Concerns not Previously Discussed During Performance Reviews

No Surprises During Performance Reviews
Rob Jager, Management Consultant, United States
I like to compare performance appraisals to the following statement shared with me one time:
"If you went through school without a report card, how would you think you did?
Do you think you'd come out thinking you were a genius or an idiot?
How would you know you were right?"Made me realize how important telling your team/staff how they're doing... All the time. A performance appraisal, usually completed once per year, is only one piece of the two way performance communication. If used as an end result of the past year and the individual finishes the review surprised, then shame on the manager for not communicating correctly throughout the rest of the year.

Performance Reviews and Continuous Feedback
David Wilson, Manager, Canada
A past CEO in a company of 250 employees made all managers write a weekly paragraph on every employee they supervised. The paragraph needed to highlight something good and some thing needing improvement.
Every month the CEO reviewed all of the comments, and he then required the manager to meet with his/her employees to discuss their strengths and weaknesses (monthly 15 minute meeting).
In this organization, people knew that performance and continuous improvement were important. This process was also used to determine annual appraisals, which were also tied to promotions. Most employees saw it as a positive process.
Although the monthly review was a formal process, the CEO also encouraged verbal reviews through weekly 5 minute discussions.
Continuous feedback is important.