Rethinking Annual Reviews
When I say the words “annual review,” what’s your immediate response? A slow exhale? A tickle of anxiety fluttering in your belly? A general feeling of dread?
For better or worse, most of us don’t have positive feelings about annual reviews. Whether you’re the leader or the employee, reviews are not usually very useful or enjoyable. There is paperwork and a meeting and the often-awkward reporting back on goals and progress. There may be behavior or performance issues to discuss, and the two big questions on every employee’s mind: am I in trouble? And, am I getting a raise this year? All of that stress and strain means that reviews usually feel a bit useless at best and anxiety-provoking at worst for all parties involved. As leaders, we can do better.
It might feel like a stretch, but I think reviews can and should be one of the best meetings of you and your employee’s year. If you’re doing them right, reviews are a wonderful opportunity to boost morale, build trust for the organization, and increase buy-in.
Taking the Fear Out of Reviews
First, let’s look at why reviews got such a bad rap. As a leader, you may perceive that there’s nothing inherently threatening or nerve-wracking about having a conversation with your team members individually. And you are correct, but there’s also some cultural baggage to unpack there. Reviews are often used as an opportunity to bring up issues or concerns, which can make the employee feel ambushed and even attacked, tainting the entire interaction. If the only association we have with reviews is negative, it makes sense that we would dread them or try to avoid them or wish that they would be over as quickly and painlessly as possible.
From my perspective, an annual review is the last place you should be bringing up concerns or issues. As a leader, you have a responsibility to communicate concerns openly and often, rather than storing them up for the review. The annual review should not be the first time your employee is hearing about your concerns or issues. Ideally, the communication channels are wide open and you are sharing those things all the way along, in daily coaching and weekly or biweekly check-ins. This kind of open communication can remove some of the dread or anxiety from the review situation, as employees trust that you’re being consistently transparent about concerns or issues and reasonably sure that they will get through the review without getting in trouble.
Two Key Questions
When you’re thinking about reframing reviews, it makes sense to slow way down and figure out what you really want from the experience. Specifically, ask yourself two key questions: what is the desired end result? And, how do I want myself and my employee to feel after this?
The desired end result is basically asking yourself, what do I need to get from this meeting? If the review is to touch base on goals that were set at a prior meeting, then you need a progress update. If the point of the review is to start the goal-setting process, then you should approach the meeting with an open mind and open ears. Ask your employee what they want to rock this year, and then help them figure out how to make that happen. Talk less and listen more, and ask a slew of questions. Your role as a leader is to help them to quantify the goal—to translate it from an idea into a series of actions they can take. This is hard work and requires active listening and engagement beyond just nodding and eye contact. As you listen, you may have ideas or thoughts to share, but make sure your primary role is listener.
The second question is equally important: how do I want to feel after this meeting? And, how do I want the other person to feel? I don’t think there’s a manager out there who wants their direct reports to feel crummy after a review. But if you get too zeroed in on the output of the meeting and checking off boxes, you can lose sight of the opportunity to engage your team emotionally by making them feel heard, supported, and encouraged. If you want them to leave feeling excited and energized, you have the power to make that happen, through the words and gestures you use.
Taking a Customized Approach
Ideally, these two questions can serve as guard rails for you in planning annual reviews. Once you know your desired end result and how you want your people to feel, you can structure the review in a way that will meet both goals. From there, you have to figure out accountability/next steps and tailor the review conversation to each specific employee. This part of the process demands flexibility, because not everyone is going to be motivated by the same things. Some of your employees may want that high-energy goal setting session and then want to keep that energy going with frequent checkpoints and progress reports. Others may appreciate the encouragement and feedback in setting goals and then prefer to tuck those goals away and work on them quietly in the background.
This is where a tool like the Predictive Index can really be useful. PI helps you understand your team’s work style, including how they prefer to communicate. Once you have a better handle on what people need and how they work best, you can meet them where they’re at in their annual reviews, and, perhaps just as importantly, in their day-to-day work every other day of the year. PI helps you figure out how much support your people might need, allowing you to tailor your approach based on how hands-on they need you to be. Each employee is unique, with their own concerns, aspirations, and needs, and PI can be a great tool to help you customize your approach.
Done well, annual reviews can be a positive bucket-filler for both leaders and employees. If leaders come into the meeting with open minds, ready to listen and encourage, there’s a greater chance that employees will leave feeling energized and supported, ready to work even harder for you and the organization. This energy carries over into other parts of their work life, as they see how their goals impact the team and the organization as a whole. Listening closely and offering support and encouragement also boost morale and trust, as your employees see and believe that you genuinely care about them and their career.
I would love to work with you and your leadership team as you rethink your review process. If you’re interested in workshops, one-on-one consulting, or learning more about PI, let’s talk!