Performance Reviews | Career Angles
By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
One of the simplest, funniest, and obvious remarks about the insanity of the workplace comes from Coach Lance Secretan when he talks about the idea of the performance review.
Imagine for a second asking for an hour of time with your husband, wife, or partner, sitting down with him or her, and beginning a conversation by saying, “Honey, it’s time for us to discuss how your performance was for this year. Were going to talk about the things that you did well and the things that you can improve upon.”
How well-received do you think that would be?
Did we expect employees to sit down and accepted constructive criticism that comes from their manager and consider it a good thing?
Is it no wonder that so many employees start looking for work after receiving their review?
Perhaps instead you might consider the advice from the old book, “The One Minute Manager,” that suggests a simple principle for managing employees.
1. Set three goals for each of your employees, which you can review in one minute or less.
2. Use one minute praise to give your employees positive feedback.
3. A one minute reprimand is more than enough to express your dissatisfaction.
You don’t need a lot of elaborate preparation to provide a review of their performance. You tell them what they did well in one minute or less. You provide them with a reprimand in less time than the praise that you provided.
Most managers I’ve known, myself included, find the reprimand part easy to do. For years, I found it difficult to provide the praise (I’ve gotten a lot better at it).
I always make the point of adding in a request that they repeat back to me what they heard because, sometimes, people don’t hear what I said accurately.
Remember, the goal is to have a sensational person on your team. It is not to destroy them because they didn’t do it up to your standards.
Ⓒ The Big Game Hunter, Inc., Asheville, NC 2020
ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter is a career and leadership coach who worked as a recruiter for more than 40 years. He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with more than 2300 episodes. He also hosts
Job Search TV on YouTube, and Amazon, as well as on BingeNetworks.tv for Apple TV and 90+ smart sets.
I do a livestream on LinkedIn, YouTube (on the JobSearchTV.com account) and on Facebook (on the Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter page) Tuesdays and Fridays at 1 PM Eastern. You can send your questions about job search, hiring better, management, leadership or to get advice about a workplace issue to me at TheBigGameHunter(at)gmail.com. In the subject line, put the phrase “Office Hours.” You can also message me through chat during the approximately 30 minute show.
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