A meeting to evaluate a staff member’s performance can be as educational for you as it is for the employee, according to Lisa Patry, partner and consultant with Advisor Pathways in Ottawa.
While team members will learn your opinion on their major strengths and weaknesses, you will have a chance to gain their input on their role within the practice. This exchange of information can be enlightening for you, as the way your team members understand their position can be different from your view.
Here are three steps you can take to gain a better understanding of team members’ contributions:
> Get staff input on business processes
Ask your team member about tasks or programs in the office that don’t usually involve you, Patry says. There may be concerns that you are not aware of.
“You don’t need to know how to do a lot of the administrative aspects [of a team member’s role],” Patry says. “But you should have a rough idea.”
This is especially true if the issue involves interaction with your firm’s head office.
For example, your firm has implemented a new procedure for requesting marketing materials. You don’t see anything wrong with it but your team has been experiencing delays in getting the items you need before client visits. It may be necessary for you to speak to the appropriate person and ask if there is any way to speed up the process.
> Understand the team member’s changing role
Whether your business is going through a growth spurt or is adapting to regulatory changes, it is important to know how these changes affect your team members’ jobs. You should be aware of increases to their workloads and understand how such changes can affect client service.
For example, let’s say your administrative assistant is responsible for inputting your client-meeting notes into your client relationship management software. Those notes are likely to be more in-depth now that the second phase of the client relationship model legislation (CRM 2) requires you to prove you have discussed fees with your clients.
Without your realizing it, those extra minutes of conversation can change the speed at which your assistant works. Acknowledging such changes is key to knowing how quickly your team is able to deliver on your requests for information and other tasks.
> Follow up after the review
Don’t leave your team hanging when it comes to resolving the issues discussed during the performance review.
If the discussion resulted in the promise of an action, report on the outcome. If a team member is adapting to a new process or technology, check in and see if he or she is more comfortable with it or is interested in further discussion or training.
This is the second part in a two-part series on staff performance-review meetings.