If you are still stuck with annual appraisals, you are giving managers a massive ‘neuro-science’ headache.

Conversations about performance happen at essentially three levels, and mixing it all up usually results in everyone feeling muddled and let down by the outcomes.

So – what are the levels, and how do you make it clear to managers when to use them?

I find a sporting analogy makes it really clear…

‘IN-MATCH COACHING’ | LEVEL ONE

During a match or competition, a coach might be saying ‘watch the defender’, ‘keep your eye on the ball’, ‘stay focused’, and so on.

For managers this means giving plenty of ‘in the moment’ feedback.  This might be specific praise for a piece of work well done, or a short private discussion immediately following a situation where a team member’s behaviour had a negative impact on others.   It might be an email thanking someone for turning up early, or it might be a short phone call when a deadline is missed, to ascertain if there is a real problem to be addressed. 

The more ‘in the moment’ feedback there is, the fewer long-term problems will develop, and the more likely the team is to perform well.

‘POST MATCH DEBRIEF’ | LEVEL TWO

After a match or competition, a coach might help you reflect on what happened, what went well, where to focus your development effort in the next few weeks, and what you can learn from the experience.

For your managers, this is the classic ‘1-2-1’ conversation.  It’s often about projects, budgets, delivery, case-work and so on, but it’s NOT a project management meeting.  It’s about performance:

• What has gone well in the last few weeks, and what can be learnt? 
• What went wrong, and what can be learnt? 
• Are there immediate capability or development needs that are hindering performance? 
• Are working relationships going well? 
• Is it important to explore other matters now (well-being for example)? 

The ‘post match debrief’ conversation is the life blood of a high performing organisation.  It happens like clockwork on a well-understood frequency.  Ironically, because it works so well, the value of the ongoing conversations may not be explicitly recognised by some employees.  It can come as a shock when employees move to an organisation lacking such habits, to find that there are not regular check-ins, and that performance is not really managed at all.  

‘WIN THE LEAGUE, BE ON THE PODIUM’ | LEVEL THREE

Two or three times a year, you and your coach would sit back and reflect on progress to date, and make a bigger plan aimed at achieving your sporting ambition for the year.  For example, winning a league, a trophy or even a gold medal.  You might consider perhaps learning a new technique, improving overall fitness, or changing your approach to competing.    It’s a time for exploring how to make the most of your potential and opportunities.

The ‘win the league, be on the podium’ conversation is often the ‘stuck on at the end if we have time’ part of an annual appraisal.  Done well, this conversation is challenging, thought-provoking, and designed to lead to significant performance improvement over time. 

Ideally, it is focused around longer term ambitions for both the employee and the organisation:

• Where is the organisation going?
• Is there a role that the employee can see for themselves? 
• What would a step change in performance look like, and how could we make that happen? 
• How can personal ambitions be best realised within the organisation?  What might need to change?  What development would bring the ambition closer?  

This conversation is the difference between an organisation that manages execution well, and an organisation that has the collective will of its employees to make a difference in the world, whatever that might look like. 

An organisation that manages these conversations well, attracts and retains good people for the long term, and enables them to realise their ambitions. It creates a high performing culture where people are both able and willing to do their best work every day.

It’s vital that all employees understand there are different types of conversations, and are able to participate in each of them fully

When we explain the 3 levels of performance conversations using this analogy, most managers quickly see the differences, and understand why trying to have all three conversations at the same time would be deeply confusing.   It’s why we know that simply ‘abandoning appraisals’ does not create the shift in performance that many leaders hope for.

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