4 ways to ruin a performance evaluation
Help your organization’s supervisors provide better performance reviews by warning them away from these common mistakes:
- Making general statements. It’s better to give specific feedback on the employees’ performance—both good and bad—and back up statements with examples.
- Mentioning only recent events. An annual review spans an entire year. Commenting on work and behavior from only the past six weeks tells the employee the boss hasn’t been paying attention all year. Have supervisors keep a performance log all year long and refer to it.
- Comparing two employees. It’s critical for a supervisor to focus only on the employee in front of him or her. No mentioning others! Urge bosses to find examples to use that are not related to co-workers.
- Asking the wrong questions. Supervisors’ questions should be specific to the employee, not your industry or the organization in general.
Remember, reviews are for receiving feedback in addition to giving it. Two great questions to ask:
- Do you have what you need to do your job?
- What can we do to offer more support?
