Train the Trainer: How to give performance review feedback

The feedback session of a performance review is a stressful and anxiety-filled moment for both managers and direct reporters. Managers, on one hand, tend to feel uncomfortable with difficult conversations, such as addressing subpar performance of a team member. Direct reporters, on the other hand, become nervous because they receive low-quality feedback that adds little value to their careers and is poorly conducted.

👉 The purpose of this article is to help you, as an HR manager, train your supervisors to conduct feedback sessions correctly, so that the meeting adds value for both managers and direct reporters, and allows for the successful completion of the performance review process.

The idea is that with this article, you can build a focused training that generates significant value for your internal clients.

Why is this topic important? 🤔

The best way to highlight the importance of performance reviews to a manager is by using quotes from Andy Grove, former CEO of Intel (a position he held for over 20 years) and author of the book High Output Management.

Grove dedicates an entire chapter of his book to this theme and makes observations such as:

"Conducting performance reviews and communicating them is the most important form of feedback a manager can give. It's how we assess the performance of our direct reporters and how we communicate that assessment to them individually."

"What is the fundamental purpose of performance review? (...) To improve the performance of the individual being reviewed."

"Your review will impact - positively or negatively - the performance of your direct reporter for a long period of time, making the review one of the highest-return activities for a manager."

🟣 In other words, it is a highly important theme, central to a manager's responsibilities, and offers significant returns as it has a long-term impact while requiring relatively little time investment.

What is the purpose of a performance review?

The performance review - and its communication - serves two purposes. If the company and its managers already practice continuous feedback, have regular 1:1s, and discuss performance throughout the year, the performance review serves the sole purpose of year-end closure, where decisions based on performance (such as promotions, role changes, and compensation adjustments) are communicated to the employee.

However, this is not the norm but rather the exception, unfortunately. The vast majority of managers do not provide continuous feedback, do not talk about performance, and rarely conduct regular 1:1s. Consequently, the conversation tends to be laden with anxiety (on both sides) and may lead to surprises.

In this culture, during an annual performance review, for example, the employee's performance is only addressed once a year, meaning that their progress is assessed only after 12 months, which is a very long interval for seeking upward development.

In such cases where there is no performance development culture, the performance review should serve as the beginning - the kick-off - of a future development process. It should be seen and executed as the first step of a journey, the moment when the manager and the employee "reset," address any performance issues, and realign their expectations for the future.

This raises an interesting point: no manager should think that a performance review will fundamentally change an employee's performance. There is an American quote that illustrates this point - and should be used by HR - "the common way of conducting - and communicating - performance reviews is like going on a diet on your birthday and wondering why you are not losing weight." When there is no performance and development culture in place, managers should understand that the performance review is an incredible starting point for a diet and a nutritional reeducation.

💡 How to make the process easier

The first step to making the feedback of a performance review less traumatic is practice, as we discussed earlier.

The second step is meticulous preparation on the part of the manager to conduct an excellent performance review and, subsequently, to communicate that review in an excellent manner as well. In this article, we will delve into the preparation that a manager should undertake for the moment of communication: the performance review feedback.

Finally, the third step is to follow a predetermined script for the feedback session and adhere to some guiding principles on how to conduct this meeting.

Preparing for the feedback session

Preparing for the feedback session involves several steps to be carried out by the manager. The first one is to organize the evidence that provided the basis for the reviews.

🟪 Evidences

Here, behaviors, contributions, results, projects, and anything else that can serve as a basis for the manager's opinions are relevant. Some ideas for evidence include:

• Old emails exchanged with the employee, which are illustrative.

• The goals contracted with the employee throughout the year, their status, and any observations made.

• Records of 1:1s and important conversations held.

The purpose of this preparation is to provide the manager with arguments that can be used if the evaluated employee disagrees with some of the assessments (if your company's evaluation includes competencies, here, evidence justifying the manager's assessments for each of the given competencies is valuable).

It is essential to emphasize that evidence consists of facts and data, meaning past situations that actually occurred. They serve to support the manager's evaluation and avoid relying on guesswork. Instead of saying, "I think your communication is not good," factual evidence can be provided, such as "Yesterday, during the meeting with the directors, you were not clear in presenting the project as you didn't explain its objectives and stages, which impacted the understanding of the project's relevance and subsequently affected its approval."

🟪 Key Message

The second step is to develop the key message for each evaluation criterion (e.g., each competency) and a general main message, when necessary. In this context, the manager must remember that the feedback session is a meeting filled with anxiety and emotions. Consequently, the employee will have even more difficulty retaining the information conveyed than usual. One of Horstman's Laws, a management thinker, states that "if you say something seven times, half of your team will say - and think - that they only heard you once." Therefore, it is of utmost importance to develop some key messages that can be repeated several times.

To illustrate this point, it's worth sharing a story about Amazon and its founder, Jeff Bezos. Bezos strongly believes in the importance of distilling his message to its essence and repeating it tirelessly. To do this with Amazon's strategy and create alignment among its more than 50,000 employees, Bezos focused on what wouldn't change in his business for the next 50 years. He believes that by focusing on what will "never" change, his company will thrive. After much consideration, Bezos determined that the three things that will not change in 50 years are that Amazon's customers will always seek:

• More variety of products (convenience)

• Lower prices

• Faster deliveries

Consequently, Bezos started communicating these three points extremely repetitively so that every employee at the company keeps them in mind in their day-to-day work. The key messages should have the same effect.

