Communication, HR, Leadership, Leadership Development, Performance Management

10 Questions For Effective Performance Review Conversations

If you are a regular reader of the CommsMasters blog, you’ll already know that I have a strong negative reaction to overly-structured, form-focussed performance review processes. Instead, the critical focus should be on the conversation that takes place between the leader and the direct report. The most effective performance reviews get the direct report talking a lot, with the leader encouraging useful reflection through the questions asked and adding their own feedback and views where these can add value. The ...

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Communication, HR, Leadership, Leadership Development, Performance Management

4 Ways To Help Leaders Fall In Love With Performance Reviews

Hands up all you leaders out there who look forward to the annual round of formal performance reviews. And hands up everyone in Human Resources who enjoys the annual game of chase-up-the-leaders-who-haven’t-done their-performance-reviews. No one? Really? It’s  surprising how this most innocuous of leadership practices can turn fully-grown professionals into sulky, rebellious children at least once every twelve months. (For all those businesses where there are also formal reviews every six months or even every quarter, this resistance/chase-up spectacle can ...

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Communication, HR, Leadership, Organisational Development, Performance Management, Performance Reviews

5 Ways to Enable Effective Performance Management Conversations

Mercer’s 2013 Global Performance Management Survey reports that only 7% of managers were felt to be “highly skilled at having candid dialogue with their direct reports about performance”. The same survey found that approximately one in three organisations worldwide said that “improving managers’ ability to have candid dialogue with employees has the greatest impact on overall company performance”. So, one-third of companies recognise the crucial role of “candid dialogue” in improving organisational performance, while less than one in ten managers ...

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Communication, Difficult Conversations, Leadership, Performance Management, Performance Reviews

Do Your Leaders Ignore Poor Performance?

Do leaders in your organisation ignore poor performance for too long – or indeed completely? Chronic failure to tackle underperformance is potentially the biggest waste of resource in business today. And it’s a problem that is recognised and talked about all the way from the Executive team, frustrated at lack of results, to front-line employees, fed up at picking up the slack left by less productive colleagues. What is causing this business blight that is costing businesses millions – perhaps ...

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