What type of student were you back in the day?
When it was time for report cards, were you rushing to show your parents your grades?
Or were you rushing to trash the report card before they could ever see them?
Great entrepreneurs are cut from both cloths.
But one thing few entrepreneurs realize is that report cards are a crucial part of growing your business.
The only difference is that they’re not called report cards, they’re called performance evaluations.
A lot of people recoil at this idea, but it’s not as cringeworthy as you think…
… and it could be the key you’ve been looking for to retain and develop good talent.
Think about it.
When you knew you had a killer report card, how did you feel? Were you nervous, or ashamed? No! You were on top of the world and you wanted everyone to know.
A lot of business owners feel weird “grading” their employees. But from your perspective, nothing could make more sense than a regular performance review.
First of all, it pushes you to keep track of your employee’s performance. Your money is going into their pockets, so I’d say it’s pretty damn important to know if that investment is paying off. You want to see if they’re delivering on expectations you set when they started off, or if they’re over or under delivering.
By doing it regularly, you get the chance to quickly course correct if things are going off the rails and address the cause of the issue.
If you’ve got an employee who’s crushing it, they’re going to be excited to get the evaluation, and you’re going to be happy to deliver it. It gives you a structured way to provide positive feedback, while providing an easy environment to deliver constructive feedback.
If you have an employee who isn’t performing no matter what, the evaluations are a way to let them know there’s an issue, and even let them go, in a way that is fair and objective.
In addition, performance evaluations are perfect times to set new goals with your employees. These goals should be a mix of goals for the business, but also development goals that are personally important to your employees. By helping your employees develop where they want to grow, you’re not only empowering them and building a deeper connection to the business, but you are also creating more skilled employees.
I understand the gut reaction against performance evaluations, but if you’re running a business, you know what needs to be done is rarely easy.
As Tim Ferriss says, “A person’s success in life can usually be measured by the number of uncomfortable conversations he or she is willing to have.”
If you’re ready to get started with performance evaluations for your employees, then you should check out my free template that gives you everything you need to get started.
Check out the performance evaluation template here.
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