Ashleigh Myerscough, Senior Performance Coach at 7Geese answers your questions about human resources and people management during the pandemic. 

Q: How do you set up for a performance review? 

AM: Here are my tips for preparing for a performance review. It starts well before the review itself and is a continuous process. 

1. Have clear criteria

Throughout the review period, we want to revisit the review criteria with the team member, so we are all clear on what they’re going to be held accountable for. We want to collect and note examples of specific instances where team members succeeded or missed those criteria. 

2. Set the stage

Before we have that review conversation we want to set the stage. We want to schedule the discussion to be at a time when the team member is in the best place to receive feedback, and when you’re in the best space to deliver good feedback. Ask your team member whether they are more engaged and motivated in the morning, afternoon, or towards the end of the day. Do they prefer the beginning or the end of the week? 

Since we’re doing this potentially remotely, those little factors are going to have an impact on the employee experience. 

3. Prepare your answers

We want to make sure also that when we’re setting the stage we have answers to common questions, so when they get asked during the review you can respond to them right away. Common questions would be “What’s next,” “How did this rating come about,” “Where and how does this impact my raise or my bonus?”

For questions like these, the more answers you can have prepared in advance of the review, the easier and more welcoming that employee experience is going to be. 

4. Be present

During the conversation, we want to make sure that we’re present. To set up for the review ensure that you can both be distraction-free and without any back-to-back meetings to get to. 

If you’re remote, do your best to have your cameras on, clean up the background behind you to make sure that the team member is not distracted by what’s going on in your background. Close your extra tabs and mute your notifications, so that when you’re in the review you can be really present.

To learn more about how we do this at 7Geese, using 7Geese, reach out for a tour.