Boring things about writing performance reviews that no one talks about - manager's guide | Keka (2023)

FAQs

What not to say in a performance review as a manager? ›

You are unapproachable as a manager

Your words of motivation go a long way in determining their performance. However, if you are unapproachable either because you're always in and out of meeting or travelling a lot, they naturally fear performance appraisals because of the absolute lack of interaction.

Giving top of mind feedback

The most common mistake that managers make when it comes to giving a review is not preparing for it. It's too often seen as something to get to after all the other important work is done, and not as an important part of the work process itself.

The list is long as to why annual performance reviews don't work, but at the top are reasons such as; they cause tension and anxiety, are often based on subjective measurements and don't provide necessary recognition for a job well-done or feedback for improvement.

Give Too Much Or Too Little

Providing too much or too little feedback can make for a poor performance review experience. If a manager wants employees to be successful, they need the chance to grow. At the end of the day, that helps everyone and supersedes any feelings of fear around giving feedback.

And according to Steve Smith, the author of Managing for Success: Practical Advice for Managers, the main reason why most new managers fail is because they were never properly trained to manage.

What is the Halo and Horn Effect? The Halo and Horn Effect is a type of implicit bias where one's performance is viewed through an unfair lens (either positive or negative) that comes from an unrelated attribute, such as personality, physical traits, or previous work experience.

Lack of Confidence. The number one reason that managers don't want to give their employees feedback is because they lack the confidence to do so. Many managers simply don't know how to give feedback. Fear is something that holds most of us back in life, but managers experience this trifold when it comes to feedback.

Why are managers uncomfortable giving feedback? ›

Reason to give feedback: Fear of how an employee will respond to feedback is one of the top reasons managers avoid or delay giving feedback. An employee may become defensive when feedback sounds like criticism, fault-finding or disciplinary, especially if it is the first time the employee is hearing the information.

According to 1,400 executives polled by The Ken Blanchard Companies, failing to provide feedback is the most common mistake that leaders make. When you don't provide prompt feedback to your people, you're depriving them of the opportunity to improve their performance.

It is possible to identify several common sources of error in performance appraisal systems. These include: (1) central tendency error, (2) strictness or leniency error, (3) halo effect, (4) recency error, and (5) personal biases.

Performance evaluations are too formal.

There is little room for an open dialogue, creating an uncomfortable environment for employees. Too much formality can cause employees to be less open to criticism. To maximize efficiency, a performance evaluation should be short and to the point.

Questions about the employee's overall performance. Questions about the employee's strengths. Review questions about possible areas of improvement. Questions about the employee's current role.

Complaining too much about your tasks or work, in general, could annoy your manager. You're all in this together, and everyone in the company is stressed and has enough problems; so, don't be the one who complains a lot because this is the nature of having a job.

What is an unprofessional manager? An unprofessional manager is a staff member in a leadership position whose behavior or comments don't adhere to their organization's code of conduct or that negatively affects staff, customers or the business overall.

The golden rules for conducting a performance review meeting: Managers should be prepared by referring to a list of objectives and their notes on performance throughout the year. Sufficient time should be provided for allowing a full discussion. Building a friendly, supportive and an informal environment.

An unfair performance review rebuttal is a counterargument you might share with your manager after they give you negative feedback. While you may agree with some of the things your manager said about your performance, you may have felt like they didn't consider your hard work or efforts in their feedback.

Are companies doing away with performance reviews? ›

The New Trend: Get Rid of the Performance Review

With the growing hatred for reviews, leaders in HR and beyond are looking for alternatives. This has led to a trend to get rid of the performance review entirely by companies like Deloitte, Adobe, Accenture, and most recently, GE.

When the manager ignores difficult team members and the problems they cause, strong performers often get frustrated. They also may dread coming to work for fear of having to deal with their toxic coworkers. That leads to unhappiness on the job and is a big reason why good people leave.

Communicating effectively with employees

This creates one of the biggest challenges for managers – bridging the distance with effective and timely communication skills. Good managers need to develop advanced listening and speaking skills as they play a huge role in the success of their team.

Here are some of the most common challenges managers face and how to overcome them: Decreased performance levels. Being understaffed. Lack of communication.

Showing favoritism: Giving too much attention to some people while ignoring others is a recipe for disaster. Those who are overlooked will feel resentment toward the ineffective manager, and the situation will have a negative impact on their work performance.

Incompetent managers are unable to provide consistent and realistic guidance. They may provide overly optimistic revenue and profit forecasts. If they are unable to meet these forecasts, stakeholders lose faith in management. For public companies, it means lower stock prices.

