4 Pillars of a Successful Performance Management Plan

Performance management is constantly evolving. A process once shunted into a once a year, anxiety-riddled meeting, has morphed into a more constant feedback loop between managers and their employees that occurs quarterly, monthly, even weekly.

Mid-year performance reviews, also called performance appraisals, are routine practice for many organizations. Conducting performance reviews is an integral part of a broader talent strategy that aims to push your employees to reach their full potential, move forward within their careers and the company, and become engaged and invested in the future of your organization. Performance appraisals are necessary and specific conversations within your performance management process, but it’s important to understand that while performance reviews and appraisals work in tandem with performance management, these two ideas are not the same. They are distinct strategies that serve distinct purposes: Performance Management is the end-to-end process of managing talent and goals throughout the lifecycle, whereas performance reviews or appraisals are a specific way of measuring performance between scheduled conversations.

This article on employee review fails was updated in October of 2020. Some employees find reviews to be frustrating and a waste of time; even anxiety provoking in some cases. In fact, according to this study on performance reviews, 22% of full-time, U.S. employees surveyed said they’ve called in sick because they were anxious about receiving their reviews. Employers see performance reviews as just another item on their compliance checklist. We want to change the way employers and employees alike, are viewing the employee review process. Employee reviews are a compliance issue for us all; they have to get done. So how can managers turn this ship around when employees and your management team already have a bad taste in their mouths from employee reviews? Performance Review Tip: Coach your managers (and remind yourself) that performance reviews, while exhausting and all-encompassing to you, are important and kind of a big deal to your employees. They want to feel valued and focused on. Schedule your reviews so you can refresh your coffee, take a walk, and have some downtime in between.