Giving An Effective Performance Review.

The mutually dreaded performance review is often a time of anxiety on both the part of the manager and the employee. Unfortunately, the narrative often follows the same storyline: The manager focuses on a recent memory, likely from the past month or so, and the employee is resentful because their year-long contribution and dedication are neither noticed nor mentioned. Mutual frustration follows.

How can you avoid this annual debacle? If the answer were easy, there wouldn’t be a problem. Employees are busy, supervisors are busy and managers are busy. It’s not easy to find the time to spend writing up fair, engaged and humanizing evaluations for every employee who reports to you.

Given enough time, it would be easy to accurately sing the praises of each and every colleague. It would also be simple to effectively relate areas for improvement and strategies for doing so. To be realistic, though, there is never any reasonable amount of spare time to give the performance appraisal its fair due.

In Job Feedback: Giving, Seeking, and Using Feedback for Performance Improvement, author Manuel London explained that he observed managers in various organizational settings who rarely took time to give feedback. He wrote, “Most managers recognized that giving feedback is an important part of the manager’s role, but they did not do it! They tended to let poor performance slide by rather than nip it in the bud.”

This is why it’s important to provide regular, informal feedback. If you wait a year at a time to tell someone what you think of their performance, how are they supposed to know what’s going right or wrong the other 11 months of the year? There should never be any surprises in an annual appraisal.

Below are my tips on how to provide these appraisals effectively:

1. Spend a few minutes every week keeping track of each employee’s performance. This way, at the end of the year, you only need to compile the information. Otherwise, it’s like cramming for a final exam the day before the test.

2. Be fair in the evaluation. Don’t just list all the negatives and hope for improvement. It’s important to explain to the employee what they are doing right, as well as what facets they need to develop. Otherwise, you could end up with an employee who is both dejected and uninspired.

3. Recognize the positives. When it comes to the standard annual performance review, M. Tamra Chandler and Laura Dowling Grealish said in their book, Feedback (and Other Dirty Words): Why We Fear It, How to Fix It, “When it’s over you quickly forget all the positive takeaways, and instead you obsess about your reviewer’s assessments of your areas for improvement, contemplating whether they were relevant, fair, or even truly representative of your work.”

4. Offer specific steps for improvement. Remember, it is your job to be the manager, but it’s also your job to be the coach. Be as prompt to acknowledge positive and productive behavior as you are to point out the negative. Don’t stop at stating the obvious. If you’re reviewing someone who has a chronic problem being late for work, don’t just say, “Stop being late.” That isn’t helpful. The employee already knows he or she has a problem. Go the extra step and offer solutions that have been helpful to you or someone you know.

5. Conduct performance reviews face-to-face whenever possible. It’s important for the employee to have a chance to ask questions. Use real examples from the previous time period and don’t sugar coat anything. Be honest; nothing changes if nothing changes. If you pretend that everything went at least OK, your employee is going to believe that doing a mediocre job is good enough for you.

6. Plan your interaction to end on a positive note. Leave on a note of encouragement. No one ever left an evaluation on a negative note and was then inspired to perform extraordinary feats of progress.

The words you choose are important. You need to be descriptive and detailed, but temper them with respectful professionalism. Don’t use information that is second- or third-hand and is impossible to verify. You’ll lose credibility with that shortcut, and I believe the employee could see you as an uninvolved manager who can’t be bothered to find out the truth first-hand.

If you’re having trouble getting your thoughts in order or being descriptive, there are several books out there that can easily help you with useful phrasing for preparing the performance evaluations for your employees. They can be so valuable when you get stuck or get stumped on how to word a concept you want to convey to your employee.

One of my favorites is Effective Phrases for Performance Appraisals by James E. Neal Jr. The phrases and categories in these types of books can help make what feels like an impossible task a much less arduous one. If you don’t consider yourself to have a way with words, one of these references can make your life much easier.

Well-crafted performance appraisals are much more important to employees than you might think. According to Gallup, “A mere 14% of employees strongly agree that the performance reviews they receive inspire them to improve, and only two in 10 employees strongly agree that their performance is managed in a way that motivates them to do outstanding work.”

Don’t be a party to those statistics. Take the time to sincerely manage the performance of your employees. You — and your company — will benefit for years to come.

