Performance Evaluations: Cut or Keep During the Pandemic?

For many companies, when times get tough, things get lean. Regardless of what difficult cuts leadership has made during this pandemic season of life, one thing is for sure – performance evaluations must be kept, not cut. Let’s talk about why…

Performance Evaluations – Cut or Keep During the Pandemic?

Employee engagement rates highly correlate with the level of clear, consistent performance feedback an employee receives. Very engaged employees typically perform better and stay longer. Here are three considerations for leaders when it comes to the choice of tackling performance evaluations amidst the pandemic.

Performance Evaluations Cause & Relieve Stress

No one needs more stress added to their plates right now. Obviously. For many people, the idea of an upcoming performance evaluation brings on stress. However, for high performing employees, once they’ve received a legit – clear, direct, accurate – performance evaluation, stress levels go down! Why? Gone are the days where anxious questions such as these fill their minds:

• Am I doing everything they want?
• Am I doing it right?
• What do I do next?
• Actually, what am I even doing right now?
• Is there even a future here for me now?

…and so on!

These are questions that only an employee’s leader can fully answer.

So, leaders… regardless of whether or not you want to embark on performance evaluations in the midst of a chaotic pandemic environment – do it. Because, especially in turbulent times, your employees need the feedback in order to thrive.

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Are You on the Same Page?

Leaders and employees must be on the same page in order to be an effective team.

Here are some questions for leaders to consider:

First:

• What has changed for you and your team since this spring?
• Are you working in the same place?
• Are you serving customers differently?
• Have you implemented new processes and procedures?

Then: How did you communicate all the changes to your team?

Finally: Have you followed up to make sure each team member understands the new expectations and is performing at their best?

If your answers to these questions are not black and white, know that it’s the leader’s responsibility to make this right. How do you do that? Performance evaluations are a great place to set, reinforce and discuss expectations in order to get on the same page. When changes increase, the need for improved communication increases, too. Don’t cut performance evaluations – keep them.

Performance evaluations are even more stressful when you have to discuss poor performance. Here are some tips for those difficult conversations.

Cut or Keep Your Leadership Influence?

Employees want and need to directly hear from their leader – especially during a pandemic. Don’t make the mistake of thinking you should take it easy and not do performance evals this year because everything has been nuts – that’s a mistake. And, straight up, even if you can’t give raises this year…still give a solid performance evaluation. Those are invaluable!

Communicating well with your team is fundamental to your leadership success. Your choice of whether or not to do that during this pandemic is a choice to cut or keep your leadership influence.

Are your managers effective at conducting performance evaluations? If not, let’s talk about some ideas to help them.

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