Evaluating the work of employees is a serious challenge for many managers. Poor quality evaluations can spoil the working relationship. Do you know how to do it effectively, without eliciting negative emotions from your employees? How can you use performance reviews to motivate them? These and other questions were addressed in the Business Matters website which prepared a few tips that will help you with the performance reviews.
A key starting point for using employee evaluations to effectively motivate is to understand the reason a review is conducted. This is not about condemnation, accusation or targeting the mistakes made. Moreover, for the review to be effective it is advisable to prepare an outline of the topics to be discussed with the employee. During the review as the manager, you should play the role of the moderator of the discussion and be more of a listener than a speaker.
Hold the review in an informal atmosphere and make sure the time is not during the employee's important work. Start slowly by asking how things are going. The emphasis in each performance evaluation should be given to employee achievements. Encourage employees to talk about their goals, their role in the company and expectations for the future. Ask them to appraise their own work performance then make sure that you have correctly understood their findings.
Any problems with employees should have been solved immediately and not sprung as a surprise in the final evaluation. It is always helpful to give an example of specific areas of improvement, but still try to maintain the positive encouraging tone. Focus on the employee's good abilities and actions. It is important to be able to empathize with an employee, otherwise your comforting words do not sound sincere. If the employee is facing some specific grievance, ask him to keep notes about the situation. Ask him to suggest possible improvements, and discuss a course of action together.
Finally, agree on a set of goals and targets for the future, which the employee can work towards. Keep in mind that the purpose of evaluation is to help motivate the employee and make him more productive. Finally, determine the specific goals together and agree to monitor the performance.
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