Conducting mid-year performance reviews gives owners the opportunity to check in with employees in order to ensure that their objectives, project work and general day-to-day jobs are aligned with the rest of the business.
The why
Even if your firm doesn’t have a formal system in place for conducting mid-year reviews, it is still worth taking the time to sit down and have a catch up with each of your team members.
The mid-year review meeting is a great opportunity to re-visit and refresh goals and objectives. It can also help you to ensure that your team members are fully aware of expectations and can help to prevent surprises during year-end performance appraisal conversations.
Mid-year reviews provide a good opportunity to ask employees for feedback, what is and isn’t working, as well as suggested improvements to processes and procedures across their area of the business.
In advance of a mid-year review meeting, prepare to ask questions relating to progress towards delivery of goals and objectives. It is also a good idea to seek feedback from others in order to give you the opportunity to address any issues around the employee’s performance and interactions with others. Be ready to share any positive feedback received with the employee as doing so can be a great motivator.
The how
Help your employees to prepare themselves prior to their review, in order to make the most of the process. You could encourage your team members to view feedback as an opportunity to learn more about themselves, professionally. You can also ask them to prepare questions around key projects or areas of concern. A good manager will also remind their employees not to take feedback personally.
Finally, you should plan to discuss any firm or departmental changes, which may affect the employee’s goals and objectives for the rest of the year. Following the review, should send a follow up email to the employee which notes the key actions / outputs from the meeting and any changes to their objectives for the rest of the year.
The benefit
A significant number of small businesses struggle against the clock to meet customer deadlines and cope with the routine administration. At our Accelerator Clubs we focus very much on business improvement, but there is a trap. We could call it ‘taking them for granted’, the ‘them’ being our team members. Keeping everyone that works for you aware of what’s going on and the part they play is very important. Having an open door policy is great but if when they walk through the door the look they get is ‘what now?’ that issue they want to discuss may get put off. Time for open discussion allows those issues to be brought up before they become a potential problem.
Come and join us
The Accelerator Club is run to help your business be more effective. Come and hear how other businesses cope with the same issues affecting your business. At the next session we will also look at some tools that can improve team communication. For more details contact us.