by J. Henry Stewart

Created on: September 16, 2009

Nicole walked out of the office bewildered. Her boss had just given her an annual performance review, and she had no idea of how the management perceived her herculean effort to save the high priority project to which she had been assigned.

Her boss should have recognized the following points of what employees look for in a performance review. It is important for the morale of every employee for her leader to be concrete, clear and impartial when discussing any type of evaluation.

Concrete Observations

Nicole would have greatly appreciated an effort by her boss to be concrete in his statements and observations. For example, she regularly stayed late at the office and as a result, she was always prepared for the morning meetings. Instead of mentioning how good it was that Nicole was always prepared, her boss rambled on and on about the "core values" of the firm.

Employees can see right through modern management speak, and a boss who has made detailed notes, and is concrete about observations is a welcome relief. This is true even if some of his observations might be negative.

Throughout the year, her boss should have made notes when he saw some behavior in Nicole that he liked. The performance review could have been one more time to positively reinforce good work habits.

Clarity Matters

Especially where an area of improvement is involved, it is essential for a boss to be clear. Nicole knew she needed a little help in understanding the exact interest of the upper management with regards to her project, and hoped that her boss could be specific about what she should make a priority.

Alas, Nicole's boss was not clear. He was afraid of confrontation, but instead of making the meeting easier both he and Nicole became very uncomfortable as he did not have the courage to say something that he thought might offend her.

Far from offending Nicole, a clear direction would have helped her perform her best on the important project.

Fairness is Key

It seemed to Nicole that her boss had a favorite employee. She saw her boss and Jim laughing and joking during his performance review. She wondered why it was all jokes between them, and then her boss was very evasive with her. She started to resent Jim and her boss, and began to look for another job.

A boss ought to be concrete and clear in the feedback to his subordinates, and it is also important to be fair. This does not necessarily mean he must say the same things to each employee, but his criteria for evaluating each worker ought to be impartial and wise.

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