Absolute

THE

GUIDE
Performance
TO

REVIEWS
 Table of
CONTENTS
Introduction 3

1: Be Transparent With Your Goals 5

2: Align Individual and Company Goals 8

3: Collaborate on Goal Setting 10

4: Use OKRs and SMART Goals 12

5: Offer Opportunities for Professional Growth 15

6: Look for Feedback in All Places 18

7: How to Leverage Recognition 21

8: When to Time the Reviews 23

Conclusion 26
 Introduction

D
o you dig in your heels when it comes time for
performance reviews? Does the thought of rummaging
through your memory bank to recall a years worth of
accomplishments and failuresfor every single employeefill
you with dread?

The answer is most likely Yes. But

lets face it. Performance reviews
arent going anywhere any
time soon. According to
Globoforce, a whopping 91%
of organizations use them.
And theyre mostly just doing
them to check it off their to-do list.

Why Managers Hate Them

Performance reviews are the bane of any managers existence. Managers dont
want to be labeled the bad guy when they dish out negative feedback. Not to
mention, they try to consolidate an entire year into one 30-minute review. And
dont even get us started on how time-consuming they are.

Theres got to be a more efficient way to do them, right?

3
 Why Employees Hate Them

Globoforce, found that 51% of employees see their performance reviews as

inaccurate. Theyre right. With a 6- or 12-month lag between each cycle, theyre
untimely and irrelevant. Managers tend to focus too much on the negative and
dont provide valuable information.

Theres got to be a way to make them more beneficial for employees, right?

Why This Guide?

Performance reviews are underperforming. And lucky for you, were

overthrowing those age-old methods. Well show you what types of goals
to set, where to elicit feedback, and when to time your reviews. This guide
will ultimately show you all the tips, tricks, and best practices to make you a
performance-review master in no time.

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 Chapter 1
Be Transparent With
Your Goals

D
id you know that management transparency is the
number one factor correlated to employee happiness?
Our Engagement Report uncovered this startling
relationship. Its the crucial reason that you need to share your
goals with your team. Your employees needs to know what
youre driving towards so
they understand how the
team can work together to
achieve those goals.

Sharing Is Caring

Dont be shyshare your goals with

your employees. Even better, share
them with the whole company. Doing
this helps everyone in your organization
focus on the top goals that are important for the
companys success. As Warren Bennis book, Transparency: Creating a Culture
of Candor, points out:

5
 A 2005 study
found that a
Companies group of 27
that rate high in US companies
transparency tend noted as most
to outperform transparent beat
more opaque the S&P 500 by
ones 11.3%

Transparency is a competitive advantage. It provides clear visibility into the

companys mission and where its headed. Dont you want your company to
be the number one in the industry?

Also, being candid and transparent about your own goals creates expectations
for your team. Because they know what youre trying to accomplish, theyll
understand:

What needs to be accomplished: Are you driving towards 1,000

new customers? Or maybe youre releasing a new product. Being
transparent gives employees a future look at what kind of projects
and tasks theyll need to complete.

When it needs to happen: Is the project launching in two months?

Do you have a four-week campaign running? Provide dates so
employees know when each goal needs to accomplished.

Whos going to do it: Is it the sales teams responsibility to inform

customers about new features? Does marketing need PRs help to
pitch their product? Make sure to mention these in your goals so you
dont surprise your employees in the future when you do ask them
for help or you assign a specific project to them.

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 Instead of having your employees trudging along in all different directions,
share your goals to set them on a singular path. And that path? Its called
success.

How to Share Your Goals

So we went over why you should share your goals. Now lets dive into how
youre going to do that.

Create a document: Go digital and keep the document in an easy-

to-access, centralized location. We like Google Docs. Avoid having your
document live as an attachment in an email. It would just get lost in a
sea of mail.

Tell employees it exists: If you want people to read the document,

youll have to let them know it exists. Send an email out to let your
employees know what the document is and where to find it.

Present it: At the next meeting, go over your goals. Employees may
not understand the document from their initial read. Explain why youve
made each goal and how itll impact the business.

Transparency is critical for success. So give your employees a clear direction by

making your goals visible. That way, theyll understand how their work impacts
the organization.

