MWA - Merlin Wright Associates

If you ask both managers and employees their opinions on performance reviews, ‘dread’ is a word that might crop up. Nobody likes having hard conversations, and performance reviews are often a time when a conversation can rapidly go from constructive to defensive.

The data certainly backs this statement up. In a North American study of almost 1,000 companies, only one third of employees feel as if their efforts are evaluated fairly¹. A separate Gallup survey found that 95% of managers are dissatisfied with the current review systems within their organization².

What are the Current Problems with Performance Reviews?

One of the most common complaints about performance reviews is their subjectivity; the very nature of such a review leaves room for all kinds of biases. There are many forms of bias, which may be conscious or subconscious – as a manager, it is important to be aware of the hidden prejudices that we can all fall victim to, and work to overcome them whenever possible. 

Some common unconscious biases include:

• Recency bias: Assigning greater weight to events that have happened recently, good or bad.
• Proximity bias: studies have shown that managers are more likely to feel favourably towards in-person employees as opposed to remote.
• Primacy bias: First impressions matter; so much so that a particularly positive or negative first impression can colour our estimations of someone for a long time afterwards.
• ‘Similar to me’ bias: We naturally look more favourably on people who we view as being more similar to ourselves.

The Importance of Reviews – As They Should Be

These kinds of biases are completely normal to experience, and difficult to overcome unless you are aware of them. As a manager looking to stage effective performance reviews, it is crucial that you understand why they are important and useful within your team.

The purpose of a good performance review is twofold:

1. To undertake an accurate appraisal of an employee’s performance, as objectively as possible.
2. To help that employee develop themselves, in order to optimise their performance and try to ensure job satisfaction.

Our Tips for Conducting a Successful Performance Review

Before beginning your review, consider how you will achieve these objectives in a constructive, practical manner. Here, we detail our tips for ensuring a review that feels productive, for both you and the members of your team.

Before:

Ensuring a successful appraisal could be as simple as ensuring you have carved out adequate time in your calendar to have a conversation. Scheduling just 10 or 15 minutes for a performance review is likely to make your employee feel passed over; doing this gives you the appearance of a manager simply ticking boxes rather than engaging with your employee’s progress.

Most importantly, before a review you must establish how you are measuring performance. The main complaint with these processes is that they are too subjective; if you have an objective benchmark as an example, employees are more likely to feel they have been judged fairly. In the IP world, examples might include granted applications, quality of drafting, success rates in oppositions, or other such tangible benchmarks.

During:

During your development conversations, you should set out any criticisms or observations in a considered manner. The purpose of the review is not to air out any and every grievance since the last review; instead to outline a balanced appraisal of that employee’s performance on the whole.

If you have criticisms about an employee’s performance, you must have specific examples in mind to back up your comments. To ensure the meeting doesn’t stray into feeling like a personal attack, it can be helpful to state the criticism and the evidence (specific instances in which this has occurred), followed by asking the employee what impact they think this might have, or what their view was of why they did this. This is more likely to start off a conversation, rather than a telling-off.

The conversation should conclude with a reasonable plan for next steps. It may be that there is something you can do to help that employee develop, or a change they need to make to optimise their performance. Make no mistake – not all performance reviews will necessarily be critical. You might simply end the meeting with a better idea of that employee’s working style, and how best to support them.

After:

The end of the meeting doesn’t mean your engagement in your team’s development is over. You should continue to check in on the next steps discussed – to see if your team member has made any agreed-upon changes, and if those changes are working for them.

How could this impact your team?

So, what difference could this approach make within your team? Overall, your aim should be to take the negativity away from the experience of performance reviews. This can result in higher job satisfaction, and a more positive appraisal of your management style. It might take some more work on your part as a manager, but the benefits to your team’s wellbeing and development will undoubtedly have a knock-on positive effect on results.

If you would like to schedule a conversation with one of our career consultants regarding performance reviews or other management techniques, get in touch with us here:

References:

1. https://www.wtwco.com/en-gb/insights/2023/02/reshaping-performance-management-and-pay-for-performance-in-a-challenging-environment
2. https://www.shrm.org/topics-tools/news/hr-magazine/performance-review-problem