Mid-Year Review: Tips & Techniques for Delivering Meaningful Feedback WORKSHOP AGENDA

Target Audience: Total Time Required: Duratio n

5 minutes

Directors, Managers, Supervisors 30 to 45 minutes

Topic
Introduction and Welcome Introduce facilitators and participants. Why do we invest time in preparing and conducting mid-year reviews? How does it benefit the company? To communicate, build relationships and improve employee productivity and morale. It helps ensure we stay on track to achieve strategic business goals and get expected results. What do you want to get from this session? (target content more specifically to meet these goals) Goals for this session: o Review each component of the Mid-Year Review form and how to complete it. o Introduce the performance wheel and how it helps to identify the cause of performance gaps. o Share some best practices for how to prepare and deliver mid-year feedback to seize the coaching moment! Group Discussion Lets Review steps for completing Mid-year Review Form. This is a tool meant to provide you with notes for a conversation about performance. It is not as formal as the annual review. (handout form and worksheet) Review each component of Mid-year Review form Base feedback on business results and the behaviors used to get those results No ratings assigned at Mid-year Solicit feedback from other people (yours and other departments who interact with the employee) Give specific feedback (provide examples) Where possible, connect feedback and new goals with our Dream BIG Strategy (customer obsession, fashion execution, brand consideration, value clarified and motivate the team)
On the worksheet, briefly review these key points:

10 minutes

Writing the Review Have the employees 2010 Performance Review handyyoull need to refer to the comments and goals. What are the criteria for success in this employees role? What skills are in the greatest demand at The Wet Seal right now? In the future? How does the employee impact Dream BIG? (customer obsession, fashion execution, motivate the team) How do others see the employee? What is his/her reputation? Is the employee motivated to reach his/her goals? Try to identify 3 or 4 strengths and 1 or 2 opportunities.

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Strengths

Where has the employee been successful? What contributed to that

success?

In what ways does the employee contribute to the task? To the team? To the company? In what areas do others turn to the employee for assistance? Are others confident in the employees skills? To leverage the employees strengths, he/she should do more of Opportunities Where has the employee been least successful? Why? What areas is the employee not making a contribution in that are important to the role? In what areas does the employee turn to others for assistance? Does the employee have a potential blind spot? Does the employee need to do something more frequently?

Revised 8/16/11 The wet seal, Inc. Confidential Information Do not duplicate or distribute outside of this company.

Duratio n

Topic
Goals for Improvement How long should this section be? No more than 2 or 3 sentences. What type of information should be listed here? How is this different from the goals/objectives section of the form? When do we fill this part of the form out? (after meeting with employee and getting agreement on next steps) Setting Goals/Objectives What is progress against goals set from 2010 Performance Review? How do you write performance goals? (SMART goals are best!) What is the right number of goals to set at mid-year? How will you involve the employee in setting goals and gaining agreement on a way forward? How do you set goals for a new employee who has been with the company only a month or two? Supervisor Comments How long should this section be? (No more than 5 or 6 sentences a small, descriptive summary) What is written here? What should not be written here? What will add to the review and make the feedback more meaningful? Does this to summarize your feedback and create a snapshot of the employees performance? Do you provide a call to action for next steps, to keep improving/developing employee performance? The Mid-Year Review Process Are employees supposed to do a self evaluation? Does anyone review/approve the form before I conduct the Mid-Year Review meeting? When are these forms due? What do I do with the form once it is complete? When do I refer to it again? Who should get a copy of the form? What if the employee refuses to sign the form? What other questions do you have? TRANSITION: If you have inspired someone to do more, learn more and be more, then you are a leader. Margaret Thatcher Now that weve discussed how to use the tool, we thought wed spend the rest of our time focused on how you can share more meaningful feedback and deliver a successful mid-year review. As you evaluate an employees performancestrengths and development opportunities, what is usually the first thing youll think about? Listen for: their knowledge and skills. But there is actually so much more than just knowledge and skills when it comes to high performers.

