Employee Behaviour – A Change Challenge

How many of your employees actually make the decision to change their behaviour as a result of feedback given during a performance review? Recent polls indicate that 2 out of 3 employees will receive some kind of negative feedback during their review and yet only 1 out of 3 decide to do something about it! Are employers at fault?

One of the reasons given that performance evaluations are largely ineffective is that employees lack the ability to put their performance feedback into action. Most report that they don’t know how to put a plan together so that they can work towards being able to meet employer expectations.

Some items to consider in making the review outcomes more significant:

Encourage leaders to offer specific and detailed feedback of accomplishments and challenges that allow the employee to know the exact behaviours to replicate or change.

Motivate individuals to want to invest in change by visiting their “default future” with them. This is the career they will be stuck with if they fail to improve performance and are repeatedly passed over for promotion.

Suggest professional development through sharing training opportunities, workshops, or books and make sure these are only part of a bigger individual change strategy.

Recommend mentoring as a solution to assist with the required shifts. Sometimes change requires external support and when the team member finds a trusted mentor to encourage progress and who assists with the navigation of career development opportunities the outcomes are significant.

As employers we implement tools designed to maintain efficiency and encourage and reward performance, to be utilized within our businesses. Do we stop to review the outcomes resulting from the use of these tools to make sure that they are actually beneficial?

When did you last review the people processes in your business for their efficiency?