Performance reviews are notoriously terrible and ineffective.  But they don’t have to be.  Be clear on what you are evaluating your employees on and consistently compare your employees based on consistent criteria.  Nothing should be a surprise when it comes time for reviews to be done.

What do you do if you work for a company that changes the parameters each year or doesn’t tell you the criteria that the performance review will be based on until it’s that time of the year.  Luckily, performance reviews aren’t all that different from place to place.  Most reviews are just subsections of the same pool of criteria.  Knowing that pool is the key and really you should be evaluating your team on the full pool even if your company doesn’t require it.

The Pool

Communication

Can your employee listen and retain information?  Can they effectively get their ideas across to peers and higher ups?

Collaboration

An employee’s ability to work well within a team and with other people outside of the team is essential.  Do they work well with others?  Do they seek out opportunities for collaboration or do they only work with others when asked?

Attendance

Do they arrive on time and stay the full day?  Are they only willing to work 9-5?  If something went wrong on a Saturday, do you feel confident they’d pick up the phone when you called and would they help?

Compliance

Sometimes companies have strict compliance laws that must be followed and sometimes this just relates to the company or team policies.  Does your employee follow all of the rules and do they complete their trainings about those rules on time?  If they discovered a compliance issue, are you confident they’d report it to you?  Have they done anything to helps others be more compliant?

Productivity

If you are going to rate your employees on this one, make sure you set a clear expectation and have good reports to monitor work.  Are your employees meeting the minimum benchmarks?  Are they consistently doing more?  Are they doing anything that helps the team be more productive as a whole?

Quality

You can have an employee that puts out a lot of work, but if it isn’t high quality, then it doesn’t matter.  Does the employee get their work done correctly the first time or do you have to constantly send it back for corrections?  If you needed something important checked or audited, would this employee be your first choice?

Technical Knowledge

Don’t let the word technical fool you, this isn’t just about how to use excel.  Can your employee use all of the tools they have available to them?  Do they have all of the right business acumen?  Do they understand the specific business and the industry?

Leadership

This is one of the most important parts for any employee looking to move up.  Can your employee lead a project?  Does their team come to them for issues?  If they find an issue, do they take initiative to fix it?

Team Development / Talent Management

Does your team have an issue with turnover?  Then it may have to do with talent management and team development.  Are your managers regularly training the staff?  Are career paths mapped out and worked on?  Is the team cluttered with underperformers and is that putting additional strain on the star performers?

Regularly ask yourself the questions above and come up with your own to ask as well.  Each week/month/quarter, evaluate your team on these criteria and when it comes time for their review, you’ll be ready.  Don’t forget to give them feedback along the way so they can improve and reach their full potential.