Things to consider during the performance discussion and evaluation:
- How are your employees coping?
- What support do they need?
- What new responsibilities do they find themselves taking on?
- What adjustments have we had to make?
- What strengths are proving useful during this time?
- What are their suggestions on how work can be done more effectively?
These types of questions can shed light on the organization’s effectiveness that might not be known to you as a manager. You can uncover if an employee needs additional resources to get work done or a more flexible schedule. When we start with people’s feelings and challenges- we can get a sense of whether we need to adapt or pivot to meet expectations and goals.
Giving feedback:
Be sure to give specific examples for reinforcing and redirecting feedback. Here is some sample wording for job responsibilities ratings (These are just examples and be sure to customize them for your own use)
Successful:
- Jane continued to provide X, Y, and Z despite pivoting to working from home and added responsibilities.
- Steven was able to keep up with his daily responsibilities such as x, y, z, from his hybrid working schedule and continued to look for ways to improve processes.
Unsuccessful:
(We are recommending that if this was not an issue that was ongoing during Covid or was something beyond the employee’s control, to be understanding of their circumstances)
- Jennifer and I discussed her performance issue regarding x, y, z and despite our agreed upon action plan, she continued to fall below expectations. We are continuing to work on this issue and will check in monthly to monitor progress.
- David has not met expectations regarding x, y, and z and we will create a plan of action and meet monthly to monitor this progress.
Goal Evaluation:
Remember that goals more than likely have changed and we need to focus on what people were able to accomplish in these extraordinary times. There may be new goals that have emerged that we want to recognize the accomplishments as well as those that are going to be deferred or in progress. Following are some examples for wording
Exceptional:
- Becka showed her dedication and drive to this department by going above and beyond in accomplishing x, y, and z in such a difficult time for us. The fact that she was able to accomplish x, y, and z during this time allowed us to be able to (abc) that helped the organization in (x) manner. *
- Frank completed his goal of X, y, and z during this past year in spite of limited resources and working remotely. The completion of this project was integral to our moving forward with X and y and without Frank’s dedication and going above and beyond, we would not have achieved it.
Successful:
- Jaiden completed x, y, and z during this past year. She took initiative and was resourceful in finding ways to accomplish this goal even while working remotely.
- Tim was able to accomplish x, y, and z this year while working remotely. He was creative in his approach to make sure this goal was completed.
Not Successful:
Remember, if a goal was unable to be completed because it was out of the employees’ control- please be understanding and either change the goal or make it deferred/in progress.
- Mark did not complete the goal of x, y, and z despite our ongoing discussions and plan to have this completed. This goal will be moved till next year as it needs to be completed.
In Progress:
This is probably going to be a common rating for this years Pep. Goals that were not able to be completed, but are still a goal that can be completed next year should be marked as deferred/in progress.
- David was unable to complete the goal of x, y, and z, because of a, b, and c. This goal will be deferred and extended to the end of next year.
