From the book Scale-ups & Downs - Wendy van Ierschot and Gerrit de Jager

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The answer to the question "Why don't they just do it?" is quite simple: Most people really do want to "just do it," but they have no idea what you define as "it" nor what you mean by "just do it." 

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As an entrepreneur, a lot comes your way from 0 to 100 employees.

Your company is growing and your role is changing if you don't want to be the bottle neck that everyone has to wait for (read here: "When it's time for a CEO at a scale-up."). If you want to continue to grow, giving feedback and structured reflection on your team's development must also become a regular rhythm. Before, you might just do that in the corridors or once a year. Now you want the way you share feedback to include addressing people's core values and undesirable behavior. This often gets too little attention. You always did it this way, why change it? Things have to change because you can no longer stay in the driving seat. Your team needs to grow your organization and that starts with how you organize feedback and set up the annual appraisal interview.

Want to learn more about core values in your company? Read our blog and find out what your core values are in three steps!

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Assessing with energy

A few years back, there was a trend of companies stopping their annual performance reviews without really putting something new in their place. Annual appraisals demotivated people and executives often experienced having these conversations as an energy drain. Get rid of them, was the conclusion. 

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We just forgot that employees do need feedback. They want to know how they did. They want to grow and move forward. No winners without clear training goals and clear feedback on performance. Your job as an entrepreneur is to establish a growth culture where there is an atmosphere of mutual trust, where people help each other and where everyone is given the space to be great. You need a climate in which people perform optimally in order to continue to grow. 

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The employee in the driver's seat - prepare assessment interview

What you really have to change is that in the "old" appraisal process, the boss would tell the employee what went right and what went wrong, and the employee was only allowed to say something at the end. In an appraisal we turn that around completely. The employee himself is in the driver's seat. Only if an employee's performance is poor is it wise to

to also have another type of conversation, which is more like the 'old evaluation conversation'. You do this every six weeks and it is 100 percent at the initiative of the manager, with the manager in the driver's seat. But that, then, is the exception to the rule. Tips for addressing a non-functioning employee? Then read this blog! 

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These are your 6 tools to prepare a good performance review that will energize you and your employee:

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1. Create a clear description for how each employee can assess for themselves how they are doing. What do you expect from employees?

Don't limit yourself to four points people need to achieve in their role, but also look at what they do in making others better. How do they contribute to organizational growth and scale-up dynamics? Give them opportunities to gather feedback from customers and colleagues. Give them insight into what you expect in each role and how they can develop to the next level of performance. In this way, you also use appraisals to steer your organization in the right direction.

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2. Help people deal with feedback. Giving feedback is difficult, but so is receiving feedback. Teach people how to give good, constructive feedback with the goal of making others better. Also teach them what happens when you get feedback: what triggers go off in everyone and why it is so hard to get the good points out. Show them that it will help them move forward if they learn to give and receive feedback well.

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3. Make sure executives do not hold all cockpit calls in the same short period (such as the end of the year), but spread them out throughout the year. Having two cockpit calls per week is the max.

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4. Leave the initiative and preparation mainly with the employee. It is about his or her development and not that of the manager. The initiative lies with the person who can also get the most out of it. Design the process so that people actually get something out of it.

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5. As a manager, don't base your opinion only on your own observation. Throughout the year, look at what is going well and what is not. Also look at the input the employee has picked up from customers and colleagues. Do you recognize that input?

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6. Stay open to the wants and needs of the winners in your organization. Is the way you design the appraisal interview inspiring to them?

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There are very good and supportive tools that allow employees to solicit feedback from colleagues and to plan and prepare their own appraisal interviews. This also gives the manager insight into the process and where an employee stands. Check out our HR Tech Community to find several examples.

Would you like to know more about how to conduct such a performance review? Or do you want to know how to conduct that difficult conversation about disappointing performance? Get inspired here https://app.viepeople.com or contact us!

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