Episode 99! I talk to Matt about Performance Reviews, me from the perspective of having my first formalised ones and Matt from the perspective of being a manager doing them.

Episode 100 next and still time to get involved! Ask me a question on twitter, email me a question (or a recording!) at letstalkabouttests@gmail.com, leave my a skype voicemail at letstalkabouttests

For a business, why have them?

• Keeping career progression and rewards clear and transparent
• Encouraging self development and investment in employees
• Discovering and addressing discontent

As an employee, why care?

• Opportunity to take control of your training and development
• Opportunity to understand what the company/your manager really expects from you and how you can progress

Now I’m a manager…

• I book in time with each of my team
• I chase them to fill in the forms and regularly keep notes of progress in regular 1 to 1s
• I try to coach and point out when people perform well and what they could set as objectives
• I try to guide people into writing the best reviews they can
• I try to remind people that they aren’t tied to one path, they don’t need to predict the future. Its ok to change tack, as long as you’re happy and learning.
• I push people to make self development part of their work – its hard to make time sometimes but this is always true in every job. Its easier when your day to day is stuff you want to learn.

General thoughts

• I don’t think anyone likes “how have you lived the company’s values” sections – don’t put too much thought into them imo
• People always worry about promotions, pay rises and bonuses being tied to the reviews, don’t: focus on impressing in general and the rest sorts itself out.
• Every manager seems to run these things differently and have different values
• I like the format for objectives:
  • What is it?
  • What are your goals/how will you track progress?
  • What examples have you got towards this objective?
  • When it comes to rating/scoring – reasons why that rating or score?