This article has previously been featured on Forbes

How To Mitigate Bias In Your Organization

There are multiple types of bias we humans can exhibit. None of them require any particular malice aforethought. Rather, they are natural offshoots of human development. We unconsciously group things together for fast and easy access in our brains. We automatically reach for what is familiar and broadly applicable.

We evolved to make rapid life or death decisions based on various sensory inputs occurring in a very short timeline. For example, imagine there’s an animal moving stealthily toward you with sharp teeth, stripes and a tail. You might have a series of thoughts that remind you that animals like that could potentially eat you, so it’s probably a bad idea to wait around and see what happens. Time for the fight or flight instinct to kick in.

While one’s biases can evolve, it’s important to realize when a bias is helpful and when it is harmful. For example, in my experience, if you find yourself using it to take a shortcut in making decisions in the corporate world, it’s almost always a detriment.

What are a few different types of bias you might see in the workplace?

• Unconscious bias: With unconscious bias (also referred to as implicit bias), we don’t even realize the bias we are thinking or exhibiting. For example, when hiring for a tech position, do you automatically assume that a younger person will perform better than a baby boomer? Obviously, if it’s unconscious, you’re not aware of it. It’s likely you’ll need a friend, colleague or mentor to point out this type of thinking and behavior.

• Confirmation bias: This form of bias is when we pay more attention to things we already believe. For example, you might think that just because an employee is talented in one area, they’re talented in other areas. But, that isn’t always the case.

• Attribution bias: This is when we believe someone’s behavior in a way we think should be true or accurate. We might attribute someone’s behavior to be altruistic because we believe them to be “good.” For example, if you get a good performance review, you attribute it to being hardworking and dedicated. But if get a poor performance review, you might attribute it to the boss not liking you.

Now that we understand what bias can look like in the workplace, how can we proactively seek to avoid it?

1. Recognize your bias.

First of all, it’s important to acknowledge that bias exists. For example, if you’re trying to decide who really deserves a raise and you find your mind drifting toward which employee needs it more than the others (rather than looking at merit), it’s important you can stop, realize you’re being influenced by a bias instead of logic, and redirect.

If you’re trying to decide who’s most qualified for a big promotion, stick to facts, figures and past proven performance. Don’t let yourself be swayed by who would fit in best with the management group or who would most likely fit with the status quo. Ask a colleague to block out names and identifying information on applications for promotion. If you’re looking strictly at facts, it’s difficult for bias to creep into the equation. Another option is to have someone in a lateral position check your thought process.

2. Be committed to mitigating bias in your organization.

In her book Diversity Beyond Lip Service: A Coaching Guide for Challenging Bias, author La’Wana Harris said, “Having people who think, act, and perform differently from you helps you grow and expand your ability to contribute more broadly across your organization. Your ideas can become more refined and relevant when the views of others — especially opposing views — are there to challenge your thinking.”

This is why I’ve also found it’s important to not just give lip service to bias mitigation. In my career, I’ve heard many CEOs and human resources professionals discuss diversity and inclusion in the workplace with no apparent conviction. It’s as if they were all issued the same script and instructed to read it with no passion at all.

However, if you take the time to understand the thought processes of people who are different from you, it can bring you to an understanding of what and how they think. Once you can see an issue from multiple viewpoints, it drives you to feel differently about the value of bias mitigation. When you can actually feel and understand an issue from alternate perspectives, it will help generate the passion that can compel change.

3. Speak up when you see others display biased behaviors.

Then there’s the issue of bad behavior in the workplace threatening to tear down what diversity and inclusion your company does possess. It’s often difficult to take a stand on inappropriate behaviors, but it’s necessary. Employees who experience these admittedly uncomfortable situations must accept their responsibility to respectfully quash the divisive actions, especially if they are in a management position. If the unacceptable behavior is not addressed, it implies that somehow it is acceptable.

It does take courage to be the one who doesn’t agree with a questionable comment or joke, especially when you’re the only one in the group who seemingly objects. But remember that others in the crowd might see the faults in it, too; they just don’t want to be seen as the one who rocks the boat.

In her article for the Harvard Business Review, “How to Speak Up if You See Bias at Work,” Amber Lee Williams pointed out, “The bottom line is that patterns of unchecked biased and offensive behavior in the workplace have the potential to erode full employee participation and take a toll on organizational effectiveness.”

