Business: Performance Reviews That Actually Improve Performance

Performance Reviews That Actually Improve Performance

Written by Jan B. King

Continued from page 1

I always do reviews in two parts. The first part is for repparttar employee to fill out two weeks ahead of repparttar 104159 actual review meeting. It asks questions like these:

•What could I do to make your work more productive? •What equipment or training do you need to do your best work that you don't have? •What could repparttar 104160 company change (or add or delete) that would help you do your work better? •What skills and abilities do you have that you think are underutilized? •Any other comments or opinions you would like to express?

I have always found that getting an employee to express their feelings first, not only lets them know that you really are interested in their feedback, it also often results in their letting you know what they think their weaknesses are – meaning you don’t have to be repparttar 104161 first to bring these things up.

Most employees really want to do good work. And if you think an employee isn’t really there to do good work, you shouldn’t be reviewing them, you should be letting them go.

Jan B. King is the former President & CEO of Merritt Publishing, a top 50 woman-owned and run business in Los Angeles and the author of Business Plans to Game Plans: A Practical System for Turning Strategies into Action (John Wiley & Sons, 2004). She has helped hundreds of businesses with her book and her ebooks, The Do-It-Yourself Business Plan Workbook, and The Do-It-Yourself Game Plan Workbook. See www.janbking.com for more information.

Gracefully Accepting Feedback a Key Employment Skill

Written by Jan B. King

Continued from page 1
behavior, so it is important to have simple words of gratitude prepared ahead of time. 3.Immediately write down all you can remember of repparttar

feedback, recording as many words used by repparttar 104158

giver as possible. Allow yourself at least 2 days to process repparttar 104159

information, taking no action to change your perceived behavior. Watch what you do and how other react to it. After a few days, go back and look at your original notes. Take out repparttar 104160

emotion-packed words and look for repparttar 104161

basic message. 4.Know that feedback can be tough to receive, even if we solicit it and are grateful for it. Although it is simply another's perception, it can shake up your feelings about yourself. Plan to do something nice for yourself when you know you are facing tough feedback. Try to do something that bolsters self-esteem - dinner with friends, or engage in an activity that you are particularly good at. 5.Discuss repparttar 104162

feedback with friends or others whose opinions you respect, but ask them not to react to repparttar 104163

message. Tell them you are only looking for sympathy for repparttar 104164

difficulty of going through a rigorous self-development process, but that you don't want them to agree or disagree with repparttar 104165

feedback. It would be normal to want to invalidate negative feedback, and to get others to help you, but you will lose what may be a critical grain of truth if you do. 6.Use feedback in a positive way as soon as practical, not with repparttar 104166

giver, but with others. Over time you may even want to tell others to lightly remind you if you slip back to old ways. "Jack, I don't want to bug you, but you asked me to remind you if you started to get behind on those reports."

You are ready to receive feedback when you: 1.Want to know yourself as others see you and you are clear that this is their perception, not necessarily what is true about you inside. 2.Trust your co-workers to care enough about your development to risk giving their opinion. 3.Have a place outside work you can talk it through. 4.Have opportunities for additional feedback so you get validation of repparttar 104167 changes you have made.

Things you can do now to get more feedback at work: 1.Find out if your employer has a 360 degree review program or is willing to allow you to work with your human resources department to develop a feedback program tailored to you. 2.Look back at old performance reviews and see if there are common comments you can use. 3.Consider hiring a personal development coach to give you alternative methods of getting feedback, such as personality testing. 4.Decide to use repparttar 104168 feedback to get a promotion or change career direction so that you have a reason to get involved in repparttar 104169 process.

As you get to know yourself better, feedback will become less painful. You learn how to put it into a larger perspective and how to allow it to help you achieve your dreams.

<Back to Page 1