The most difficult part of performance management is talking about it.
In my recent articles I’ve covered a fair bit of ground on the topic of scorecards and performance management, mainly from an operational perspective. But something of a wild card in this process is the actual performance management conversation. As with anything else in life, difficult conversations are a skill you can learn. But, as with job interviews or eulogies, you don’t want to get too much practice. If you’ve had so many difficult performance conversations that they now feel easy, you might have other problems – likely in the hiring process.
As leaders, we need to have difficult performance conversations, to support the success of our teams and the employees themselves. It is critical that we do the work to prepare for these conversations, so that we are working in productive collaboration with the employee, rather than against them. For this, I recommend using the BEER framework.
B: Behaviors
The most critical part of having these conversations is to ensure that we are talking about behaviors and not the person. It can seem like a small difference – but the impact can be huge. When we talk about behaviors, it prevents the employee from feeling like they are being attacked. Discussing a behavior removes the employee, and their sense of self, from being seen as the cause of the problem.
Describe what you saw or heard, as objectively as possible. Remember, we’re not blaming the person, just talking about a behavior. Using ‘I’ statements is especially helpful here.
Overall, people don’t intentionally try to do or behave in ways that result in negative outcomes – so we need to ensure that we have clarity about the situation. This is when you would ask if you understood the situation correctly, if there were any details missing, or if there’s anything else you should know about the situation. Notice that because we are only discussing behaviors, it is far more likely for us to work in collaboration with the employee to review and agree upon the behaviors.
E: Effect
Now that you are both on the same page, about what happened, you need to outline the effect or impact of those behaviors. It is important that the employee is made aware of and understands the implications of their behavior. Don’t assume that they know all the things that were impacted by their behavior. You as a leader, need to help them to see the consequences and repercussions of their actions. Remember, we’re not blaming – just very objectively describing the effects of those actions.
E: Expectation
This is the point at which we describe what behaviors and outcomes were expected. The employee needs to understand the discrepancy between their actions and the expected behaviors. In essence, this is when you’re letting them know ‘what good looks like’ and highlighting the contrasts between the expectations and what actually happened.
Now that the gaps have been identified, it’s time for you to state your expectations regarding corrective actions and behaviors. Be specific about what you want to see happen, moving forward. If we’ve done this well (which, trust me, isn’t always the case), the employee will work in collaboration with us to come up with ideas and structure for the plan to move forward.
R: Results
Don’t forget this step!
This is the part when you describe the future you and the employee can expect, if they follow the plan that you’ve just developed and outlined, together. Just as you described the effects of their previous behaviors and actions, now you will describe the expected effects and results of the employee making these changes to their behaviors and actions.
We want to reinforce that there is a positive future and outcome for the employee, if they follow the plan.
Put Everything in Writing – and Revisit it
That’s right, documentation. This doesn’t have to be a PIP (performance improvement plan), it can simply be a record of the conversation, so that you both agree about what was said, and what the takeaways were.
As for revisiting the plan, we all know that plans are more likely to fail when they are made, filed and forgotten. Treat it like you’re managing a project, so that everybody involved knows the plan is a priority, and that steps must be taken regularly, in order to get to the desired outcome.
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