As a leader, you want the best performers you can assemble onto your team. You want to be a helpful coach. You are expected to manage the performance of your team and take appropriate corrective action when that performance isn’t hitting the mark. Sometimes you have to make tough calls on people. Effectively managing the performance of your team and of the individuals on your team is your most important responsibility as a leader. How do you remain in control of that process and avoid being controlled by it yourself?

In many organizations, the performance review process is an annual event. It is a process that is a departure from the execution of the strategy and daily activities of the enterprise. Like budgeting or strategic planning, it is a process that may take valuable time and energy away from the ongoing work you perform to win in the marketplace. Unlike those other events though, the performance management cycle is about people, and it deserves an approach steeped in good judgment and compassion.

With the possible exception of tenured managers, who may have done the same annual exercise with the same company over a number of years, the performance management process in many companies has to be relearned each year. In growing organizations, the process itself will evolve and change over time, resulting in the complication of training employees and managers on a process they are working concurrently. Very challenging indeed.

Often, the annual process goes something like this. The employee completes a self-assessment, summarizing her accomplishments from the prior year. She highlights measurable results against agreed upon goals. She calls out training and industry certifications earned. She adds color to illustrate her overall effort and commitment to the organization with specific examples. The manager, behind a curtain, also completes an assessment of the employee. The manager then reconciles the two versions, arrives on a performance rating, and holds a discussion with the employee to deliver the assessment and resolve any discrepancies. Assuming that goes well, the manager and employee discuss and agree upon goals for the coming year. The documentation is updated, perhaps an annual compensation adjustment is worked out, and the process is completed for the year. They check the box required by the organization to finish the process. All done. Back to business.

And for many managers and employees, that’s what happens. The completed documents go into a file drawer or onto a hard drive. Everyone resumes what they were doing before the performance review cycle. While some employees will diligently work their plans, and some managers will monitor performance against the plan, for most the process may be forgotten for the rest of the year, or part of the year, and the cycle will begin again in 11 months.

That may be a typical experience in many companies. But it’s not good enough. Remember, we’re talking about people.

As a leader, it’s up to you to make sure that performance management isn’t an interruption to your work. It is your most important work, and it is continuous. Regardless of your company’s process and cycle, you should be engaged in a continuous relationship with your employees. You should be talking about progress against key goals regularly. You should especially be talking about development objectives for the employee on an ongoing basis, taking an active role in guiding them toward training opportunities and knowledge expansion.

A good way to think about how to approach this relationship is to relate it to how you would confide in and coach a close friend. Be honest and direct. Bring compassion and empathy to the relationship. Become vested without reservation in the person you are leading.

This may feel like a risk. After all, what if you need to make a hard call on this person at some point in the future. Isn’t it safer to keep your distance a bit?

The reality is, that unless you go all in with your employee, become truly invested in and committed to her success as an employee and as a person, then you can’t expect her to become fully invested either. The modern leader doesn’t hold back. She creates a culture of success, and a legacy of creating top performers, by putting her total focus on just that.

As a leader, it is your most important work. Don’t just do it once a year.

Lead well.

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