Improving employee performance management practices first begins with implementing ongoing 1:1 meetings between managers and their direct reports. Here’s how:
Determine a frequency: weekly is recommended.
Schedule reoccurring meetings: 30 to 90 minutes should suffice.
Implement a form of documentation: it’s important to gather all correspondence and remain compliant by allowing managers to see communication and feel confident employees are receiving coaching.
Document process expectations:
Agendas: require employees to send 1:1 agendas at least 24 hours before the 1:1 to allow managers time to respond with additional notes or agenda items to add.
Recaps: within 24 hours following a 1:1 the employee should send a detailed summary of discussions. Managers should respond to the summary clarifying any points requiring summarization from the manager.
Once you have a grasp on the basics above, you should communicate the new employee performance management processes to managers and HR professionals to ensure your company philosophy, mission, and values are woven into expectations.
Next, host an all-employee meeting to explain the reason and process for implementing this great feedback tool. Be sure to provide examples and answer any questions that arise during the meetings. To get a jumpstart on 1:1 agenda items and promote development, you could even use this meeting to have employees complete a self-evaluation for the upcoming discussion.
Finally, following the all-employee meeting, managers should send out a recurring calendar event invite to their employees to ensure meeting attendance.