Employee Review - Comfort in the Uncomfortable
The Mid-Year Review
Even in a practice that prioritizing ongoing feedback for the team, it is important to have a mid-year review to discuss a team member’s goals, performance and development. According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), a formal six-month performance appraisal allows for mid-year adjustments and prevents surprises at the year-end performance and compensation review. The mid-year review, which is more dialogue than assessment, provides the following benefits:
Provides constructive feedback on areas for improvement - For both team member goals and overall practice processes.
Recognizing strong work and goals accomplished - Studies find that team members value praise and appreciation over a raise.
Eliminating hurdles to goal achievement - Determine and eliminate the obstacles preventing practice and team member goals from being accomplished.
Rethinking goals when needed - Reevaluate the priority of the goals based on changes in the practice over the first six months.
Assessing job satisfaction and ways to improve it - A recent study found that there is a 20% gap between an employee’s perception of well-being (fancy word for job satisfaction) and the employer’s perception.
Providing feedback for the manager and organization - Gather information from team members on potential ways that you can improve as a leader.
Improving employee engagement - People crave lots of things from a job but predictability and respect are high on that list. The scheduled mid-year review provides both.
To make these meetings meaningful, you will need to lean into the uncomfortable and ask questions that you may not want to know (but need to know ) the answers to like:
Why did you join this practice and are we meeting your expectations?
Do you respect me as a dentist and leader?
Do you feel like you belong and have a clear understanding of your role in the success of the practice?
What is getting in the way of you doing your best work?
By asking these open-ended coaching-style questions, you can move away from the classic performance review checklist to establish a closer bond with your team members. If you this type of dialogue makes your nervous (it certainly is not my comfort zone), try adding just one or two open-ended questions to a traditional performance review.