6-minute read
There’s a nip in the air, the leaves are gliding from green to red and gold, and Halloween candy is overflowing store shelves; welcome to performance evaluation season.
Performance evaluation is one of the most impactful processes for managers. As the culmination of a year’s worth of one-on-one meetings, yearly evaluations provide an opportunity to focus singularly on the contribution of each team member, offering both thoughtful reflection and strategic forward direction.
We all know this is the goal. Yet, the fourth quarter, with year-end reporting and budget conversations, adds pressure and additional items to an already full plate. These demands, combined with the availability of detailed performance management software, make it tempting to stick to a narrow, rubric-driven performance discussion focused on progress against stated goals and competencies, followed by goal setting for the year ahead.
Performance evaluation rubric discussions are best used as the starting point for a deeper conversation that creates new collaborative pathways and forms deeper interpersonal connections. Including collaboration and connection in performance conversations enables team members to see, from their manager’s perspective, their value and how their function contributes to team productivity and client benefit. The result is that team members who connect their work to clients and feel supported by management are more productive and tend to stay in their roles longer.
Connection is even more critical during times of political, social, and economic uncertainty (was anyone else unnerved by the absence of the Bureau of Labor Statistics First Friday report?). Given our current macro environment, managers have an added responsibility to create a microclimate of certainty within their groups. Happily, the intentional pause, reflection, and planning nature of performance evaluation meetings lends itself perfectly to the task.
Here, we will focus on tactics designed to create deeper connections, contribution, and clear accountability partnerships to support and strengthen your team. Writing this piece, I made two assumptions: the first is that regular one-on-one meetings occur throughout the year, and the second is that an acceptable level of trust and safety exists. If you are managing a team in which one-on-one meetings aren’t regularly scheduled and trust is minimal, there are infrastructure measures to be addressed before the following conversations will add benefit.
Creating more meaningful connections
Plan for connection conversations with your direct report in four areas:
With you
With the team
With clients
With resources and knowledge
Deeper connection with you
1) What motivates you?
Motivators can change as life, family, and financial responsibilities shift. Being aware of and playing to a team member’s motivators is key to productivity. With a person’s motivators understood, managers can distribute projects that support motivators.
This question is a good lead-in to celebrating success, discussing what you see as your team member’s potential, and how others perceive them. Then, conversations can flow directly into goal-setting for the upcoming year.
2) If you were in my position, what one improvement would you make?
Answers provide insight into where you can better support your team members.
3) Is our current process for giving feedback motivating or demotivating to you?
Actionable feedback drives connection, productivity, and accountability. If the feedback process in place isn’t working, you need to know so you can work with the team member to develop a feedback process that is actionable and accountable. As a manager, use this conversation strand to co-create an accountability plan for your team member to stay on track with goals and competencies. It’s a place to be transparent about the support you will offer and how accountability conversations can be built into one-on-one meetings.
Deeper connection with the team
1) Who do you learn the most from?
These answers provide an opportunity to encourage mentoring and reverse-mentoring relationships, as well as opportunities for collaborative projects.
2) What’s one thing you’d like to teach the folks on the team?
Humans are wired to contribute to their communities. With this information, create small activities, such as team lunch discussions, so that team members can share a skill or competency they are proud of. This doesn’t have to be work-related. Teaching juggling during lunch is a fun team bonding activity.
3) How can the team support your work?
As a manager, you will gain valuable insights into team dynamics from this question and can use these learnings to either support or redirect behaviors.
Deeper connection with clients
1) Describe what our clients want, and what we’re currently delivering.
Answers here help connect function with client benefit and identify gaps in delivery, as perceived by your team member. For example, if ‘clients want assurance’ is identified and the team member works in the accounts payable department, connect the function and client benefit by underscoring the importance of on-time payments for creating lasting relationships and stability.
2) How do you see your work connecting to client benefit?
If your team member doesn’t know, this is a good opportunity to help them understand how their role contributes to improving the quality of life for others. Connection to purpose is a key driver in staff retention.
3) If you could add or change one element of your job to create more client benefit, what would it be?
Great ideas come from everywhere. In a world constantly striving for continuous improvement, often the best ideas come from the people actually doing the work every day.
Deeper connection with resources and knowledge
1) Do you feel that you have the information you need to do your work successfully?
Information creates certainty. Understanding where you can provide access to resources or professional development opportunities will help your team member feel supported and confident in their work.
2) Do you have any knowledge gaps?
This question is designed for professional development and a place where you can discuss growth areas, a plan for learning and measuring the learning. You can also refer back to the question “What is one thing you’d like to teach the folks on the team” and add “by 12/31/2026”.
3) Is senior management clear in their communications to the team?
For managers, it’s handy to have the answer to this question for when your manager asks for feedback during your review. Of all the C-suite character traits, clarity is always in the top five. Clarity creates certainty, and uncertainty breeds rumor and gossip. If upper management isn’t clear in their communication, it’s easy for the team to lose the connection with clients and the purpose of their work. C-suite clarity makes middle managers’ roles much easier because there is focus and forward motion.
Note: Transparency and clarity are not the same thing. Often, due to external factors, upper management cannot be transparent; however, they can still create expectation clarity and retain the connection to client benefit.
Performance evaluation conversations that foster better collaboration and deeper connections build trust, resulting in happier teams. Happier, more connected teams are more productive, creative, and have more fun at work.
Thank you for reading.
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