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Date
19 December 2014
Author
Delphine Duclos
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The annual review is a difficult exercise for employees, but we often forget that it is also challenging for you, managers. It’s sometimes tricky to propose career progression to your employees, to dedicate time to prepare for this review, or even to conduct it. Not to mention bringing up negative points.
Annual Review: How to optimize it?
Here are 4 solutions to implement before this review to facilitate its preparation and optimize it.
1. Propose an anonymous questionnaire to the team
A few days before the review with your employee, ask your team to complete an anonymous questionnaire so that everyone can share their feelings about the person.
If you are a small organization, rather than using paid 360° Feedback software, tools like Google Forms allow you to very easily and quickly create a small questionnaire and get all the responses in 1 click.
This form will allow you to obtain information such as your employee’s ability to work in a team.
2. Request an astonishment note
Ask your employee to write an astonishment note, especially if they are new to the company. The astonishment note will allow you to gather feedback on what surprised your employee during the year.
This note must be submitted to you before the review to give you time to properly prepare your responses and ensure the discussion is constructive.
This initiative values your employees, who feel heard and considered. Furthermore, it can generate innovative ideas, applicable to your organization or management.
Download your white paper “The Coach Manager” here
3. Conduct interim reviews
The annual review is mandatory, but nothing prevents you from scheduling individual meetings throughout the year.
Conducting these reviews, for example once a quarter, allows you to more regularly monitor your employees’ work. You can therefore better help your employee if they fail to achieve their objectives or, conversely, congratulate them if they make progress.
Scheduling interim reviews will prevent problems from accumulating and can only encourage your employees to develop.
Interim reviews can be conducted less formally than the annual review, for example, by sharing lunch or coffee with your employee. This will elicit more spontaneous reactions and will also be easier to integrate into your respective schedules.
The annual review will only be made easier, given that you will already have three summaries to rely on to assess the year.
4. Don’t set the objectives
Salespeople are, by nature, employees who love challenges. Take advantage of this personality trait and ask them to set their own objectives.
The act of setting their own objectives will empower your salesperson. They will also be much more invested and motivated throughout the year to achieve them.
At PepsiCo, each salesperson has the opportunity to propose and adapt their own objectives according to their market.
Jean-Raphaël Hétier, PepsiCo’s sales director, states that “the way salespeople set their criteria allows us to verify if the company’s strategy has been well understood”.
Salespeople are very satisfied with this change, “my objectives are now more in line with my daily experience […] I think I’ll save time and gain efficiency. And it’s more engaging” says Laurent Daneirole, sector manager in Clermont-Ferrand.
You might even be surprised to find that many of your salespeople will set higher objectives than those you would have given them.
The annual review is a mandatory and very important meeting because it allows for a face-to-face discussion with each of your employees. But it is also very important to implement transparent communication throughout the year. Incenteev helps you communicate simply and transparently, and to engage and retain your employees throughout the year.
Download your white paper “The Coach Manager” here
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Tags
Date
19 December 2014
Author
Delphine Duclos