Preparing for bad performance reviews
Advice from a Human Coach (me!) and an AI assistant coach (Bunchee)
Hey there,
First of all I owe you an apology. I’ve been not writing much these last weeks, simply because life got ahead of me: we’re fundraising and we’re also moving and it’s been all a bit much. I am glad I have found my way back now and I think that is due to a new team member we have on the team: Bunchee, our GPT-3 powered AI assistant coach, that we launched last week. She’s been stepping up and covered over 10k requests just in these past few days, which is super impressive and obviously waaaaay more than I could have ever done! If you haven’t given her a try, check it out, we have a free preview version on the web, ask her anything work and leadership related and she’ll coach you, as well as gives you advice based on GPT-3 *and* the Bunch library.
The reason she “brought me back”: She is getting so many requests and that helps me understand, what the current problems an y’all minds are, so I can target this newsletter better. I’ve picked up a topic that is on many managers & employee’s minds currently: performance reviews.
“How do i prepare for a bad performance review?”
Was one of the questions. And I want to tackle it from both perspectives: as a manager and as a team member (even as a manager you are also are member of your managers team, and so this can apply to many of us both ways).
How to prepare for your (own) performance review
👉 Reflect & collect feedback: A few days before the meeting, take some time to reflect on your performance. Think about what you have achieved and what areas you could have improved on. Ask for feedback from your colleagues or supervisors proactively. This can give you insight into what they think of your performance and what areas they think you can improve on.
👉 Make a list of your accomplishments and goals: This can help you focus on the positives and provide evidence of your successes. For areas of improvement, make a plan of action. Think about the steps you can take to improve your performance going forward. Prepare some questions to ask during the review. This will show that you are engaged and interested in understanding how to improve your performance.
👉 Check out a tip in the Bunch AI coach, to help you reflect on your recent contributions: STAR Model - Share your accomplishments with this simple framework. - by Sheryl Sandberg (ex-COO Meta), saved 651 times
How to prepare for your team’s performance reviews:
It's important to have a plan in place to help team members improve and be held accountable. Here are some tips to help you do that:
👉 Set clear expectations and goals for the team member: Make sure they understand what is expected of them and what success looks like. Do you have score cards, mandates or something similar in place for each team member?
👉 Give regular, timely feedback: Don't wait for a performance review to give feedback. Make sure to give feedback on a regular basis so that the team member can adjust and improve as needed.
👉 Be supportive and provide resources: Show your team member that you are invested in their success by providing resources and support. Tips from the Bunch app can totally help!
👉 Create an accountability system: Set up a system that encourages the team member to be accountable for their work and progress.
👉 Check out a tip in the Bunch AI coach, to help you keep your team member accountable: Motivate Your Remote Team with Positive Peer Pressure - by Elizabeth Grace Saunders (Coach) - saved 589 times
👉 Have regular check-ins: Make sure to have regular check-ins with the team member to discuss progress and any issues that may arise. Ideally is a weekly check-in, esp. if you are trying to help your team member improve.
👉 Check out a tip in the Bunch AI coach, to help you keep your team member accountable: Motivate Your Remote Team with Positive Peer Pressure - by Elizabeth Grace Saunders (Coach) - saved 589 times
In case your company does not have a formal performance review process, check out this tip:
👉 In case your company does not have a formal performance review process, check out this tip: The Quarterly Sit Down - by Jim Stoneham, CMO of Stripe - saved 747 times
And now I will be super honest with you, this weekly briefing was co-written with Bunchee, the advice above is from here and I approve ✅ She is pretty awesome, give her a GO!
Have an awesome week!
Darja
PS: Download the AI coach to get 1% better in just 2 min a day