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 Chapter 2
Align Individual
and Company Goals

G
oals provide direction. Deliberate goals are a powerful
tool that are essential to an organizations success. So
make sure to align individual goals with the companys
goals. It ensures that an individuals or teams workbig or
smallis impacting the business.

Give Employees a Direction

Employees need to understand how their work impacts the business. And
they need to understand whats expected of them. Consider these findings
from Cornerstone Ondemand and Robert Kaplan and David Nortons book
The Strategy-Focused Organization:

A miniscule 7%
Only 49% of
of employees fully
employees have
understand their
an understanding
companys business
of how their role
strategies and whats
contributes to the
expected of them in
companys business
order to help achieve
objectives
company goals

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 Throw employees a bone and let them
know how their work is contributing to the
companys success. That way, they can
understand whats expected of them.

Kaplan and Norton also pointed out that theres

a strong correlation between a companys
financial performance and an effective goal-
setting process. At the end of the day, the
clearer the goal is, the better chance that itll
be achieved.

When to Set Whose Goals

Cornerstone Ondemand found that a mere 32% of employees indicated their

performance goals are aligned with their companys business objectives. But
you cant align an individuals goals to larger company goals until the company
and leadership establish their own goals. Heres the order you should take:

Company goals

Manager goals

Individual goals

If you want your business goals to be accomplished faster and better, you
need to make sure everyone else is on the same page. Be deliberate with goal
setting to ensure everyone is directly impacting business objectives.

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 Chapter 3
Collaborate on
Goal Setting

W
hen it comes to goals, theres no such thing as
playing on the safe side. After all, objectives are
supposed to push people to go further. To go
beyond their limits. To become ambitious.

According to a survey by Cornerstone

Ondemand, 15% of employees said
performance reviews are a one-sided
discussion led by their manager or
employer. So dont be that my-way-or-
the-highway kind of manager. Collaborate
with your employees to set goals.

The Way it Works

Its easy to be overbearing in a conversation with your employeeespecially

when it impacts the organizations success. Here are a few dos and donts to
keep in mind during the process:

Dont ignore your employees developmental desires.

Dont underestimate their capabilities, skills, and talents.

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 Dont decide your employees goals without consulting them.

Do ask where your employee sees their career heading.

Do ask what skills they wish to develop further.

Do consult your employee if you have a goal in mind.

Ideation Process

Goal setting between managers and employees is a give-and-take process.

And now that youve clearly communicated the business goals along with your
own goals to your employee, you can work together to come up with individual
goals. Just follow these three easy steps:

Ask employees: Let them come up with goals to support business

objectives. Do they want to drive 1,000 leads in six months? Or perhaps
they wish to become a better financial analyst.

Push them: Give your employees a nice nudge. Push their goals
to make them more aggressive. Instead of 1,000 leads, try for 2,000
leads. Rather than a better financial analyst, why not a financial analyst
expert? Remember to keep them achievable, not impossible.

Set it: The give-and-take process results in ambitious goals that will
help not only the business succeed but the employee as well.

The key word to employee goal setting is collaborate. You cant tell your
employee what to do, but you can guide them and make sure theyre pushing
themselves to be better.

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 Chapter 4
Use OKRs and
SMART Goals

I
ts easy to come up with
a goal. But how do you
know someones achieved
it? Is there a way to measure
the progress? Goals need to
be tangible. You need to be
able to measure how much
and when it was achieved.

The Goal of OKRs

Made famous by Intel and Google,

OKRs (objectives and key results) is a goal-setting system that outlines high-
level objectives and the quantifiable actions (the key results) itll take to achieve
them.

The main goal of OKRs is to make sure every employee knows whats expected
of them. And on the plus side, it gives you an easy way to measure their
progress on said goals.

12
 Everyone Needs to Be SMART

All professional goals should be SMART. That is, they should follow the acronym
below to create concrete goals thatll further larger professional objectives.

S pecific: Focus on a discrete task so employees know exactly

what theyre aiming to tackle.

M easurable: How will you know if employees have achieved their

goal? By making it measurable, youll have a clear benchmark
to know if theyve hit the target or if they still have work to do.

A ttainable: Dont set employees up for failure. Create goals that

they can actually achieve.

R elevant: Your employees goals should matter, so only choose

ones that help further larger business objectives.

