A 5–point agenda for performance review meetings
Working in Germany has quickly opened my eyes on how much giving (and receiving) clear, timely and specific feedback is important to grow professionally.
Having a structured approach to providing feedback is not only important in informal moments, but also during more formal performance review meetings.
When I was new to leadership responsibilities, I have received extensive support and mentoring to make the most out of these moments. And I have summarised the lessons learned in this 5-point agenda you can find below.
I hope it helps you in providing valuable feedback as much as it does with me.
5-point Performance Review meeting agenda
1. Intro
Start by clarifying the agenda and the goal of the meeting.
This part should be brief, taking no more than a few minutes.
*Hint*: A good ice-breaker question is “When has the performance review been useful in the past?”. This also helps you to deliver a similar experience.
2. Their feelings
Ask how the team member feels about a) the company, b) the team and c) the project.
This is probably the most important part, since it helps you to understand better the other party and gives a lot of elements you can refer to when giving your feedback (part 4).
Spend up to 70% of the total time on this part.
3. Their feedback
Ask the team member’s own feedback on a) what went well and b) what went less well.
Ask for specific examples whenever possible, so that you can refer to them later on.
Part 2 tend to naturally coalesce in part 3 as people start talking, so you can consider spending 70% of the time to cover both parts.
4. Your feedback
Talk about a) what went well and b) what can be improved.
After you have collected views and opinions, present your feedback, referring to specific cases, revealing your feelings and clarifying your expectations (see hint below).
It is a good practice to refer as much as possible to the examples cited by the receiver in part 2 and 3, since it creates a common ground for a good communication (e.g. “As you mentioned before,…”). Indeed, it can easily happen that the receiver will have already mentioned most of the elements that will constitute your feedback.
*Hint*: when giving feedback, I personally love to use this formula: feedback = perception + explanation + self-revelation+ expectation + request.
5. The next steps
Define a) action points and b) self-development goals.
That’s the actionable part of the performance review. It is important to take action on every, even minor, point mentioned, following-up on everything that has emerged during the conversation
*Hint*: as I was told one day, when taking part to a formal performance review meeting “People are probably already censoring 90% of what is on their mind”. So don’t leave any open point.
Bonus material: some additional suggestions
Avoiding biases in the evaluation process
We normally tend to give more weight to the most recent events, and to be biased towards very positive or negative episodes. As a consequence, it can help to:
keep a journal with positive and negative behaviours of team members to help keeping track of what has happened
collect feedback from other team members as well (360° feedback), so as to add more examples and compensate for potentially biased perceptions
Coming to the meeting prepared
Both the team leader and the team member should come prepared to the meeting. Sending a list of questions like these some days in advance (and answer yourself the same questions — reversed) can help:
Which are your accomplishments in the last period (concrete examples)?
Which are the main difficulties you had in the last period (concrete examples)? Why did they occur?
Which assistance/ resources would you need to further develop professionally (amplify 1 and minimise 2)?
How could your supervisor support you in this process?
*Hint*: neither the leader nor team member should share the replies to these questions before the meeting. It’s only a useful preparatory exercise.
That’s a brief condensed summary of what I have learned in the past year on getting ready for performance review meetings.
Like if you find it useful (and comment if you don’t ;) ).
Have a good journey,
— Livio
P.s.: some additional thoughts on giving feedback (like a German) can be found in this article.
02/12/2018