Performance reviews are just as terrifying for the employer as they are for the employee because there are so many unknowns. Employers are thinking: “Are our staff really happy? Are we good leaders? Will they be satisfied with the pay increases we have managed to muster up?”
If we could give one tip to business owners planning staff performance reviews, it would be to take the time to get a good grasp on your business analytics and really get your head around the performance statistics.
So many businesses don’t have a deep understanding of their performance analytics, yet they go into salary reviews with a budget in mind for remuneration increases.
You might have a star performer who gets along with your clients like a house on fire but only by analysing your bottom line, numbers and performance patterns will you really be able to determine whether that sparkly attitude is converting to actual new business or sales for your company.
When it comes to our businesses and staffing, we all like to have our cake and eat it too.
Take a minute to digest the following tips, prepared by our team of HR specialists at intelliHR, and you will have a recipe for success:
1. The Roly Poly (Know exactly what you want out of the role)
All roles within your business need to have KPIs attached to them. People want and need goals and milestones to celebrate.
Many SME owners often jump in the deep end, hiring staff without clear performance goals in mind.
Comprehensive position descriptions allow you to set clear expectations around the role.
If your staff doesn’t properly understand what is expected of them and what their objectives are, how can they attempt to demonstrate success to the business?
2. The sponge cake (Set layers of goals)
Just like the humble sponge cake, goal setting can be difficult to master. People want goals that are meaningful and they want values attached to every task.
The important thing with goal setting is that you are setting your people up for success, so goals need to be realistic and measurable.
If you know your team are not going to be able to achieve their goal from the outset, don’t set them. Explore ideas with your team and suggest options which are realistic or break down the goal into more bite-sized pieces.
3. The chocolate cake (Be responsible)
It’s a key responsibility of a leader to keep track of team achievements, acknowledge great work, and celebrate milestones. Be a responsible leader and accurately record discussions about improvements that need to happen or when feedback conversations are had with your team.
Communicating in real time with your team members is extremely important, if you receive or give feedback or have performance discussions, record these accurately and then remember to follow up on agreed outcomes.
There are online tools available to track team performance and record conversations about feedback, intelliHR offers a platform and there are others available on the market too.
Next week we will continue our recipe for success with another four tips to assist small businesses and leaders as they prepare to conduct staff performance reviews.
Rob Bromage, CEO and founder, intelliHR