T ime bound: Give employees a fixed period of time to complete

their goals to ward off procrastination.

Why should your employees goals be SMART? It makes it easy to understand

them, do them, and assess if they are truly complete. SMART goals let everyone
be efficient and ultimately make it easier for employees to achieve their larger
quarterly and even yearly goals.

Putting Two and Two Together

OKRs and SMART goals go hand in hand. You cant have one without the other.
While OKRs focus on objectives and key results, you need SMART goals to
achieve those results. Consider structuring the two this way:

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 Objectives: Define three to five objectives based on the company,
team, or personal levels. Keep in mind that these goals should be
ambitious and that theyre time bound.

Results: Under each objective, define two to four measurable results

(SMART goals). Each objective needs to be quantifiable and ambitious
but not impossible.

Heres an example:

Objective: Get published on 20 major publications in six months

Results: Identify key journalists for each publication and establish

contact with journalists by month one.

Establishing goals lays down the groundwork for employees to manage their
day-to-day activities. Now that you know how to outline goals, youll be able to
accurately measure your employees performance.

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 Chapter 5
Offer Opportunities
for Professional
Growth

A
n employees development extends well beyond their
first few days on the job. Think of it as a retention tool,
especially when you consider this finding from Deloitte:
lack of career progression would drive
27% of employees to look

for a new job.

Give Them Stepping

Stones

Globoforce points out that 70% of

employees want reviews that help them
develop and grow. But performance
reviews tend to be all about the past. And
GuideSpark reported that too much focus
on the past doesnt give employees a clear
direction for the future.

15
 Instead, consider creating stepping stones that will allow your employee to
develop professionally. Ask your employee where they see themselves in five
years. Or find out what skills they want to learn. Work with them to build goals
that will get them there.

And if your employee doesnt know exactly where they want to go, be flexible
with their career path. Consider revising their responsibilities to suit their
strength. Dont confine them to a rigid ladder, and let their development be
shaped by their interests and aptitude.

Developmental Opportunities

Learning doesnt stop after an employee gets a job. In order to advance in

their career, they need a way to gain knowledge. Consider some of these great
external and internal opportunities:

Conferences and seminars: Send employees out to learn about

specific topics from industry leaders. These are ideal opportunities to
hear from experts and network with peers. So not only are employees
advancing their careers, but theyre also providing your company with
beneficial knowledge.

Technical courses: Do you want your employee to succeed at their

role? Consider covering classes related to their field so they can gain
more knowledge to support their position at work.

Classes for exams: Certain industries, such as finance, require exams

in order to progress professionally. Covering these classes will help
employees advance, especially if theyre still in a junior-level position
and they dont have the funds for the courses.

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 Networking: Theres a good chance that your social circle is fairly
extensive. So become the middleman and introduce your employee
to other people in their industry. They can learn about tips and tricks
from their peers.

Rotational programs: Have employees spend a few months at a

time in different sectors of the company. Theyll learn valuable skills
that they would not have gotten had they stayed in the same position
for years.

Brown bag learning lunches: Leverage leaders in your organization to

run a short seminar. This way, the more experienced workers can share
their wealth of knowledge with the less experienced employees.

Work isnt just about producing and meeting quotas. Give employees a
chance to learn by implementing training opportunities in and outside of the
workplace. Youll not only help them develop personally, but youll also gain a
more knowledgeable employee.

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 Chapter 6
Look for Feedback
in All Places

J
ust like any type of survey, you
wouldnt just rely solely on
one persons answers.
So why are organizations relying
on one persons feedback for
performance reviews? If you want
a more comprehensive idea of
someones performance, turn

to crowdsourcing.

Disadvantages of a
Singular Point of View

When you get feedback from just one person, youre only getting that persons
opinion and their experience. The biggest problem is that direct managers
dont always see their employees day-to-day operations. And thats leading to
employees feeling that the current performance review process is doing them
a disservice. According to Globoforce, 63% of employees believe their reviews
are not a true indicator of performance. And its true.

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 Managers have a lot on their plate, so they only get a chance to see part of the
process of any project. That also means they dont see all the interactions that
went into it.

