“I’m so excited about the annual performance review process” said no one ever. Your employees and managers dread this process because of the anxiety it provokes and the time it takes (dare I say, wastes?). Research about the pitfalls of the performance review process show that in a best case scenario the traditional year-end review process is minimally ineffective. In a worse case scenario it’s doing damage and is routinely introducing biased assessments. It is time to consider a new way of encouraging professional development. This new approach, the continuous feedback culture, dovetails very well with the current dramatic changes in the workplace regarding diversity and inclusion.
Successful leaders and managers are realizing that recruiting, retention and productivity require the recognition of each employee as an individual valuable resource. The days of treating employees like a piece of equipment as a generic FTE are gone.
There are some steps to take to make a shift to a continuous feedback culture, but it can be done with intention and good communication.
Ensure you have pay and benefits equity best practices in place
Employees should be compensated fairly for their roles according to industry standards and strict equity rules. Setting and adjusting pay and benefits must be happening fairly and regularly without regard to an annual process.
CEO/leadership must develop a people management philosophy for the organization
Clear communication of a management philosophy will ensure that manager practices will be consistent across the organization. Employees talk. One manager not in line with the philosophy can lead to the loss of valuable talent. Most leadership teams do have a philosophy, but I’ve had to work with them to articulate it and make it actionable.
Institute a manager training and excellence system
As an organization grows, the CEO won’t be able to directly communicate with all employees. Managers are your voice and have power to keep or lose each employee. Implementing a people management excellence attitude plays a large role in retention success.
Provide the framework for a continuous development culture
Including recommended 1:1 practices and discussion templates. Keep it simple! More on this below.
- Embrace a professional development goals mindset; Publicize professional development offerings and opportunities.
- Create and clearly communicate promotion processes and engage managers in the active process of nominating candidates for promotion.
The Simple and Effective 1:1 Meeting
Here’s one easy place to start. Require all managers to meet 1:1 with their reports at least biweekly and provide them with training and framework to make these meetings successful. Keep it simple to develop this practice into a strong, influential communication tool for all. Here’s the agenda I suggest. The agenda consists of three simple questions and an item for action item follow up:
- What went well this week?
- What didn’t go well?
- What would we do differently next time?
- Record and track action items
When managers use this agenda at each meeting, it becomes routine for both the manager and the report. It allows trust to develop over a short time. The team will be prepared to discuss successes and challenges with the confidence that they will be heard, and that there will be actions planned for resolution of issues, success and development.
Finally, scientists know the value of data. Gather feedback, respond, and repeat to grow and strengthen the continuous feedback culture. Check in with anonymous surveys, skip level meetings and monitoring to ensure that every manager and employee can gain the benefits of these communication and feedback practices. The added benefit will be the establishment of more inclusive evaluation and development processes that will support the success of a diverse employee population - an absolute priority for the modern workplace.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Joanne Kamens, Ph.D.
Senior Consultant, The Impact Seat Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Consulting
Dr. Kamens is a Senior Consultant at The Impact Seat, a consulting firm that helps organizations, especially those that have a science focus, develop and maintain equitable and inclusive cultures that are rich in diversity. She received her PhD from Harvard Medical School in Genetics and has had a varied career in academia, pharma, biotech and nonprofit. She served as Executive Director of the nonprofit biotech, Addgene. While leading Addgene, she experimented with practical ways to create an inclusive workplace with everyone able to thrive and contribute. Joanne maintained single digit employee turnover for almost a decade at Addgene and collaborated with dozens of inclusion organizations to make the company a Best Place to Work in Boston for 6 years running (#1 Best Place in 2016). She is founder of the Boston chapter of the Association for Women in Science (MASS AWIS) and currently serves on the Boards of AWIS National and OpenBiome. You can find her @jkamens on Twitter or on LinkedIn.