First Impression Error – The tendency for a manger to make an initial favorable or unfavorable judgment about someone, and then ignore subsequent information that does not support this impression. Similar-to-Me Effect – The tendency to more favorably judge those people perceived as similar to the leader.

a type of rating mistake in which the ratings are consistently overly positive, particularly regarding the performance or ability of the participants. It is caused by the rater's tendency to be too positive or tolerant of shortcomings and to give undeservedly high evaluations. Also called leniency bias.

What are three common reasons that leaders avoid giving feedback? ›

Bosses that bully question your ability by belittling your opinions and ideas. This behavior may take place in private or in front of others. They also may blame you for problems at work while boasting that their skills are responsible for good outcomes.

Your lack of confidence and self-worth may be contributing to your feelings of intimidation far more than anything they are doing. I realize this may be hard to fathom, but think about it. Perhaps you're feeling uncertain about yourself and that's being projected onto your boss.

A common workplace issue that many employees have is dealing with a condescending boss. In most cases, “condescension” is simply the person's tone of voice and nothing else. Employees often claim that their boss's words aren't even the problem; it is the overall feeling of being spoken down to.

One of the toughest challenges of giving feedback is getting the timing right. In an effort to keep things professional, many managers wait for performance reviews to provide employees with any constructive feedback.

Bad managers lead to low engagement. Low engagement leads to declining productivity and higher turnover. If decreased productivity and increased turnover aren't reasons enough to stop the practice of having bad managers, consider this: bad managers lead to increased stress, major health issues, and even death.

It also includes not being able to formulate plans, ideas, or strategies as expected within the role or not being able to execute the already formulated ones. Not being able to cater to the needs of the employees and stakeholders also comes under the failures of a manager.

The most important aspect of a performance review is the review conversation. Preparing for the conversation will help guide a productive conversation. Consider what to communicate and what you want to learn: Review accomplishments, strengths, obstacles, and areas for development.

If you review the assessment objectively and feel it is off base, write a rebuttal or provide comments on your performance appraisal. State clearly why you disagree with the evaluation. A rebuttal aims to add a permanent record to your review.

What not to write in a performance review? ›

Avoid using words like "always" and "never" in employee appraisals. Employees rarely "always" or "never" do something, whether it is positive or negative. Using extremes can leave you open to employees who want to argue and prove that they did what you accused them of "never" doing.

One major risk of using performance evaluations is that some managers unconsciously favor employees that possess similar characteristics as the manager. Bias causes managers to focus more on the personality and style of the employee instead of the actual achievements.

Fear. Lack of training in delivering feedback magnifies what is likely the most common reason managers avoid feedback: fear. There are many fears that stem from the idea of giving feedback.

UNC Professor Elad Sherf recommends using the framework of the three Cs — Clarity, Contextual Meaning, and Composure — as a guide for turning every performance review into an opportunity to demonstrate empathy and help employees achieve lasting growth, learning, and improvement.

Employee expectations have changed when it comes to performance management, and organisations must embrace these three Cs – continuous, crowdsourced, and coaching – if they want to stay in step with today's human-centric work culture.

Here are a few questions you might ask: “What do you feel I've done well in the past year [or however long it's been since your last review]?” “What do you think my strengths are as a [role]?” “Have you seen improvements in [area your manager asked you to work on in the past]?”

Explain your experience in the workplace

Talk about your experience in the workplace and mention any questions or concerns you may have about day-to-day tasks. Employers often appreciate insight into individual employee experiences so they can adjust their expectations and goals to better fit their needs.

“You're a strong communicator and express your thoughts and ideas clearly and respectfully.” “You communicate directions and expectations effectively.” “Your peers appreciate your willingness to listen to others.”

Managers are responsible for providing employees with constructive feedback on a regular basis. Throughout the evaluation period, managers give their employees ongoing support, feedback and counseling on performance issues and, when necessary, disciplinary and corrective action.

How do you write supervisor's comment on employee performance appraisal? ›

“A performance review meeting should be 50-50; a two-way conversation between your manager and you about strengths, successes, weaknesses and skill gaps. Make sure you're prepared with questions for your supervisor, too, and think strategically about how you can contribute to the conversation,” Jones says.

Be ready to tell your manager how you've improved over the past year and how you plan to address any issues going forward. Acknowledging your weaknesses and how you're going to fix them tells your manager that you've taken the time to make a self-assessment of your performance.

Be totally honest and forthcoming about the employee's performance, but remember: Anything else you say can and will be repeated later. Talk about negative personality traits. No employees argue with positive comments about their personality.

If you've exceeded expectations, go ahead and rate yourself high. List the best of your achievements and play up the results. As long as you can back up what you say, bragging is acceptable.

There could be many reasons for this; maybe your boss a) has simply forgotten; b) isn't comfortable giving feedback; c) is plain lazy; d) has some bad news for you and is procrastinating; or e) wants to give you that raise, but has been told by upper management to hold the line on salaries and to postpone all reviews.