Although everyone in the organization should feel empowered and encouraged to uphold the dignified vision of workplace equality, if the frontline people don’t see it reflected in the behavior of those in the C-suite, the initiative will never realize its full potential.

This article has previously been featured on Forbes

How To Be A Leader Of Leaders

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I believe a quote by Ralph Nader in his book Crashing the Party sums up the role of a leader well: “The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.”

If you’ve worked very long in the corporate field, you’ve likely been exposed to high-level executives who were strong, competent, insightful leaders. You’ve also likely been exposed to executives who weren’t. The difference between the two is often dramatic.

Effective leaders, from my perspective, are quick to damp down their own ego and instead focus on the development and subsequent success of their top team. Leaders who concentrate on the advancement and improvement of the players who make up their team are setting themselves up to succeed not only with their group goals but also with their global, company-wide goals.

One of the key objectives to accomplish this is to focus on actual leadership. But, the ability to lead a team of people toward a successful business outcome isn’t as easy as you’d think. Below are my top tips on how you can become a leader of leaders:

Tailor your approach to each team member.

Some people who get promoted mistake advancement with implied leadership. It doesn’t happen that way. It’s not an organic progression. It requires a different mindset, a different perspective and a different process.

Anyone who does a good job and excels in his or her field can be promoted into a leadership position, but it’s not always justified. Sometimes, a perfectly qualified performer who is an expert in their field is neither trained nor geared for management.

Just because you can perform a task to perfection doesn’t mean you can supervise someone else to perform your old job to precision. Perhaps that person isn’t the stickler for details that you were. Perhaps your replacement can’t perform with as much agility and speed as you did.

This is why I believe one of the most important skills for a leader to develop is the ability to adapt. People are individuals. Each person learns in a different way, at a different pace. The trick is learning how to recognize the way each individual person ticks and how he or she learns in a lasting and profound way. Hammering away at each person on your team as if they were a copy of you and the way you work won’t get the job done.

Explain the ‘why’ behind your actions.

A massive mistake I’ve observed people chosen for a position of leadership make is to automatically decide that everyone reporting to you should adjust their attitudes and/or behaviors to suit your desires. I’ve seen this all too often, and it is a travesty.

Each and every person now reporting to you as a leader should be clear on why you’ve been chosen for that role. Jealously and rivalry can easily rear their ugly heads. They can be prone to anger, not understanding why the most qualified person (in your viewpoint) has been deemed the “chosen one.” The other team players might be reluctant to accept the leadership role granted to an employee who was recently considered equal to the team.

First of all, you need to focus on your new job and take care to always be professional. Realize what to expect; the first weeks in your new leadership role will be the most difficult. You’ll be settling into your new position and getting comfortable with the changes in your work relationships. You need to call out any bad behavior by your former associates and lead by example. Be firm, and create and maintain appropriate boundaries.

Don’t be afraid to delegate.

One important part of being a leader of leaders is to recognize what your strong suit is not — and delegating those tasks to someone who is very strong in those specific areas. You must realize that you cannot be an expert in every aspect of the contributions of the team. Different employees bring different talents to the job. In my experience, the day you understand and acknowledge that simple fact, not only will it free you up to do greater things and higher leadership tasks, but it will also empower you to invest in a worthy employee who is awaiting the lesson to become a leader of his or her own.

Inspire your team.

It really isn’t that difficult to inspire another person and point them in a positive direction. After all, that is what someone else did for you. Pass along the favor and the tradition, and develop the talent that is right in front of you.

When you work for an inspiring leader, you’ll know it! You’ll feel it! He or she will be enthusiastic and thrilled about your efforts to electrify yet another leader. They will encourage, coach and cheer your efforts to develop another leader that will increase the value of your organization.

As a leader, you can be an inspiration to your team by making your expectations clear from the beginning. No one enjoys floundering because of goals that aren’t expressed in a straightforward manner. Call on your team’s experience by asking for their suggestions and input on important projects. Everyone likes to feel useful and essential. Collaboration benefits everyone. Communicate and share your vision. Be available and approachable. No employee has ever been inspired by a closed door.

When you take the time and effort to inspire the next generation, you spend your time wisely. It will benefit your company, your corporate structure and your vision for the future. And after all that effort, it will definitely benefit your bottom line.

According to Jim Harter, co-author of It’s the Manager, “Managers are much more likely to inspire big-picture, cross-team cooperation in their employees when they themselves are engaged.” The key takeaway, from my perspective, is you are responsible for inspiring yourself, your leaders and the leaders of your multiple teams. If you don’t motivate them, who will?