Advantages of Crowdsourced Reviews

In order to really gauge how an employee is performing, you need to poke
and prod indirect managers, team leads, peers, or even employees from
other departments. Globoforce highlights the importance of crowdsourcing
feedback:

80% of peer-
80% of reviewed
employees see employees
crowdsourced get a better
feedback as understanding of
more accurate their strengths and
weaknesses

Employees want to be evaluated by people other than their direct managers.

Multiple viewpoints allow you to get a better understanding of an employees
performance. And if those numbers still dont convince you, consider these
advantages of crowdsourced feedback:

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 Increased accuracy: Crowdsourced reviews come from multiple
people. Therefore youre getting multiple stories. When these reviews
are meshed together, a bigger, more comprehensive picture of the
employees performance is put together for evaluation.

Performance improvement: Employees gain valuable insight into

their strength and weaknesses from their colleagues because they
have daily interactions with them. And this makes the process of
improvement public. Employees must work harder to get better so
they dont let their peers down.

Encourage recognition: Management can recognize employees for

their big accomplishments, but coworkers see the small successes.
Crowdsourced feedback builds a culture of open communication
that involves feedback and recognition.

Management only sees part of the process, but they should be empowered
to have the full story. Luckily, information from peers and other leaders gives
them this opportunity.

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 Chapter 7
How to Leverage
Recognition

D
id you know that a staggering 79% of employees
dont feel all that valued at work? Thats what we
uncovered in our Employee Engagement Report. So
flip this around and make performance reviews an opportunity

to give your employees a well-deserved pat on the back.

Use Concrete Examples

Note cards and gift cards are great

and all ... but thats not what were
referring to when we say tangible
recognition. While just a simple
thank you is something you should
say on a regular basis, you should
also let your employees know why
youre praising them.

During performance reviews, use

concrete examples to recognize your employee
for their accomplishments. Did they rock a project?
Maybe they went beyond their daily quota for two weeks in a row. Giving
employees a reason behind your praise lets them know what theyve done
right so they can repeat that successful process in the future.

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 Leveraging Peer-to-Peer Recognition

Managers are super-busy and dont always see all the great deeds done that
warrant recognition. So turn to their peers. In fact, colleagues want to give
out recognition, according to our internal research and our 2014 Engagement
Report.

44% of 54% of
employees use millennials wish
peer-to-peer they had a way
recognition tools to recognize
when made peers for a job
available well done

Leverage a peer-to-peer recognition tool. Make it easy to use and always

digitally accessible. That way, the recognition becomes a real-time tool that
avoids playing the waiting game like performance reviews. Employees can
instantaneously give a shout-out anywhere, any time to their colleague for a
job well done.

So whats in it for you? Because you dont get the chance to see day-to-day
operations, you can leverage the recognition that your employees sent to
their peers. Youll be able to use the recognition as examples to evaluate how
someone has gone above and beyond.

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 Chapter 8
When to Time
the Reviews

P
erformance reviews arent a one-and-done deal. Now
that youve established goals with your employee,
sourced feedback from all realms of the company, and
had the actual review meeting, you need to follow up on them.
Otherwise, youll fall into the same 12-month trap thats making

performance reviews fail.

Time Lags Are

Killers

Feedback is time-sensitive. But

surprisingly, 75% of companies
do performance reviews annually,
according to a survey by BLR.
And the problem is that so much
happens and changes in 12
months. It doesnt make sense to
withhold feedback until the end of
the year.

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 When review cycles have a 12-month lag, its easy for managers to focus
on whats fresh in their minds and fall prey to the Recency Effect. That is,
they only use recent events to analyze past performance ... even though they
should be looking at a full year. The result can lead to certain behaviors going
unaddressed as well as feedback and recognition being put on hold.

Dont fall into this trap!

The Perfect Timing

Annual performance reviews dont have to be completely abolished, but

its time organizations supplemented them with regular check-ins along the
way. Organizations that are relying solely on annual reviews are failing their
employees (and their own business as well). Globoforce surveyed employees
and asked when they prefered to get feedback:

17% want
it quarterly
or annually 23% want
it weekly
71%
want it
ASAP

24
 Keep in mind that one type of frequency doesnt triumph over allweekly isnt
better than quarterly. But there are certain frequencies that function better for
other objectives.

Quarterly: How well did someone execute a project? How is the

project performing after it was launched? This is an ideal time to
review an employees project performance. And because these
check-ins occur every four months, its time to establish new OKRs
for the next quarterly meeting.

