Top tips for making your salary and performance reviews a piece of cake – Part 2

Business owners can be just as apprehensive about performance reviews as their employees. But with the right preparation, staff performance reviews can be a piece of cake!

Last week, our team of HR specialists at intelliHR outlined the first three ingredients in our recipient for success:

1. The roly poly – know exactly what you want out of the role

2. The sponge cake – set layers of goals

3. The chocolate cake – be responsible

Here are the rest of our tips to ensure your success:

4. The layer cake (Review, review, review)

A layer cake has clearly got layers, and in between you might find jam and cream or icing. Use previous appraisals and the goals which were set for your team as the foundation to highlight accomplishments, strengths and areas for further discussion and review.

Continue building on those learnings and consider using a journal to help you consolidate your team’s progress. A quick minute or two on a Friday afternoon is all it takes.

5. The wedding cake (Request feedback)

Be bold and ask for feedback from your own leadership team – regularly. A good relationship is all about give and take. All it takes is a quick chat with your team to make sure you’ve got open communication.

Taking the time to ask shows that you care and that you want to deliver value to your team and be the best leader you can be.

6. Angel cake (Be respectful)

Being courteous, respectful and communicative to your team will be the icing on the cake. Performance isn’t just about results, it’s also about team attitudes. Yes, business owners all want (and need) employees who produce quality work, but we also need people who are flexible and easy to work with.

Creating a positive workplace culture and leading by example will certainly not go unnoticed – a team which communicates with each other openly and honestly and makes an effort to get along, improves not only morale but also the performance of the business.

7. Carrot cake (Don’t dangle the carrot)

Don’t leave that carrot dangling in front of your employees and never deliver them any promised rewards. Set clear expectations and policies around how salary reviews will work and talk openly and honestly about when they will occur and how they will be rewarded.

Sometimes, the old saying “don’t ask, don’t get” can ring true but if you promise reward and don’t keep your end of the deal – it’s a sure way to lose good staff. It’s also important, however, that your realistic around rewards and what you can give out.

This is where understanding business performance and analytics in real time is a non-negotiable.

At the end of the day, if you have a high performing, loyal, committed team around you who consistently do their job and do it well, you need to nurture that culture.

Make sure you are arming your leaders with the right tools to do their jobs to the best of their ability and have open, clear, real-time conversations about performance reviews, which will benefit not only your business but will grow your people as well.

Piece of cake!

Rob Bromage, CEO and founder, intelliHR