This article has previously been featured on Forbes

The Skill Of Workplace Negotiation

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When your work life is good and everyone is getting along, it’s easy to let your negotiation skills slip. However, it never seems to last long. As much as you may dread it, change happens. You might get a new boss, a new employee or a new colleague who turns your happy life upside down.

When change happens, it’s time for you to brush up on your negotiation skills so you can become your own advocate. If you’re aiming for a promotion or raise, for example, you should be able to explain why you are deserving of it. Practicing your persuasive speaking will do you a world of good in this situation. Good communication is key. You can’t expect to negotiate effectively if you can’t articulate your position.

Simply saying, “I need a raise,” isn’t going to win over your manager. Instead, say something along the lines of:“I appreciate you complimenting me on my successful handling of that big account last week. I’d like to get some time on your calendar in the next few days to update you on my other high-profile account accomplishments. During my last evaluation, we discussed the possibility of me getting a raise based on these types of endeavors, and I’d appreciate your feedback as to how close I am to meeting that goal.” Not only are you showing your confidence, but you’re also showing the extent to which you took the suggestions on your performance review to heart.

It’s advantageous to be emotionally adept. If someone was promoted ahead of you, it’s perfectly OK to ask what you could have done better. Practice a mature, neutral tone of voice, so when you ask for time to discuss the query with your supervisor, you’ll come across as a colleague eager to learn — which sets you up as a candidate who will be well thought of in the next round of promotions.

I believe becoming emotional about a change that doesn’t benefit you personally will waste your time and diminish your sense of perspective. It’s easy to think someone has it in for you when your work world falls to pieces. Step back and look at the situation dispassionately, and you’ll realize that you weren’t the personal target of the change. It was likely initiated by a business need in the organization.

I’ve worked with people who think their VP has a personal vendetta against them. It’s difficult to make progress in your career when you won’t stop complaining. It doesn’t solve anything, and it only serves to make you look irrational. No one is interested in giving a raise to, or promoting, an employee with a negative attitude.

What instigated the change?

Divorce your feelings of betrayal from your powers of logic to answer the question, “What caused the change?” Is one office or department underperforming? Are there some major discrepancies in the projected profits and the current balance sheet? Did corporate decide to consolidate offices?

Instead of bottling up your feelings, reach out and connect on a reasonable and honest level. If at first you feel like doing some venting, remember that work is likely not the proper venue. Your friends and loved ones can provide you with a safe space to express your feelings. Take a deep breath, and connect with a workplace counselor, trusted colleague or mentor.

When your boss announces the change or holds a preliminary meeting, you might be too overwhelmed at that time to make sense of it all. Once you’ve processed it, you can absorb the facts, have a constructive meeting and negotiate your way into a more advantageous position during the change.

Prepare yourself.

When you do feel ready to negotiate, be prepared. Who will be in the meeting? What questions are you likely to be asked? This is the time to bring facts and figures with you. Documentation, logic and rational thinking are called for.

Be an active listener. What are the major points being made? Make notes so when it’s your time to speak, you have relevant material to bring to the conversation. The best negotiations are collaborations where everybody wins at least a little.

If you’re new to the negotiation game, consider the advice of “Negotiating at Work: Turn Small Wins into Big Gains” by Deborah M. Kolb and Jessica L. Porter. They explain, “If you have previously never negotiated in your workplace, then you’ve essentially trained people to expect that you will not do so.” They advised that if others will likely be surprised by the fact you’re even negotiating, you “should address their surprise and consider how they will react to the content of your negotiation.”

Think about how you’re going to frame this negotiation in the best light for the team and for the company. How can you ease the participants into a valuable discussion mode? Consider the tools you have, from persuasive speaking to credible presentation material.

Ensure you’re all on the same page.

I’ve found clarification is also important. The assumptions you and your perceived adversary have made might be completely off the mark. According to Peter Landau at Project Manager, “Chances are both parties are walking into a negotiation with a lot of preconceived ideas of what the other wants. … Therefore, it’s always helpful to start the negotiations on the same page by asking the other party what their motivation is.”

When you step outside yourself and think in terms of the other person, the main participant in this negotiation, you bring yourself into a different viewpoint, and you can get into a better space for the meeting. When you think of it as a fair compromise between two or more parties who desire different paths to the same outcome, it’s easier to visualize a successful conclusion for everyone concerned.

