The infamous yearly evaluation…you hear facetious jokes about it, but there seems to be a consensus that the individual reviews with managers are a scary thing to be dreaded. However, I happen to like them! At CSR, we don’t just have yearly or quarterly evaluations–we meet with our manager at least once a week. It sounds like a lot, but it’s well worth it. Here’s why you should love frequent performance reviews too:
Clarity. When you meet every week, you can’t help but be on the same page. Small issues that could spiral into big problems if left ignored don’t slip through the cracks.
No surprises. When it comes time to do an actual formal evaluation, the employee is already aware of where their manager’s head is at. And the manager has access to a stack of weekly notes on the employee’s work and progress. Additionally, the manager has a pulse on the employee’s morale. If they’re meeting weekly, the likelihood of the employee quitting out of the blue is significantly lowered.
Consistent attention. I know plenty of people who wish they could get more guidance from their managers. They have non-urgent but important concerns, questions, and ideas, but they don’t have frequent opportunities to bring them up. Weekly evaluations provide employees with guidance, help, and mentorship.
Less interruptions. The manager can cut any non-urgent interruptions short with, “we can discuss at our one-on-one.” Sure, they lose half an hour per direct report, but they save time on interruptions and emails throughout the week.
At CSR, we use the “PITA” approach–the day before a one-on-one, the employee writes out what their Priorities, Issues, and Accomplishments from the week are and specifies if there are any Travel plans in the next week. I added a category on mine called Statuses, where I report on data from the past week (number of emails in my Inbox, whether Dropbox is organized, whether I’m meeting with everyone else). It requires less than 10 minutes of preparation and works wonders.
Do you have one-on-one evaluations at your company? Are they effective? Please let us know!