MY DIRECT REPORTS AND I TALK ALL THE TIME

“I Don’t Need 360 Feedback; My Direct Reports and I Talk All the Time  (Not)”

Let’s be clear: Conversation is not performance management. No way, no how.And just as that’s true for assessing performance down the ladder, it’s also true for getting effective, meaningful assessments of managers from their direct reports.

It doesn’t matter that you’re a personable manager who enjoys chatting it up with your direct reports around the proverbial water cooler. Or that you play together on the company softball team or hang out at the local pub.

It doesn’t matter that you think regular staff meetings and an open-door policy are good enough means of communication for your direct reports to let you know their concerns about how you’re doing your job — or if they want to praise and support you.

So, we’ll say it again: Conversation is not performance management. You may be talking, but you’re sure not engaging in performance assessments in any valid meaning of the term.

In Fierce Leadership, executive training authority Susan Scott puts it this way: “Simply having the conversation isn’t enough. It’s the quality of the conversation that matters. Conversations provide clarity or confusion. They invite cross-boundary collaboration and cooperation or add concertina wire to the walls between well-defended fiefdoms.”

Many 360 reviews fail because, at best, managers mistake casual office conversation for performance assessment input. At worst, managers use the veil of office camaraderie as concertina wire atop the walls Scott refers to.

In short, managers often confuse “conversation” with performance management because they or their organization lack a plan for communication that is specifically centered on defining performance goals and establishing formal performance management.

The solution is to develop a culture-wide appreciation for the power of discussing performance assessments in the “right environment” and at the appropriate time. That ain’t the water cooler, the softball field or the local pub.

To help get you there, Roland Smith and Michael Campbell, co-authors of Talent Conversations: What They Are, Why They’re Crucial, and How To Do Them Right, offer these six steps to guide a true talent management discussion: 

1. Clarify the goal
2. Explore the issues
3. Identify the options
4. Set expectations
5. Motivate
6. Identify the plan

As Smith and Campbell say, a conversation of performance assessment is not done to someone but with someone.