A good performance review is a powerful tool for retaining employees or demotivating them. It can ensure that someone who was contemplating an exit can actually change his or her mind and stay on. And it can also make sure that a person who wanted to stay in the company might choose to leave after a badly carried out performance review. Given the role it plays, it is important to know how we can make our reviews more effective. The performance management course gives you guidelines on how to make your reviews more effective.

Here is an overview of some ways to do that.

1. Have a balanced approach – One should not focus only on the positive or the negative elements of performance for that individual. The review discussion should always include the person’s strengths and how those impacted his or her performance, as well as the areas for improvement and how those can raise their performance even more.
2. It should be factual – Remember to use facts when discussing performance. Sharing qualitative elements is great but it cannot be simply based on comments or situations. It has to have facts that validate what the manager is sharing. The feedback from the manager has to be concise and based on data that is tangible.
3. It should be regular – Performance reviews cannot be done annually. There need to be at least quarterly meetings to review performance and give feedback for improvement. If it is regular, chances are that employees who are struggling with performance issues that are due to factors beyond their control will also be able to share and hence seek help immediately. You might prevent loss of talent by doing the review regularly.
4. Always prepare for the discussion – Going into a performance review discussion without preparing is the worst thing to do to the person who is being reviewed. So always spend some time in preparing for the discussion and how you want to proceed with it. This involves collating additional feedback if needed, ensuring you have the information that you need and also clarity on next steps or the career path of the individual.
5. The conversation should be nurturing – Make sure the tone of the conversation is nurturing and empathetic. Review discussions are sensitive and employees are usually nervous before as well as during it. As a manager, your role should be that of a mentor along with being the reviewer.

These are some simple tips for making your reviews more effective. The employees will also be more receptive to feedback when the reviews are done keeping these in mind.