The idea of performance reviews are a great idea, but oftentimes only in theory, as the practice is not always as seamless. Oftentimes things like bias, objectivity, inconsistency, standardization and time management issues creep in which dilute review effectiveness. 

So why do we run performance reviews if we know they are challenging and if done incorrectly, not always useful? We know that our people need feedback, support, alignment on goals, benchmarking growth and helping with career planning. A predictable performance process allows managers to commit to feedback yearly, or as I prefer to see it, quarterly. 

Make sure that if you are running an appraisal process, you are doing so effectively by keeping fairness top of mind. Did you know the most recent statistics show that 71% of employees think that their evaluations are unfair? 

Ways to counteract unfairness include: 

• Keep performance feedback consistent. Think about primacy and recency versus a one off that happened that you are dragging on about. Is this feedback about a particular incident or is it truly habitual?

• Structural bias – is this feedback crucial to their role? For instance do poor data analysis skills matter as much for a graphic designer as a statistician? Likely not.

• Keep your rater bias in check! – Think about subjectivity in terms of unconscious bias, diversity and other types of biases such as rater errors.

• Hunger and fatigue makes us more critical! We have the most control over our logic about 2 hours after we wake up so try stacking your reviews in the morning instead of when you are starving for lunch. Hangryness is real!

• Consider decoupling compensation review conversations with performance review talk. People tend to think their growth and performance is undervalued when their compensation is not increased at the level they wanted. By decoupling this conversation it makes the entire performance process feel more fair and independent from financial growth.

Performance management is not just about one off performance reviews. Performance management also includes general feedback, weekly meetings with your manager, conversations around growth and development, and the list goes on. If you can separate this conversation from the money conversation, it allows people to focus on the feedback, growth goals and changes needed rather than lasering in on how much of an increase they are receiving. 

As a business, we need to hold managers accountable to ensure reviews are a smooth process. As part of the review process for managers, it’s important to appraise them on their ability to “give feedback”. This should be a part of their expectations in being a strong manager and leader within the business. 

Another way for the business to hold managers accountable is to help them carve out time for writing reviews. Consider implementing a “no meeting” rule from 4-6 every day for the 2-3 weeks before appraisals to give managers concentrated time to focus on writing reviews and assessing performance. 

Performance reviews are loved by many and probably disliked by an equal amount. The main takeaway? If you’re going to do it, then do it right!