As part of the Performance Management process, Confirm includes a Conversation phase in which employees and their managers can discuss their performance reports together. Sometimes, these conversations might feel intimidating, but planning and preparing for the process can go a long way in creating a pleasant and productive Performance Management Conversation.
Pre-Conversation
Ensure you have scheduled time with your employee for the conversation. It is your responsibility to book a meeting during the conversation phase of the performance cycle.
Take time to read through your employee’s review and be prepared to share context around the feedback you provided during the check in process.
We recommend publishing the employee report prior to your scheduled conversation to give them time to digest.
There may be reasons you choose to wait until after the conversation to publish the report. Reasons may include:
Concern with how the employee will react to the feedback
Needing to deliver difficult feedback
In these cases, you may hold off on publishing the report until after the conversation has taken place.
Suggested Communication (sent prior to scheduled meeting)
(Use for employees where report is published prior to meeting)
Hi {Name},
You should have received an email from Confirm letting you know your performance report is now available. The report contains your self reflection, my feedback and may include feedback gathered from the network, if available.
We can take the time in the meeting to discuss:
How you feel about this feedback
If anything was surprising to you
What you’re aware of and already working on
What themes are surfacing across all of your feedback
What ideas you have for actions you can take to continue your development
Feedback for me on how I can best support you
Looking forward to talking tomorrow!
(Alternative if not publishing the report)
Hi {Name},
I am looking forward to our performance check in. Thank you for scheduling the meeting. During our time together I will provide feedback and we can discuss:
How you feel about this feedback
If anything was surprising to you
What you’re aware of and already working on
What themes are surfacing across all of your feedback
What ideas you have for actions you can take to continue your development
Feedback for me on how I can best support you
Looking forward to talking tomorrow!
Sample 1:1 Agenda (~45min)
If either party begins to feel upset during the conversation, feel free to take a break and return to the conversation in a few hours or on the following day. It’s normal for people to feel this way during a feedback conversation, especially if they’re not used to it or feel surprised.
Double check that this time is still good for them to have the feedback conversation. Sometimes other things come up that can get in the way of that person being present.
Thank them for their feedback! Share your appreciation for that. It can be scary, especially if it’s the first time, to share feedback. If it’s not clear that the feedback is welcomed and appreciated, the person may feel discouraged from sharing in the future.
Make it clear that you want feedback regularly and they should feel welcome to share with you anytime throughout the year. Let them know you’ll discuss their feedback for you as well. You can use the same frame to discuss their feedback for you.
Frame the conversation with the following questions:
How do you feel about this feedback?
Was anything surprising to you?
What are you already aware of?
Is there anything you add to this feedback?
What themes are surfacing across all of your feedback?
What ideas do you have for actions you can take to address this feedback?
What feedback do you have for me on how I can best support you?
Do you have any questions?
Have a conversation! Add detail and delve deeper as necessary. Ask them if you’re missing anything. Ensure your details are fact based and provide solid examples. Invite the person to share their perspective.
Ask if they’d like suggestions on how to take action. Ask how you can support them in this work.
Discuss next steps:
Next quarter priorities
Career goals + areas of interest
Agree on follow-up items
Thank them again. These sorts of conversations will only strengthen your relationship if done well!
Post-Conversation
If you have not already done so, release the performance report.
Next, send a follow-up note acknowledging the performance conversation, next steps, and thank them for their time.
Record follow-up on action items in subsequent 1:1s and continue to give and ask for feedback regularly.
Helpful Ideas for Specific Situations:
Below is a list of performance conversation starters. Remember to deliver specific, actionable feedback.
Reinforcing Feedback:
You excel at [action], and I would love to continue seeing that from you.
I encourage you to keep doing [action]. I’ve received positive feedback that this has really helped the team [result].
Examples:
You excel at creating thoughtful marketing decks. I would love to have you continue taking the lead on them, especially since I know you enjoy the creative process.
