The focus of performance management review meetings

Line managers sometimes seem a bit lost about what to talk about in performance management review meetings. Here are some ideas that should give line managers some areas to focus on.

• Evidence. Reviewing a person’s performance is an activity that needs to be based on hard evidence. Both the line manager and their staff member need to get into the habit of keeping records and evidence of what they do. As a rule of thumb there should be at least one document per month describing or demonstrating what the staff member has achieved. Basing review meetings on evidence rather than people’s often faulty memories means that they will focus on what actually happened rather than on people’s differing interpretations of events.

• Objectives. The most important comparison is between the staff member’s objectives (goals, targets) for the period and their actual results (key performance indicators or KPIs). Objectives created using the SMART approach tend to be less ambiguous when looked at later in the year. The ’M’ in SMART stands for ‘Measurable’, so evidence of performance should be collected and measured in line with the objective.

• Competencies. The evidence can also be used to evaluate how well the staff member demonstrates the levels of competencies required in their job description, role profile or person specification. Where the evidence does not clearly demonstrate underlying competence, line managers need to check whether: the competence is demonstrated through other means; or the competence still is needed in the role.

• Values. Does the evidence demonstrate an understanding and commitment to the organisation’s values? For example, if a value is ‘To actively encourage equality and diversity at work’, what evidence is there of behaviour in line with this value. In a mature organisation, there will be considerable overlap between the behaviours that demonstrate competencies and those that demonstrate values.

• No surprises. Line managers and staff members may need to be reminded not to save up the important discussions for their performance review meetings, but rather to deal with matters as they come up through the period. Although performance review meetings should have some formality, there is no harm in them being treated as opportunities to record or acknowledge previous informal discussions and meetings. After all, the entire performance management process is not intended to be extra management work, but rather a check that day-to-day management and implementation is following best practice.

So: five ideas that could help your line managers run more effective performance review meetings.