Meeting every day with professionals in our executive coaching program, I tend to notice patterns in their behavior. The most difficult (and dreaded) task for a great many executives—the one they procrastinate most about doing—involves employee feedback and evaluations.
This is one of the top two or three tasks executives ask me to hold them accountable to doing in between our coaching sessions. They know it’s important, and yet most still consistently put off doing it.
Many companies are doing away with the annual evaluation altogether and transitioning to more ongoing coaching and counseling. (That’s a solution we embrace 100%, by the way.) But that, too, requires regular feedback, and many executives see this as a time-consuming task that drains their personal energy.
So they are reluctant to do it.
If you recognize yourself here, this is why you need to overcome that reluctance: You win with people. The most important asset you have today is your people. And you owe it to them to give them the feedback they often desperately need and want. This is especially true for Millennials who are the largest generation of your workforce!
We know that most unhappy employees don’t quit companies—they quit their manager. Regular coaching, counseling and evaluation conversations can solve a lot of workplace problems—and even keep them from coming up in the first place.
So here’s a plan to help you push past procrastinating about feedback and evaluations:
Schedule the evaluation in advance. Put this meeting on the calendar—even if it’s months out. Send a meeting invite to the employee. That gives you accountability to actually conduct the evaluation. (It’s not only on your radar, but it’s on their minds, too.)
Have the employee complete a self-evaluation prior to your meeting. This is not a trick. These self-evaluations will help you determine how your employees see themselves from a performance standpoint. And that will help you to know the type of conversation you’re going to be faced with during your time together.
Get out of the office! We often suggest holding the evaluation meeting outside the office so that both parties are free from distractions and the environment can be more relaxed. The only exception would be if you think you’re going to have an emotional evaluation. If you anticipate that, hold the meeting in a conference room or other neutral location. (I’m not a big fan of an executive holding the meeting in his or her office—that can be a bit territorial, and the employee might not feel at ease there.)
Next time we’ll talk about the importance of Emotional Intelligence (EQ) when it comes to successful evaluations and feedback sessions.
Until then, use these tips to jumpstart regular constructive conversations with your people. Don’t put these important sessions off! Use them to help you all do what you do better.