How to have a transformative discussion:

Good feedback is a gift. In their book, “Thanks for the Feedback,” Sheila Hein and Douglas Stone highlight how powerful thoughtful feedback can be both for the individual receiving the feedback as well as for the relationship between the two individuals.

As you prepare for year-end evaluations for your team, consider these key practices to transform standard evaluations into transformative discussions.

Schedule a time in advance so that you and your employee can prepare: This might sound obvious, but as you rush to end the year, it might be tempting to schedule a last-minute evaluation. It’s much wiser to put it off a few weeks than have a rushed, poorly thought-out discussion. Also, it is important to give your employee time to prepare as well.

Gather documentation from your conversations throughout the year: Feedback provided during the performance evaluation should not be new to your employee, but rather it should reaffirm previous discussions and provide an opportunity to formalize agreed-upon goals for the next year.

Ask your employee to do a self-evaluation that you review in advance: It’s helpful to see how your employee views themselves. They might highlight strengths that you could have overlooked, but it is also possible that you’ll be able to identify gaps between how they see their strengths and the weaknesses you think they need to address. That in itself can be a fruitful opportunity for feedback.

Ask for feedback from others: “360 evaluations” (from your employee’s peers and staff that they manage, if relevant) are a valuable tool to give you both a broader picture of the employee’s performance. In my opinion, it is important that these not be anonymous for several reasons. First, it is important to understand how the individual providing the feedback has worked with that individual and what perspective they might have based on their role. Second, there might be important next steps from that feedback that you and the employee will want to follow up on. Finally, building in transparent feedback to the performance evaluation process can be part of your strategy for building a culture in which direct, honest feedback is valued and solicited.

Provide them with your comments in advance of the performance evaluation discussion: It will also be critical to provide the employee with your thoughts before your discussion so that they can read them through on their own time to prepare for the discussion. If you are using a rating scale, be sure to explain how you interpret the scale as they might have a different interpretation of what the ratings mean.

Ask them in advance to come prepared with feedback for you as their manager: I always tell my team that performance evaluations are an evaluation of the staff but also of me as their manager. This is an opportunity for them to tell you what is working well and what you can do better to bring out the best in them.

Finally, end the performance evaluation with clear next steps: This might take several conversations, but it will be important to establish goals for the upcoming year that build on the areas where your employee is excelling, the areas in which they need to improve, and that are in line with the growth goals that you both agree upon.

What have you learned about effective performance evaluations? What additional questions do you have?

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