CultureCures’ Post

Leaders should have a clear intent behind their performance reviews. Are they primarily focused on determining raises and promotions, or are they aimed at providing valuable feedback that drives behavioral change and employee development? Understanding this intent is essential because the two types of reviews should look different and serve distinct purposes. #Leadership #PerformanceReviews

Is your head swimming in a stack of performance reviews that you have yet to complete? Before you start scheduling these less-than-fun meetings, sit back and ask yourself why you are doing these reviews. Is it out of habit or necessity? #PerformanceReviews #HRLeaders #HRStrategies

It's important to be aware of why we do what we do, especially when it comes to the development of our employees. There has to be a clear outcome in delivering feedback, but that won't happen if leadership doesn't have an end-goal in mind. #ProfessionalDevelopment #EmployeeDevelopment #Workplace

Thank you Fast Company and Featured for featuring my perspective in this article. We need to shift the conversation around the performance review process and focus on the *impact* of clear and transparent expectations, growth-focused and inclusive leadership/coaching, and equitable design. At the end of the day, performance reviews are arbitrary pieces of documentation. What we should be focused on is creating a culture of feedback, candor, and safety for members to use their experience to grow and develop. This means ensuring all people managers/leaders have and are building capability in creating brave and safe spaces for their people and can effectively coach their people to performance and growth in a way that creates equitable opportunities for all. Performance reviews are also a tool to further codify and reinforce the culture and behaviors you’re looking to achieve within a team or organization. Ensure your process creates the foundational clarity for all members that is needed for them to be successful. This is much more than a simple goal-setting process and includes a concerted effort that includes: 1. Leadership’s ability to align their strategic and culture plans 2. All people leaders can translate this vision within their diverse teams 3. Individual involvement and co-design around how individual goals are created each year. (This also includes regular updates of job descriptions and “social contracts” to ensure people are clear and inspired by their role within the organization.) 4. Being a role model of cultural values should be a part of the definition of performance, and all members (including the CEO/executive team) should have clear shared definitions around what each value looks like in action and when someone is at risk of derailing that value. Coaching and growth opportunities should be aligned with a member’s ability to influence and demonstrate these values.

What makes a performance review truly effective? Many of us have experienced those meetings that seem more like a checklist than a meaningful conversation. It can be hard to separate the noise from what really matters when feedback feels too generic. This article sheds light on how specific language can transform the performance review process. By using targeted phrases, leaders can better capture the essence of an employee’s contributions and potential. It emphasizes the idea that feedback isn't just about pointing out areas for improvement but also about celebrating achievements and building a path forward. In my experience, the best reviews are those that feel collaborative rather than one-sided. It's all about creating a safe space for honest dialogue and growth. What techniques do you find help make performance reviews more constructive in your workplace? Would love to hear your thoughts! https://lnkd.in/dT7CvGmR

If you’re in the thick of performance review season, or if you just wrapped up writing pages of evaluations and sitting through hours of calibration meetings, have you stopped to ask: Why? Why are we conducting a performance review? For most of my clients, their initial answer is, “because that’s what we do.” This season, some companies can’t offer raises or promotions because of the nature of the business climate. Yet they are carrying on with the rigamarole of the review process anyway. I ask again: Why? Leaders need to have clarity about why they bother with this often lengthy and complicated process. This intent matters because reviews set up to determine raises and promotions can and should look different than reviews set up to gain useful feedback that will help change behaviors and develop more impactful employees. Leaders should also be willing to iterate on this process. 📄 If reviews are a direct pipeline to compensation changes and you aren’t going to be offering raises, scrap them this year. Save everyone the trouble.  📄 If reviews are to provide feedback, what’s the purpose of the feedback? To let someone know if they are meeting expectations or not? To learn how they can be more impactful? To provide pathways for growth and career development? 📄 If reviews are to provide an assessment, what is it assessing—the company, team, or individual? Is it an assessment of goal alignment or growth trajectories? Often, leaders think their reviews do all.the.things, but that often means they don’t do a great job at any one of them. Consider this prime time to review your performance reviews and design, iterate, and evolve them to match the specific needs of your organization. And, if you’re starting from scratch, here’s my baseline recommendation for what reviews should accomplish: 📌 Identify your top performers and how to keep them engaged 📌 Identify your solid performers and how to develop them into top performers 📌 Identify your lowest performers and how to improve them or transition them out Just try not to spend too much time on lowest performers to the detriment of the rest of the team. Tell me: why do YOU do performance reviews?

I was recently featured by Fast Company, alongside other thought leaders, where I shared how you and your organization can rethink and improve performance reviews. 💡 "If employees are equipped with the right information and support, performance reviews can stop contributing to a toxic work culture and instead become a powerful tool for unlocking people’s full potential." Read the full article below to hear what strategies we recommend to shift from an often problematic process to a powerful tool. Other great folks featured in this piece: Ana Goehner Vivian Acquah CDE® Zil Pandya Angela R. Howard Tara Furiani Alex Lahmeyer Stephen Huerta Jacob Morgan Matt Bradburn #performancereviews #dei #feedback #culturechange

Are Performance Reviews Dead? In theory they motivate employees, reward achievements and guide development, right? No matter the Company, if we struggle to have them completed, feedback is that it´s not fit for purpose and sometimes even creates the opposite effect... maybe we need to reconsider them. If: 1. They focus on weaknesses instead of strengths or 2. They’re not transparent or 3. They’re too infrequent or 4. They’re biased or 5. They’re time-consuming or 6. They’re inconsistent or 7. They’re ineffective then you need to work on them to fix it. Some great suggestions in this article

Harsh truth about performance reviews: Managers don't know how to make them meaningful. Annual performance reviews are often just a checkbox exercise. - Managers rush through it. - Team members all dread it. - And in the end, nothing really changes. Why? 1/ Lack of Clear Expectations: If your team doesn't know what's expected of them, how can they meet those expectations? 2/ Infrequent Feedback: Waiting until the end of the year to give feedback is like letting a plant go without water all year and then expecting it to bloom. 3/ One-Sided Conversations: Performance reviews should be a dialogue. Your team needs to feel heard and valued. 4/ No Follow-Up: Without action steps and follow-up, a performance review is just words on paper. Here's a better way: - Set clear expectations. - Give feedback, all year long. - Make it a conversation, not a lecture. - Define action steps and follow up on them. When done right, performance reviews can really help your team grow. But it takes effort and intention. Are you a fan of performance reviews? Or not?

As we begin 2024, it certainly gives me time to reflect on how we continue to better serve our team members. I’m thinking about communication. Caring for others is being able to give honest and timely feedback. I know the word “feedback” in itself has its own challenges but nonetheless, we have a responsibility as leaders to communicate effectively. I’ve also been thinking a lot about the topic of annual performance reviews. It seems there is a general movement to transition away from it. In our organization, I have to say, it often feels like a “check the box” for our teams. I’m not confident that a one time annual review conversation improves performance. With that said, expectations around more frequent “quarterly” communication also has its challenges, or “real-time” coaching which I think can be difficult too. How would the merit process work if there was no annual review process? I’d love to hear any perspective on ideas, practices or experiences of how to better serve our team members in this critical area of our business.