be a surprise to either party, and if an employee has deficiencies
in work, these should be addressed as they happen, and then
touched on as a reminder of continued improvement only in a
yearly setting,” he says.
Duncan, on his part, suggests keeping the conversation casual
to help employees feel comfortable. “This puts the employees at
ease and gets them in a pattern of communicating so they may
be more receptive and open to give suggestions during the actual
review,” he says.
360-Degree Feedback
A good performance review is often a two-way street. Thus, open
the table for mutual conversations. This may be easier said than
done, but honesty and humility go hand-in-hand in an effective
performance review.
“When I was running my first small business, I was terrible at
performance reviews,” admits Alisa Marie Beyer, founder of
Coastal Salt & Soul. “I usually forgot about doing them, ignored
them or did a ‘fly by’ meeting with my employees. After several
years and about 50 employees later, I knew I had to change. I also
knew I was just not good at it. So I hired a professional human
Rater Bias
Avoiding rater bias is one of the many challenges in performance
reviews, but Durling says one way to avoid this is by properly
Spa Gregorie's values performance reviews because it helps the spa
remind its staff of expectations and standards.
“Reviews and regular check-ins with
employees prevent the decrease
of team moral and complacency
and equally opens up the line of
communication that helps the team
relationship thrive.”
— Scott Duncan, President, Spa Gregorie's
resource consultant to set it all up for me: the calendar, the
questions and the process.”
It paid off. “I got amazing feedback from each employee on
how my company could be better, how they could help us
become better and how I personally could be more effective. Now
on my fifth company, I use the same system and questions as I
did 20 years ago!” says Beyer.
Part of Beyer’s review process involves sending out 10
questions to her employees a week or two before the review.
“They have time to reflect and complete it and send it back to me
a few days before we meet. I also answer the same questions and
provide it to them in writing during the review,” she says.
McCarthy says approaching the review as a tool for a mutual
conversation makes the process a positive experience for both
parties. “I try to make the evaluation process a bit more positive
by making it a chance for both parties to sit down, discuss mutual
goals for the future and identify better ways to work together to
achieve those goals. For me, it’s more about creating a better
future than it is about correcting the mistakes of the past,” he
says.
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