Performance interview is one of the core links in the enterprise performance management process, and it is also an important means of performance feedback. The success or failure of performance interviews is directly related to the operation of the enterprise's performance management system: successful performance interviews can promote employee progress and further improve work quality and efficiency, while failed performance interviews not only fail to promote employee progress, but even It will cause and intensify conflicts between employees and superiors. Therefore, it is crucial for most companies to do a good job in performance interviews and avoid failure in performance interviews.
Many companies often find that performance interviews end in failure in their daily work: instead of improving their work, employees have greater opinions on the company; conflicts between employees and superiors further intensify; employees' work has not been improved, etc. So, what methods should companies use to improve the quality of performance interviews and prevent performance interviews from ending in failure, thereby improving the work quality and efficiency of employees? In this regard, based on years of consulting experience, Huaheng Zhixin puts forward the following points for reference by the majority of enterprises:
1. Preparation stage
(1) What leaders need to do
1. Determine the interview time. Performance interviews in many companies are conducted by leaders at short notice to employees. Neither leaders nor employees are prepared for this. It is conceivable that the results of performance interviews will not be particularly ideal. Therefore, when companies conduct performance interviews, they should contact relevant employees in advance to determine a time that is convenient for both parties. Try not to arrange it when just starting work or about to get off work, so as to avoid interference in performance interviews due to too many uncertain factors. or be interrupted. In addition, employees must be informed in advance and given time to prepare (generally, it is enough to inform the relevant personnel 3 days in advance. If the other party has heavy work tasks, it can be informed 7 days in advance);
2. Select the interview venue. The entire process of the performance interview should be avoided as much as possible from interference by external factors, so as to avoid situations such as being interrupted midway through the interview and both parties not having enough "security" to speak freely. Therefore, the interview location should be as far away from phones or other people as possible and in a non-public area. Generally, a small conference room will suffice;
3. Prepare interview materials. When conducting performance interviews with employees, many business leaders often find that they do not know enough about the employees, cannot tell the employees’ work worthy of recognition and the work that needs improvement, and cannot make an objective assessment of the employees’ overall performance. The evaluation led to the emergence of a situation of "employee distrust and leadership uncertainty", which ultimately led to the failure of the interview. Therefore, before conducting performance interviews with employees, leaders should prepare relevant materials (generally employee evaluation forms, daily performance records, employee work summaries, job descriptions, etc.) and read the materials in advance to sort out areas where employees deserve recognition and areas that need improvement. place to make the interview more targeted;
4. Develop interview procedures. In performance interviews in most companies, there are often phenomena such as confusion in the interview process, leaders "talking about whatever comes to mind", and the interview process being interrupted by "not knowing what to say". Not only The performance interview failed and a lot of time was wasted. Therefore, the leader should formulate the procedures for this interview before the interview begins, such as how to start, how to end, what aspects to talk about first, and what aspects to talk about later.
(2) Work that employees need to do
1. Prepare a self-evaluation form. Performance interview is a comprehensive and systematic assessment and evaluation of an employee’s work at a certain stage. Therefore, employees should prepare a self-evaluation form in advance and objectively summarize and analyze their work at a certain stage. Highlights and improvement points facilitate the formulation of later development goals and agreement with superiors;
2. Prepare a personal development plan. Many times employees do not prepare their development plans in advance, which results in the superiors being unable to formulate effective employee development goals and arrange appropriate work content during the interview process, which is not conducive to reaching an agreement between both parties during the interview. Therefore, employees must not only make a good self-evaluation before the interview, but also objectively make plans for future development;
3. List the difficulties encountered at work. In most interviews, employees are often unable to systematically and comprehensively report to their superiors the problems they encounter at work and need help solving, which ultimately leads to conflicts between the two parties in reaching an agreement. Therefore, employees must list in detail and comprehensively the difficulties at work that require assistance or help from their superiors to solve before the interview.
2. Big skills in the performance interview process4
1. Hamburg principle. The Hamburg Principle means that during the performance interview process, leaders should first praise and encourage employees for their contributions and achievements, then propose work content that employees need to improve, and finally End with words of affirmation and support. The purpose of performance interviews is to help employees improve their performance and promote employee progress. If we only talk about employees' shortcomings during the interview, it is easy for employees to have thoughts such as "superiors do not understand our difficulties" or "superiors do not value our contributions." Ultimately, employee performance cannot be improved, and even employees may leave. Therefore, "affirming employees' strengths and contributions - pointing out areas where employees need to improve - encouraging employees to work" is the best route for performance interviews;
2. Based on facts. The purpose of performance interviews is to improve employee performance and promote employee progress, so interviews must be based on facts. When conducting performance interviews, many leaders "deduce" employees' daily behaviors based only on subjective impressions. However, the results of this "dedication" are often far from the facts, which can lead to employees' resistance to the interview and ultimately make the interview It ended in failure. Therefore, leaders should communicate more with employees and relevant colleagues in daily work, and use facts as the basis for interviews in order to convince employees and make the interview successful;
3. Enhance interactivity. Performance interviews in many companies have the situation of "leaders keep talking" or "employees keep talking". There is a lack of necessary communication between leaders and employees, which is not conducive to both parties' evaluation of employees' performance. Revising and reaching agreement are also detrimental to the success of the interview. Therefore, leaders can use questions in the dialogue to guide employees to express their true thoughts, strengthen communication with each other, and form a good communication atmosphere. For example, change "I will give you a B+ on this matter" to "I will give you a B+ on this matter. Do you think it is reasonable?"
4. Reach a consensus. Many performance interviews will end the interview without reaching an agreement. For example, the leader ends the interview because something has happened, and hastily draws conclusions about the employee's performance, ignoring the employee's objection or protest. . Similar cases abound in daily work, which is also one of the important reasons for the failure of performance interviews. Therefore, when leaders conduct performance interviews with employees, they should reach an agreement with employees on the conclusions of the interview.
In short, performance interviews are one of the most crucial links in the corporate performance management process. Doing them well will help improve employee performance, promote employee progress, and improve employee work efficiency and work quality.