PERFORMANCE REVIEWS AND MANAGING UP
Over the years, a recurring theme for me when coaching senior managers is how important it is to ensure they coach managers who are their direct reports. Coaching your direct reports is the most effective way to cascade effective leadership behaviours.
Take Staff Performance Reviews.
In every industry that I have coached, way too many managers have been inconsistent in the way they give feedback between performance reviews. Waiting until salary increases, promotions, or other target-linked rewards are at stake is a recipe for disaster and, to be frank, callous. Why wait six months after an issue to address it with the person?
Ambitious and high potential staff will book meetings with managers for reviews throughout the year. The review meetings are cancelled or moved for various reasons - because they are not seen as a priority. Imagine being too busy to manage your team? In some cases, it's a single member of staff. The mind boggles.
Anyway, here are some tips I have given early to mid careerists about managing up when these things occur.
Be clear to managers that regular feedback/feedforward around your performance is important to you.
Keep written records of the times you have booked in for said meetings (and the ones they might cancel) and the comments you receive.
Ask your manager what three things they specifically need from you to do a great job and tell them the three things you need from them to do a great job.
Have conversations with other staff/friends in the industry about how they approach missed meetings or catchups with their managers. Success leaves clues
Where possible, find a mentor (it doesn’t have to be formal) that can give you pointers on how to manage up.
I have had careerists ask their line manager's manager to identify what they have done well and what has put them in their position. A riskier but bold move.
Ask for areas of both strength and weakness that you need to build on long before the review. Again, make notes of this during or just after the meeting.
It is essential to have a robust channel of communication with managers throughout the year. However, it is also important to recognise that not all managers have been trained or coached on managing, so sometimes you may have to manage up.
Some managers fear smarter and more talented people under their direct management - it is not your job to correct that. That is the task of senior leadership and their shaping of culture in the organisation. Still, you can influence your outcomes by considering and acting on some of the above bullet points.
Many people I know who adopted this approach ended up making sure their management style considered feedback/reviews long before the annual one.
In my next post, I will address the role of managers to ensure they don’t drop the ball on performance reviews for their direct reports.