If your company's performance evaluation process includes a final grade or rating, inevitably, the key message will be partly composed of this grade/rating. IMPORTANT: If there's no final grade or rating in the process (which we strongly recommend), the manager should think of using some sort of adjective when they believe the employee's performance is below expectations. Therefore, in cases of low performance, the manager can indeed say something like "your performance is below expectations due to this, this, and this." For all other cases, especially when the employee meets expectations, this reductionist adjective is not necessary. It's more valuable to focus the key message on the areas where the employee needs improvement and those where they are doing well. In summary:

If there's a final grade/rating in the process:

• The final grade/rating appears in the key message.

If there's no final grade/rating in the process:

• If the employee is performing below expectations: Base the key message on an adjective that resembles a final grade/rating.

• If the employee is not performing below expectations: Base the key message on strengths and areas for improvement.

🟪 Logistics

Email The third step is to send an email to the employee with some important points about the feedback session about a week in advance. The content of this email should communicate the logistics of the meeting: where, when - date and time - and how it will be conducted. The suggested email to each manager can be something like:

"Hi [Employee's Name],

I hope you're doing well.

I'm writing to remind you that we have our performance management cycle closing meeting on August 18th, at 1:00 PM in the Smilinguinte room.

I'm looking forward to sitting down with you to discuss your performance during this cycle and make plans for the next one.

Before our meeting, I kindly request that you review your self-assessment and think about any questions you may have.

The meeting will follow this agenda:

• Introduction and overview of the meeting

• Your overall performance during this cycle

• Discussing each evaluation criterion, starting with those we agree on, followed by those we might have different perspectives on

• Making plans and setting perspectives for the upcoming cycle

Important note: Our meeting will be limited to 1 hour. If we can't cover all the topics within that time, I'll be available to schedule an additional hour with you. However, it's essential that we address all the key points during our first meeting.

Please let me know if you received this email - a simple reply will do.

Looking forward to our discussion.

Best regards, [Your Name]"

Conducting the feedback session

• We have now reached the main part of our material: preparing the manager to conduct the feedback session. As we discussed earlier in the email template, the structure of the feedback session should be as follows:

• Feedback session agenda: how the meeting will proceed

• Key message that translates the employee's performance evaluation in a simple manner

• Discussion of each point in the evaluation, starting with areas of agreement and then addressing areas of disagreement

• Reiteration of the key message

• Plans and perspectives for the next cycle, including new/bigger/smaller responsibilities, promotions, development plans, and goals

• Reiteration of the key message

🟪 Agenda

In the meeting agenda, it's important for the manager to go through some ground rules for the conversation.

The suggestion is to address three topics: firstly, there is a time limit for the session, which should be followed strictly, set at 1 hour. This helps keep the conversation productive and focused. To aid this, having a visible clock in the room, and the manager glancing at it twice during the second half of the feedback session, can further reinforce the importance of staying on track.

Secondly, comparisons between the employee and other colleagues in the company should be avoided, as this is a common issue. It greatly helps the discussion to stay on course. The manager should emphasize that there will always be different perspectives on the performance of individuals within the company, and that this topic is "off-limits" during the feedback session.

The third "rule" is that both parties must maintain a professional demeanor, avoiding personal attacks, offensive language, or inappropriate tone of voice. Both the manager and the employee should refrain from taking things personally.

🟪 Points of Disagreement

The most controversial part of the feedback session tends to be the discussion of the points where the manager and the employee do not agree.

For this reason, it is crucial that the manager is well-prepared and has evidence to support their viewpoints. It is possible that the employee may present counter-evidence, and in such cases, the manager should respond with something like: "Thank you for bringing up these points. I took them into consideration when forming my evaluation. Let me provide you with some additional information that may offer more context, such as situations A, B, and C, for example." If, even after this, there is still no agreement, it's okay to relax; there doesn't need to be agreement on everything—you are the manager. However, if the groundwork has been done well, this chance of disagreement is minimal. Therefore, be well-prepared.

Some tips that always help the manager:

• Smile

• Maintain eye contact

• Speak calmly, at a measured pace, and in an appropriate tone

• Address the employee by their name

• Avoid interrupting the employee under any circumstances

• Allow the employee to interrupt you if they wish to do so

• Keep a cool head

🟪 Emotions

If the employee becomes emotional, it is advisable for the manager to have a discreet package of tissues on hand and offer them to the employee only if and when they become emotional. Keeping them in plain sight may make the employee worried or fearful.

Another tip: if the employee appears to be angry or responds emotionally, defensively, or inappropriately, the manager should be empathetic and respond with something like: "I understand why you're feeling this way," which is always a good response.

If the discussion starts to become unproductive and they begin to argue, the manager should end the meeting and reschedule it for another day (not letting more than 1 week pass) and make it clear that both should reflect on the points of disagreement and how the conversation can be more positive in the next meeting. This strategy should be used as a last resort, but there is no problem in employing it. The important thing is for the manager to be aware that the discussion has turned negative and they need a break before resuming it.

⚠️ Important: We suggest that the meeting be held in a quiet and more private location so that the employee feels as comfortable as possible discussing their development without interruptions or concerns that others may overhear the conversation. It's worthwhile to coordinate with the employee on what works best for them 😄

Questions? #ChatWithUs 🚀