Now that you've delivered all the good news - the ways in which your employee has shone in the past year, the positive expectations you have established together for the coming year, the road map you have outlined for fulfilling those goals - the timing is opportune to raise any and all problematic issues you need to address. The key is to lay our your case in language that is straightforward yet not withering.
- Emphasize the positive within the negative
- Couch your criticism in terms of the shared greater good
- Enlist your employee as an ally
- Offer the employee flexible options in resolving the shortcoming
- Beverly Ballaro, Dealing with Difficult People
We have now come to the end of our tour of tips for conducting performance reviews, and we have also hit upon the area that usually creates the most stress - the time to give negative feedback and constructive criticism. If you have followed all of the previous tips, you would have already done all you could to set this section up for success and the minimum amount of defensiveness and negativity. To keep the focus properly on the positives, follow these last four tips from Beverly Ballaro.
First, describe each behavioral goal you have for your employee as what you would like them to do, not what you want them to stop doing. This is an immutable law of human behavior - we are better at following positive commands rather than negative restrictions. For example, you might say, "You will respond to all client emails within one business day," instead of, "You need to stop letting delays happen with getting emails back to clients."
Second, focus on the positive benefits of the changes and, when possible, indicate how other employees are doing the same. For example, "you, in addition to all of our other executives, will increase email efficiency by utilizing more specific email subject lines."
Third, ask the employee to be a partner in fixing the problem. For example, instead of saying, "You need to keep me more in the loop with regards to project status," say, "You will help me identify the best pathways from project completion by sending me a brief status update every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday."
Lastly, give the employee options for how to fix the problem, as this increases buy-in significantly. For example, "You will increase your Excel skills and efficiency in the next six months by taking an online class, taking an in-person class through your local library, or by completing the activities in an Excel training book."
After you have given all the constructive criticism, it's time to wrap up the employee review (you may continue with a separate section where you receive feedback from your employee, but that will come later). Give a summary statement, set forth any incentives (and potentially any consequences, if necessary), and finish with a positive statement for the future. Then, give yourself a pat on the back for all of the effort you have put into making the most of this training opportunity.
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