Organisations separate the calendar year a bit like Moses parted the Red Sea. 30th June has now come and gone and, before you could ask "Where is that appraisal form?" half an orbit around the sun has taken place. If you're anything like Moses, you probably have an army of pursuers bearing down on you demanding updates on priorities, along with delivery on promises and commitments you've made.
A Mid-Year Development and Performance Check-In might seem like an arbitrary tick-box exercise with a team member or a manager, but can I offer three possible ways to make your Development and Performance Check-In more meaningful. This might just breathe some new life into your check-in and open up new possibilities for the second half of 2023.
Reflect on both the past and the future.
Albert Einstein said "Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning." Take time to look at what you learned and noticed about the last 6 months and what is important to focus on in the future. Reflective questions here include: What worked well? What could have worked better? What might I/you do more or less of?
Go beyond the work at hand by reflecting on the quality of the working relationships and possible development needs.
In review conversations, it is typical of organisations and managers to fixate on getting the work done. Unfortunately, this is only one third of the story. In essence, the work only gets done well when (a) healthy trust-based relationships are in place and people are coordinating their action with one another effectively; and (b) we identify and take action on the skills and development we need to do the work both today and in the future.
Document and follow through on commitments and actions.
Organisations are built on a multitude of promises and commitments...The mid-year review meeting can be a re-affirmation of the commitments we have made to ourselves and one-another. It is a chance to name them, re-order them, even re-negotiate them but a word of warning...nothing destroys organisational culture and trust more quickly than broken promises and commitments. Use the check-in time to get clear on them, set realistic timelines and plans to complete them.
Over the past two years, we at Oasis People and Culture have become even more convinced in the power and significance of managers and employees investing time in quality conversations that relate to development and performance at work. Our proprietary 4Boxes software, together with transformational learning, help to develop relational health and maturity for high performance in organisations.
