jen spencer coaches

Most people know what they do and don’t do well.  And, those that aren’t aware, deserve to be educated.  Here are some top tips on how to give clear, useful performance reviews that will help develop your employee(s).

1.  Have your employee fill out their own evaluation as their manager is getting a full 360 degree view (in some cases this may be you).
2.  Get a FULL 360 degree view (boss, peers, direct reports)
3.  Compare the 360 with their self-assessment.  Marry the results.
4.  Give employee the results.
5.  Meet with employee a week later to help them create a plan of action to leverage strengths, and improve on weaknesses.
6.  Manager and employee check in each quarter to see where the employee is in relationship to their plan.  Manager coaches as need be.

If you have used other proven methods you’d like to recommend?  Please share!

Are you a Solopreneur?  While you may not have employees, you have relationships with vendors and partnerships that help you fulfill your brand and work.  Here are some recommends for how to fulfill this with your vendor relationships, so the cogs can be removed while the valuable relationships can continue to grow and evolve.

Performance Reviews for the Solopreneur (Part 1): Assessing Your Vendors/Alliances/Partnerships

Assessing Your Vendors/Alliances/Partnerships

As a solopreneur, you may not have employees, but successful solopreneurs have partnerships and alliances that help them get their business done… well.

Similar to employee performance reviews, I recommend a partnership review at least once a year to keep the relationship growing and evolving.  Here’s how it might look…

1. Identify the vendors you use regularly to get things done.  Some ideas: designers, assistants (virtual or real life), copywriters, bookkeepers, printers, etc.)
2. List out the top 3 based on volume, their value, their potential impact on your business.
3. Think through each relationship.  Are you happy with the work they produce and results they create for you?  What works beautifully?  What needs some adjustment?
   Some ideas:  communication, timing + deadlines, quality of the work, metrix, costs, etc.
4. At this point, you can make the decision to end a relationship and find some new partners in that domain OR move on to number 5.
5. Find a time to connect in-person with your top pics.  I encourage giving people a heads up that you are looking at ways to be more effective and productive as partners prior to your meeting.  Let them know that you want their input in that conversation.  You might want to help them prepare by giving them a few questions to think about (e.g. what’s working well, what could work better, any other information about growth and/or operational changes that might effect how you work together).
6. Meet.  Share the love.  Share constructive insights.  Solidify your relationship.

Additional Posts to Check out:
Vendor Love
Relationships vs Transactions