3 tips for giving a great performance evaluation

All organisations should conduct regular performance evaluations in order to ensure staff remain motivated and continue working to their full potential.

However, there is a right way and a wrong way to conduct a performance evaluation. Here are three tips for ensuring yours are effective and productive.

Have a two-way conversation 

Performance reviews are not one-way streets. They should allow both parties the opportunity to speak and provide feedback as to their own performance and the management of the wider organisation.

Allowing your employees to feel heard, rather than just talked to, will boost employee engagement and morale, and ensure that the worker takes pride in their own performance.

Don’t surprise the employee

Performance evaluations should never come out of the blue. They should be planned well in advance, with email reminders issued prior to the meeting date, to ensure everyone has time to review and prepare.

Furthermore, nothing that you discuss with the employee should be a surprise or come out of the blue. If you have been setting strong goals and objectives and providing the employee with KPI and performance scores, then both parties will be well aware of how the evaluation is going to go.

HR management software (HRMS) can assist with this, by helping you communicate clear, measurable targets and regularly reviewing their performance against these targets.

Solutions, not problems

If your performance evaluation is going to be negative or raise concerns about an employees quality or quantity of work, it’s important that you approach the meeting with solutions, rather than just problems.

At the end of the day, it is down to the employee to take responsibility for their performance. However, if you are tracking goals and identifying skills gaps, you should also have an understanding of what needs to be done to get their performance back on track.