PRIOR TO THE EVALUATION

• Ask the employee for his/her input, including a review of last years' goals and objectives.
• Document specific examples where things went well during the year from your file.
• Document specific examples where things did not go well or as planned last year from your file.
• Schedule a time that is sufficient, convenient and relaxing for both of you.
• Gather input from the employees' customers, peers and others with whom the employee interacts. (The employee should know this is part of the process)
• Organize your thoughts and plan your part of the evaluation.
• Develop 3-4 goals and objectives for next year.
• Think about training issues and opportunities for the employees' continued growth.
• Be organized and focus on the employee.
• Have the employees' job description, work instructions and training plans to review and update with the employee. If your company does an employee assessment, review the employee's form and see how his/her profile best interacts with your style.

DURING THE EVALUATION

• Set a tone for the meeting that is positive, productive and shows respect for your employee.
• Focus on the long-term goal of developing a great employee and improving his/her performance.
• Give the employee an opportunity to discuss his/her self-evaluation. Most employees will be honest if the process is open and non-threatening. You will learn what the employee perceives to be the critical parts of his/her job responsibilities.
• Actively listen. Don't be critical during the self-evaluation.
If your perception of the employee performance is different from the self-evaluation, use those differences as an opportunity to clarify expectations and improve the performance through coaching.
• Be clear and give specific examples that have already been discussed or documented. Allow your employee to disagree with your specific concerns and cite examples that support his/her position.
• Focus on a positive outcome and be supportive.
• Use the evaluation as an opportunity to coach and teach Seek employee buy in to any changes you are seeking in his/her behavior and performance.
• Discuss next steps and outcomes of the process.
• If the employee has areas for performance improvement, create a development plan and timetable for you to regularly review the employees' progress.

AFTER THE EVALUATION

• Review the evaluation with your manager and get buy-in.
• Document the process and send a signed copy to HR for the employee¹s personnel file.
• Insure the employees' input is part of the documented process.
• Plan follow-up meetings and bring closure to any differences in the process.

THINGS TO REMEMBER

• A high performing employee and team make your job easier.
• Both you and the employee have to live with poor performance.
• Just as the employees' performance usually doesn't turn bad overnight, it may take a great deal of effort and time to coach improvement. It's worth it!

Bartlett Associates was established in 1996 to help organizations solve their HR problems. If you have an HR question, want to improve you HR systems or discuss an employee or management issue in your organization, please call or email Steve Bartlett to set up a meeting.