While most managers think they are having higher level conversations about performance, the truth usually falls short.  Communication typically centers on projects, status updates, issues, etc.  When we take a closer look we see one of four types of manager/employee communication:

Four Categories of Manager-employee Communication

There are three settings where managers and employees frequently find time to connect:

1.  Impromptu communication
   Job responsibilities, project status, goals, and all manner of work issues are everyday topics. These conversations happen in spur-of-the-moment ways and places:  phone, in-person, email, open door practices and more.
   
   
2.  General questions and general answers
   Most employees are sincerely interested in knowing how they are doing.  Efforts to solicit feedback typically fall under the “asking general questions” and “receiving meaningless answers.  For example:

Your organization wants to do away with ratings. But if you do that, how are you planning to determine pay increases?

The good news:  you can make pay decisions without ratings.  You first need to establish an approach to understand, differentiate, and measure performance.  The three factors to consider are: 

1. Employee Performance Measurement Metrics:The ability to differentiate employee performance
2. Merit Budget:Typically a fixed dollar amount that is set aside to recognize and reward employees.
3. Pay Range Structure:Market data or an internally developed salary scheme (which should correlate to market data) will determine the minimum, mid, and maximum pay ranges for the positions in your organization.

I’ve put together a five-minute video outlining my process. A deeper dive into how everything works can be found in the rest of the blog post below.

Dump Long Winded Performance Appraisal Forms

Managers complain about the employee performance appraisal process being too cumbersome and saddled with long forms.  If your organization’s performance review form is more than one or two pages then it’s likely too long.  Can a one-page performance review be effective?  Absolutely.  Keeping the form focused on the most essential information leads to generating  meaningful performance review content, better quality and more focused employee performance conversations.    

Here Are the Four Essential Elements of a Performance Appraisal Form:  

Insight gained through giving and receiving timely and specific feedback is how we and others get better.  Sometimes we need to be on the receiving end and other times we need to initiate feedback to help others learn and grow.  The question is how to go about exchanging meaningful feedback at work. 

It is clear that the key reason managers avoid giving feedback is not because they don’t understand the problem but rather because they don’t know how to script a message that is “sayable” and “hearable.” The Performance Continuum Feedback® Method (PCFM) is a straight forward approach to do just that.

Manager and Employee Conversations Happen, But…  

While most managers think they are having higher level conversations about performance, the truth usually falls short.  Communication typically centers on projects, status updates, issues, etc.  When we take a closer look we see one of three types of manager – employee communication:

Four Categories of Manager-employee Communication

There

Hear three experts talk about their take on the performance review.  National Public Radio produced a story about “The Future of the Performance Review”.   “Performance review” is perhaps the most hated phrase in the workplace. Studies show it’s not just employees, but also managers and even HR professionals who dislike the practice. “The interview discusses 

The 2013 Mercer Global Performance Management Survey reported that one in three organizations said the ability of managers and employees to engage in performance conversations is key and has the greatest impact on company performance, and that    performance management initiatives could and should be more effective. Only 3% of the 1,050 survey participants from 53