5 minutes

Revised 8/16/11 The wet seal, Inc. Confidential Information Do not duplicate or distribute outside of this company.

5 minutes

Introduce Concept: The Performance Wheel: Focus, Faith, Fire Besides the knowledge and skills we bring to any role, there are 3 other factors that impact our performance: Focus: what we pay attention to Faith: Our beliefs about ourselves, our abilities and about others abilities Fire: Our energy commitment and level of engagement What does less than high performance look like? If a Lack of focus: inconsistent, unproductive Lack of faith: insecure, wont take risks Lack of fire: indifferent, careless When giving feedback for your mid-year reviews, if you really want to impact performance, think about your employees performance in terms of these three factors what are natural strengths to build on and what may be lacking? Link back to the questions we discussed earlier that are strengths or opportunities for development.

Duratio n
5 minutes

Topic
TRANSITION: Now lets look at the Top 10 Ways to Give a Great Mid-Year Review. TOP 10 WAYS TO GIVE A GREAT MID-YEAR REVIEW Each topic will appear on a slide and ask questions/generate discussion and examples on each topic:

1. 2.

Be prepared. Make sure you are fully prepared before sitting down with the employee. Decide both what you're going to say and how you're going to say it. Lead with the positive. Reaffirm the employees strengths at the beginning of the review. Since job security is the number one concern of most people, the mid-year review is a good time to tell an employee how much you value their contributions to your business.

3.

Dont be confrontational. Its important not to criticize the employee in general terms. The goal is to evaluate job performance and not the person. A mid-year review that turns into a gripe session misses the opportunity to raise employee morale (feed the FIRE) and impact performance.

4. 5.

Keep it real. Avoid detailed reviews that are too complicated and lengthy, which can leave the employee wondering exactly what the feedback was. Be consistent. Make sure to handle performance reviews in a consistent manner. Top performers should hear affirmations from you regarding their exemplary efforts; weak performers need to hear that their performance requires improvement. Evaluate work based on quantity and quality relative to the job requirements. Consider how well your employee demonstrates Focus, Faith and Fire. And how well does the employee support our Dream BIG vision?

6.

Make it a two-way conversation. An effective performance review requires an interactive discussion with an open agenda. Try to formulate questions that seek the employees ideas and input. Remember, this will help the employee feel you value his or her opinions. The review should also be a forum for employees to voice their concerns.

7.

Address whats important to the employee. Since job satisfaction is the most important factor affecting an employees attitude (and therefore his or her level of performance and value to your company), an effective mid-year review should delve into areas that include issues most important to that employee.

8.

Discuss work/life balance. The mid-year review is a good opportunity to show your concern for the employees work/life balance, and to jointly discuss solutions to improve that balance. Its also a good time to update the employees plan for career advancement and discuss future opportunities.
Revised 8/16/11 The wet seal, Inc. Confidential Information Do not duplicate or distribute outside of this company.

9.

Be a good listener. Remember to be an active listener and to pick up on your employees verbal and nonverbal cues.

10.

Follow up. Discuss with the employee when and how often you will follow up on agreed upon development goals. Its up to you to make this more than a paper in the file, but to bring development to life throughout the year and seize opportunities to praise and coach performance in the moment. 5 minutes TRANSITION: As we said, part of being prepared for the mid-year review means that youve given careful thought not only to what you are saying but how you will say it. Handout Coaching Planner. We know that sometimes employees are not aware or resistant to accepting the feedback we have to share. We have a tool here to help you prepare for difficult conversations to overcome this barrier and communicate more effectively to help the employee improve performance. Review each part of the form and discuss how it is used. Suggest that the HR team is happy to support you in preparing for and conducting difficult conversations. Conclusion and Next Steps Reminder of due dates Resources and support available Any final questions? Best of luck!

Revised 8/16/11 The wet seal, Inc. Confidential Information Do not duplicate or distribute outside of this company.