While performance reviews are just one of the many ways technicians, managers, service advisors, and more communicate on any given day, they are a strong, formalized method to make sure that everyone's on the same page. Of course, this still requires that everyone in the review have strong interpersonal skills to make sure nothing is lost in translation, especially during what can be a very anxiety-provoking experience.
“Performance and performance reviews are only as good as your communication,” explained Sydney Mayhew, head of fleet maintenance at UFP Industries.
When Mayhew does reviews, she structures them like a conversation.
Beverly Beuermann-King, workplace culture and resiliency speaker and expert at Work Smart Live Smart, said to make sure to start off on the right foot by acknowledging employees “for their time, their energy, their contribution, their education.”
Here are a few more tips:
Review Do's
- Listen to the employee’s thoughts and opinions before offering your own
- Adapt your feedback and phrasing to the individual
- Be curious about context—consider their training, attitude, experience, etc.
- Always aim to be constructive in your criticism
- Make your advice and goals actionable
- Acknowledge the employee’s successes and achievements
- Set up follow-up appointments
Review Don’ts
- Don’t only focus on negative experiences during the evaluation
- Don’t rely on numbers alone when evaluating an employee’s performance
- Do not ambush your employee with feedback on every event throughout the year