I’m really impressed with the way you revamped our weekly kickoff meeting. I want you to keep speaking out about processes you think could be improved.
I appreciate the way you took ownership for and fixed the bug in the code. Continue being as honest and proactive as you have been about your work.
I encourage you to keep being a sounding board for your teammates. Many of your team members say you’re a great listener, and they feel comfortable sharing ideas with you.
Multiple people mentioned how skilled you are at keeping everyone on track with tight deadlines, which has been beneficial for the team’s productivity. I’d love to see you continue to take the lead on this for future projects.
Developmental Feedback (Areas of Improvement):
My feedback is for you to stop [action] because it results in [consequence].
I encourage you to start [action] because it will help you [intended result].
Examples:
My feedback is that you stop sending urgent emails late at night. You’re creating stress for the other team members outside of working hours, and it’s not a healthy habit.
I’m aware that you cancel your one-on-one meetings almost every week. This isn’t acceptable given you’re a manager responsible for the career growth of multiple employees.
I would like to see you stop waiting until the last minute to prepare your quarterly results. Your presentations tend to be scattered and don’t represent your team’s efforts well.
It would be beneficial for you to start taking notes during our stand up so you don’t forget any of the tasks or feedback that were shared with you.
I think it would be valuable to have a team member review your client emails to help you check for tone.
Potential Sticky Scenarios
Below are specific ideas to help you to show up confidently and manage effectively in potentially difficult conversations.
Need to deliver difficult feedback:
It's important to be clear, but also kind, when delivering negative feedback. The end goal is for the employee to have a growth opportunity. A sample conversation might sound like this:
Your performance is not meeting expectations which I know may be hard to hear. Immediate improvement is required and I am here to support you to do just that. Specifically, you can improve [action] which will [impact].
PAUSE - Do you have any questions?
As long as you are committed to improvements, I will be here to help you in any way I can. It may look like meeting more often, mapping out actionable next steps in a performance improvement plan, and providing additional resources you need to succeed.
How do you think I can best support you?
I’m confident that with this joint effort, we will move towards improved performance.
When there is feedback from others in the report that does not resonate for you as the manager and/or for the employee:
Emphasize curiosity - if you are surprised (or the employee is), there is a discovery process to embark on:
Feedback from the organization is an important part of the performance process as it provides different perspectives and insights into your overall performance. There is feedback within your report that says [feedback].
What do you think about this? Does this resonate for you?
(After hearing the employee’s response, feel free to share that the feedback surprised you or didn’t resonate for you; however, they may want to bring their curiosity to the feedback, as you can learn a lot about the person who gave the feedback and what’s important to them).
Though feedback will not always resonate, it can be helpful to ask:
What if even 10% of this feedback was true?
Is there anything within this feedback that feels actionable to you?
When you experience defensiveness - What do I do when defensiveness comes up and I still have a message to give?
Creating space in the conversation allows both parties to feel safe and have a productive dialog.
Why don’t we take a moment and come back to this conversation? I’m sure this is a lot to absorb, and I want to answer all your questions.
Let's pause and hear each others' perspectives. We both need to be curious, open and seek first to understand the other’s point of view in order to have a productive conversation and agree on how to move forward together. We may agree to disagree, but we need to do so in a way that is respectful and we both feel heard.
When all the team member wants to talk about is money and/or a promotion:
The performance evaluation is a check in on performance, not a compensation review.
For today’s conversation, we’ll be focusing on your performance and how we can partner to set you up for success for the remainder of the year. During the Annual Review process, we will be evaluating compensation and promotion opportunities.
When an employee disagrees with the performance feedback, even at the end of the conversation:
Listen and make sure the employee feels heard. It's ok to agree to disagree; however, remind them that it’s better to not dwell in the past and instead focus on what can be done differently as you move forward together.
The great news is that we are doing another review cycle in about 6 months, so we will not need to wait another year to improve performance ratings!
Make sure they know that you are on their team and will do what you can to support them to achieve the performance they believe they are capable of.
Additional Resources