How to Explain Quality of Work on a Performance Review

Knowing how to explain quality of work on a performance review can be difficult. You want to help your employees improve without causing them to become stressed or defensive. Unless everything is perfect and there is no room for improvement, you have to provide constructive criticism and your employee has to listen. Planning your review carefully, and being selective in how you express yourself, can lead to improved performance from your employee and a stronger working relationship between the two of you.

Develop a Performance Review

Prepare a list of strengths and weaknesses, including examples, if needed, and strategies for growth to discuss with your employee. Prioritize your concerns so that the most important issues can be resolved first. Starting with your employee’s strengths can help him relax and be more open to feedback concerning weaker areas. In addition, it may help him focus on what you like, enabling him to continue developing those skills.

Some words that describe quality of work include: “completeness,” “correctness” and “professional,” says Simplicable. So do “accuracy,” “thoroughness” and “consistency.”

Organize areas of weakness into themes. For example, instead of discussing phone calls, returns and follow-up separately, group them together into “customer service.” A few themed areas that address quality of work performance are easier to absorb than a laundry list of specific problems.

In addition to grading the employee on his actual performance, you may wish to simultaneously grade him on his potential performance, AIHR Analytics says. Consider the incentive you could provide an employee whose sense of completeness is “average” but shows “excellent” potential with a few helpful tweaks.

Get Feedback and Respond

Ask your employee to comment on areas of concern. Prompt him to discuss both what he enjoys most about those tasks and where he struggles. This approach sets up a dialogue that you can use to work together to help him improve his performance. For example, if the employee acknowledges avoiding follow-up phone calls, use the discussion to find out why and then work with him to strategize a better response.

Meanwhile, respond to your employee’s comments to show that you’ve heard and understood them. Otherwise, there’s a risk the employee will feel disregarded. If you need to revisit an area of friction, keep the conversation constructive and proactive to reduce the potential for defensiveness. Focus on improving the employee’s performance by using weaknesses as learning opportunities.

For example, if you’re unhappy with how the employee has set up displays, offer to spend time after hours explaining your approach or suggest a seminar on merchandising. It’s important to be specific, just as you would with the words to describe a good performance.

Provide Constructive Feedback

Emphasize your employee’s job performance in relation to their personal goals. Helping employees recognize the connection between the skills they are learning and their goals will motivate them to address areas of weakness.

For example, an employee who wants to go into marketing but has weak organizational skills might not realize the effect of a disorganized presentation. Show the employee that customers often perceive disorganization as amateurish, resulting in a poor impression and diminished presentation.

The power of feedback shouldn’t be minimized, even if it’s not 100 percent positive. For a dedicated employee, GovLoop says feedback can increase motivation, engagement on the job and productivity while imparting important career development lessons.

Terminating an Employee

Focus on a poor fit, or your inability to provide sufficient training, if you have to terminate an employee. Emphasize the positive aspects of the employee’s performance and suggest jobs that might be a better match for his skills or additional training from which he might benefit. Keeping the conversation proactive when the review becomes an exit interview can reduce defensiveness and might help your employee find a more satisfying position elsewhere