Leadership Through Performance Review

Opportunities for leadership arise in many ways. Performance review is often overlooked as an opportunity.

Performance review is an everyday occurrence. Just as we would correct a problem as soon as possible, we need to reinforce good behavior or performance as it occurs. Such daily action gives an employee or student guidance on what is expected. That is the purpose and goal of performance review. Intervals of once or twice a year reviews are not sufficient for guidance. They can meet the needs for review of agreed upon goals.

We often dread and avoid performance review because we fear confrontation. Ultimately, we pay the price of living with an undesirable situation that lingers.

Performance review need not be a confrontation. If we truly wish to improve or continue the performance of an individual the review process can be a friendly discussion. We cannot play “gotcha” with the process. It is not a way to punish someone. We need to conduct the review with heart and backbone. The heart is involved as we treat someone as someone deserving respect. The backbone is involved as we talk candidly, not tip-toeing around issues.

One reason we fear performance reviews is that they are often used as tools to stay within budgetary guidelines. We often feel put in the position of “grading” people so that we can justify raises or lack of raises. That is a primary reason I do not believe in numerical rating systems, as it does not give sufficient guidance to employees as more narrative systems do.

How have you used performance reviews to lead your staff? How has your supervisor helped you grow through performance reviews?