Once you’ve managed the art of cooperation instead of confrontation, you’re well on the way to achieving a peaceful and profitable resolution to the issue at hand.

This article has previously been featured on Forbes

How To Develop ‘Gravitas’ And Boost Your Executive Presence

It can be difficult to explain “gravitas.” It tends to be one of those you-know-it-when-you-see-it qualities. It’s that certain something that makes a great leader. It’s a seriousness and gravity that’s conducted with grace, dignity and poise. If you think of someone you greatly admire or a celebrated leader from history, you’ll probably get the picture. For me, those who come to mind include Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Gandhi, Maya Angelou and Martin Luther King Jr.

If you’re looking to make steady progress in your professional life, I believe developing gravitas is an important part of the journey. In Cracking the Code: Executive Presence and Multicultural Professionals, Sylvia Ann Hewlett, author and founder of the Center for Talent Innovation explained the importance of gravitas, as it helps convey confidence, inspire trust and bolster credibility as a leader in the workplace. Nearly 70% of senior executives who were surveyed for the book said that gravitas was the core characteristic of executive presence.

As a leadership coach, I’ve learned there are some specific aspects you can work on to help you attain a reputation for decisiveness and integrity. Confidence without arrogance is imperative. Arrogance only exposes a person’s feelings of inadequacy. Self-importance has no relationship to gravitas. If you notice any tendency you have to slip into an air of overconfidence when you’re nervous or feeling left out, you’ll have to train yourself to quash that behavior.

Some of the concrete aspects of gravitas and key parts of developing your executive presence can be grouped into three main categories:

The Verbal

You are judged on the words you choose to communicate your ideas. Keep in mind that what you’re after is quality, not quantity. Talking endlessly is not effective. Don’t use 40 weak words when 10 strong words will convey the idea. If you have an important meeting coming up, don’t just wing it. Give the subject of the meeting some thought ahead of time. If there is a point you want to make or some input you’ll be expected to provide, consider how to effectively and efficiently express that information.

The Vocal

It is important to concentrate on the way you sound to others. Pay attention to the volume of your voice. If you speak with a voice that sounds weak or is too quiet, it gives the impression that you aren’t confident in yourself or your message. Practice speaking at a normal volume, and notice how assured you sound.

Also, watch your inflection. If your voice tends to rise at the end of a sentence, it gives the impression of a question and does nothing for your credibility. The pace at which you speak is also important. Don’t rush your words. It can make you sound excitable or anxious. A steady pace is desirable, and don’t be afraid to use a pause for effect. It gives your audience time to seriously consider the point of your last statement. Strive for clarity in your voice; mumbling won’t win you any points. Above all, eliminate “filler” words or phrases or any verbal tics you have. Nothing can undermine a solid speech or presentation like a plethora of “ums,” “you knows,” and “ahs.”

The Visual

The image you create is significant. When people think of you, the image they conjure up should be an impressive one. They’ll remember the way you were dressed and how you held yourself. Body language makes a big impression. If your arms are crossed or your shoulders are hunched, it conveys disagreement or resignation. Concentrate on good posture with your shoulders back (but not up around your ears). An open stance shows interest, self-assuredness and a willingness to listen. Make eye contact with those you are talking to for an appropriate amount of time, but don’t stare. Looking the part of a confident executive will help you feel like a confident executive.

In the book Executive Presence: The Missing Link Between Merit and Success, also by Hewlett, she explains, “Executive presence will not earn you promotion after promotion, but lack of executive presence will impede your ability to get as far as you want to go.” She adds, “Quite simply, promotions are not just functions of ability, values, or the numbers you hit, but also rest critically on how you are perceived.”

I believe everyone can benefit from practice. To develop your skills, try asking a few people that you know and trust to give you some honest feedback on your executive presence. Don’t get defensive, but listen to what they have to say. If more than one person comments on the same flaw, that would be the challenge to start with.

Try filming yourself delivering a practice presentation, or ask a colleague to film you. When you review it, you might notice things you don’t realize you’re doing that are distracting or detract from your message. If you feel you need more help, there are organizations that can help you improve your public speaking skills. Developing gravitas and increasing your executive presence will be well worth the effort.

This article has previously been featured on Forbes