You’re still trying to look backward.
When you sit down to review an employee, how much time do you spend going over events that have already happened? Here’s where the traditional review reveals how you, the manager, are falling short: If you’re still trying to cram a whole year’s worth of praise and constructive criticism into one meeting, you’re probably shortchanging your employees on feedback during the rest of the year.
The annual review has become an excuse for managers to skip the ongoing feedback that is necessary for an employee’s personal and professional development. Instead, bosses often save up the good and the bad for one annual conversation way too late to be meaningful for the employee.
Feedback should be a precursor to a great performance, like studying game films in sports, says John Foster, head of talent and organization at design firm IDEO. "You study the films to figure out what you'll do in the upcoming game, not to evaluate how the last game went," he says. "The score of the game serves that purpose."
The Fix: If you're not already, start checking in with employees weekly or biweekly to talk about their projects. This is when you talk about what's working and not working, what your employees are struggling with, and how they could use your help. By the time the annual or biannual meeting rolls around, there shouldn't be any surprises and you shouldn't need to dwell on the past. Instead, use that time to plan for what's to come.
Los Angeles-based Here Media, which owns Out magazine and Gay.com, replaced the backward-looking review with the performance "preview" a meeting focused exclusively on looking ahead, setting goals, and discussing what employees need to accomplish those goals. To prep for the previews, both the supervisor and the employee jot down a few items that will help the employee be productive in the coming year. This document then serves as a guide for the discussion (and gives HR the documentation they need). Previews aren't just a once-a-year ritual managers hold them when they feel like both parties need to refocus. VP of Human Resources Christin Dennis says that managers and employees both prefer the new system because it means that they're meeting and communicating more often.