for their performance management – is your organization one of the 2%?  Or could your performance reviews use a revamp?

There are so many different ways for managers and employees to connect about performance – I think organizations can benefit from refashioning an annual performance review meeting to instead become an annual re-recruiting meeting – and instead make performance review meetings a weekly – or more frequent – occurrence.

Instead of making review documents with pages and pages of checkboxes, numerical scales, and space for generalities about employee performance that don’t mean much and are annoying to complete, a performance review can be much more potent and meaningful as a 10-minute conversation centered on these basics:

• What was accomplished this week? (towards both short & long term goals)
• An example or two from the week where an employee used their strengths to benefit the team or organization
• Comment on any specific behaviors or outcomes from the week that are opportunities to improve in the future

And – because it’s not all about how the employee can help the organization – spend some time asking them:

• How was the week for them?
• Any challenges they need help with?
• Are there any upcoming professional development or training opportunities they want to take advantage of?

If your performance reviews are not effective and lead to less engagement and performance improvements, rethink the process!  Encourage managers to have real conversations regularly so employees feel as though they’re being listened to and have an ongoing understanding of how they’re doing and what they need to work on.

What grade would you give your organization’s performance review process?