Meaningful performance reviews
Creating clearer expectations, simpler processes and more useful performance conversations across a national professional services firm.
79% agreed the revised performance and development review was more streamlined and simplified compared with the previous year. This was one of several positive findings from an evaluation of changes to a firm-wide review process.
The firm was moving from separately managed offices to an integrated national firm. Its performance review processes needed to:
Better align with the firm’s strategy and values.
Become more consistent and easier for everyone to use.
Create greater clarity about expected standards of performance and behaviours.
Achieve a greater balance between what people achieved and how they achieved it.
The first post implementation review involved surveying HR Business Partners and a representative sample of team members and managers across four job families (close to 300 people).
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What did I do?
I developed a firm-wide competency framework to outline expectations by job family and role.
I interviewed subject matter experts and key stakeholders.
Conducted document reviews.
Facilitated staged reviews to refine the competency statements.
I redesigned the review forms and processes based on prior feedback.
I developed an intranet site, communication and workshop materials to inform and equip partners, leaders and team members to use the new forms, tools and frameworks.
I supported the full implementation of the annual process 2 years in a row.
I created and facilitated a structured post-implementation review to inform further improvements. Each year refinements were made based on the feedback.
Next steps and reflections
There were also clear areas for improvement executed the following year including shorter forms, improved intranet navigation and additional team-member and manager briefings.
A subsequent post implementation review reported more user-friendly forms, easier intranet navigation and fewer queries. Whilst these improvements were valued, further work was required to continue to embed role clarity, development planning and differentiated performance ratings.