Weekly: Is this employee making progress on their OKRs? What are

their pain points? Keep these meetings short and informal, but also
use them as a chance to check in on how employees are coming along
on their goals. Find out whats working and whats not working. Then
work on finding a solution to any obstacles that might be hindering
employees from completing their goals.

ASAP: Did an employee put in extra hours and effort to complete

a project on time? Or perhaps theyre not following the correct
procedures for communicating with clients. Positive or negative,
dont wait to give out praise or correct someones behavior.

Having regular reviews keeps things current, removes inaccuracies, and

gives employees the consistent feedback they need to improve and exceed
expectations. But if you wait until 12 months to check in with your employee,
its just as good as giving them the cold shoulder.

25
 Conclusion

P
erformance reviews are critical in the workplace. But
theyre only useful when done correctly. The traditional
method of waiting 12 months, using subjective
questions for measurement, and ignoring professional
development dont work. Its time to revise the old
ways.

The Steps You Need

to Take

Before you completely abolish the age-old

annual performance review, you need to
prepare yourself and your team. Here
are the steps to start with:

Share your goals: Be transparent about your goals to your employees

or even the whole company so everyone can focus on top goals that
will contribute to the companys success. And dont forget to create
a digital document that anyone can easily access and review.

Align goals: Get employees on the same page as the company by

aligning individual goals with business goals. It gives people a clear
direction so they understand how their work impacts the business.

Collaborate on individual goals: Dont dictate what your employee

should accomplish. Let them ideate their own OKR and SMART

26
 goals, then push the goals further by making them aggressive. But
remember to keep them achievable.

Crowdsource feedback: Dont just get feedback from a direct

manager. Use team leads, peers, or managers in other departments
to gather feedback. It gives you a more comprehensive look on an
employees performance.

Concrete examples: Leverage peer-to-peer recognition to gather

tangible examples of your employees performance.

Now youll have an accurate way to measure goals, and youve given employees
a clear direction for what they should work towards.

The Benefits Employees Reap

In the end, performance reviews should be all about employees and how to
better themselves. With your new strategies, your workers will enjoy:

Clear direction: Because youve made your goals transparent and

aligned your employees goals with the companys, now your worker
knows whats expected of them.

Professional growth: Offering the opportunity for classes, seminars,

or brown bag lunches gives your employee the chance to learn the
skills that will help them grow.

Accurate reviews: Through measurable goals and timeliness, your

employees review will now be a more accurate reflection of their
actual performance.

With all these of tips and tricks, youre now on your way to becoming a master
of performance reviews.

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 About TINYpulse
Companies make an effort to consistently
track revenue, financial returns, and
productivity. But theyre forgetting one
of the most important aspects of their
organization: their people. And thats
where TINYpulse comes in.
Our Mission
Founded in 2012, TINYpulse works hard
to make employees happier around the
world. Our goal is to give leaders a pulse
on how happy, frustrated, or burnt out
their employees are, helping managers
build bridges by sparking dialogue that
results in organizational change.

What We Do
We believe that information empowers leaders to create an engaging work
environment and culture where people can thrive. Here is how we do that:

Pulsing survey: Our weekly pulse survey measures employee engagement

using just one question. TINYpulse is a lightweight solution that captures
anonymous feedback from your team to reveal insights, trends, and
opportunities so you can improve retention, culture, and results.

Peer-to-peer recognition: TINYpulses Cheers for Peers peer-to-peer

recognition tool captures the appreciation, extra effort, and little things that are
often overlooked by leaders. Peers can easily send a quick shout-out to their
colleagues to brighten up their daybecause a little recognition goes a long
way.

Virtual suggestions: Our virtual suggestion box lets employees have direct
input on how to improve the workplace. The anonymous format makes
employees feel comfortable being honest and offering actionable ideas to
improve their workplace.

Who Uses Us?

Every organization wants happy employees. Our customers range across all industries
and all parts of the world, from start-ups to enterprises. Organizations such as GSK,
Living Social, Airbnb, HubSpot, Brooks Shoes & Apparel, and many more are using
TINYpulse to delight their employees and increase engagement.

START YOUR FREE 2-WEEK TINYPULSE TRIAL TODAY

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