How to conduct successful mid-year performance reviews with your remote workers

You enter the meeting room, your Manager is on the phone looking flustered and talking fast in a direct tone. They hang up, look up and give you a small acknowledgement, then sit there tapping on the keyboard. You sit. You wait. Thoughts running through your mind, they are always so busy. I have so much on my plate at the moment, I could be finishing off that report that is due by the end of the day. I wonder if they have prepared anything, I have spent hours pulling together my comments and behavioural competency examples. Are we going to get started? I hope this isn’t postponed. Maybe it was HR on the call. I haven’t done anything wrong. Business is struggling, results are down at the moment. Is today my turn for a redundancy? If I lose my job today, what would I do? How long could we survive without my income?

How quickly our thoughts and emotions can take over and lead us down the garden path. Of course, it sets the scene of us located in an office, working together with our teams. Our current working environment looks a little different. Which is why it is important for you to have even more effective conversations with your employees.

When you say mid-year performance reviews you will notice people doing the following… eye rolls, big sighs, oh the tick and flick exercise, or worst of all ‘yeah, we don’t have those I think my Manager just fills in the HR system’. Do yourself a favour and be a leader that changes the perception of these crucial conversations. Effective leaders have ongoing 1:1 conversations, informal and formal coaching discussions and regular team meetings, therefore performance discussions form a natural part of this process. Mid-year performance reviews allow employees and managers to reflect, collaborate and develop action plans for high performance and delivery of results.

Here are our top 4 P’s to running a successful mid-year review:

Plan and be organised, book in the time with your employee and stick to it. Provide an agenda, so there are no surprises you are both clear on discussion points and any pre-work required for your conversation. Do not sit there, staring at your laptop, ticking the boxes in the HR system. Actually have a conversation. Even if you have to book 45 minutes for the discussion and spend 15 mins filling in the system. Give your people your time and observe the difference it makes.

Prepare for the meeting. This is one of the formal catch ups or coaching opportunities you have with your employee. In our leadership programs we train a feed-forward approach (asking the employee to share insights into what has worked well, any areas for improvement and then offer your suggestions). Have specific pieces of feedback ready to discuss as well as areas you can acknowledge.

Pause and listen. Practice asking open questions and use your active listening skills. Listen for emotional words, stay curious, and seek further understanding. Also take the opportunity to ask, ‘what can I do as your manager to help you achieve your goals?’

Progress is key. Having a great catch up is the first part, then it is important to agree on a follow up time or confirm that your management rhythm (weekly, fortnightly, monthly meetings) is working to support your employee.

Finding time in your schedule to conduct a formal, planned and prepared 1:1 conversation with each of your employees can be difficult. However, I challenge you to think about the difference it makes to each of your employees when they are clear on their expectations, the business targets, areas they have been performing well and take lessons to improve in other areas. Feeling heard, appreciated, and inspired to perform at their best.

Keep having open and honest conversations with your employees. Offer them the support they need, especially now in times where we have experienced constant change, adapting to new ways of working in very uncertain environments. Your employees need, more than ever, clarity and certainty in relation to their performance, regular communication and connection to still feel a part of the team, and acknowledgement for continually adapting to new working environments.