Challenge

Performance reviews have received a "bad name" in most industries. Managers dread conducting them. Employees fear receiving them. Too many performance appraisal efforts accomplish little more than shielding organizations from employment liability. They may document performance, but they typically don't contribute to it. However, your performance reviews don't have to be burdensome. Instead, they can become both a formal and informal dialogue between managers and employees to ensure results. Instead of invoking fear and resistance, they can unleash and empower.

Solution: InsideOut's Model for Effective Performance Reviews

InsideOut Development helps managers use the GROW Model to plan and conduct performance reviews. Managers navigate confidently through productive conversations with their employees as they work through each stage of the GROW process during performance reviews:

• Goals: Set S.M.A.R.T. goals (specific, meaningful, agreed to, realistic, and time-phased)
• Reality:Define the current status--where we are now
• Options: Define the future status--where we want to be
• Way forward: Identify realistic next steps

Using this widely-applicable model,managers and people supervisors can significantly improve the comfort and effectiveness of performance reviews. They'll learn how to:

• Confront performance issues in a way that their employees feel valued rather than put down.
• Encourage employees to be realistic about their current state of readiness and prospects for success.
• Explore the root causes of performance gaps without resorting to second-guessing and faultfinding.
• Brainstorm measures to improve employee performance without proffering up uninvited advice or brandishing personal expertise.
• Focus appraisal discussions on critical behaviors that have the power to truly transform performance.
• Ensure that any performance improvement resolutions anticipate likely obstacles and are supported by specific action plans.