A Time to Reflect & Refocus: Mid-year Performance Reviews

In a world of work where the demands for delivering greater results faster have become somewhat routine, and change is a constant part of life, we often forget to press pause and have meaningful performance review conversations with our team members. While many of us accept (begrudgingly at times) the need to have year-end performance reviews, and we have come to terms that we may never get the time to engage in weekly or monthly 1:1’s with all our employees, this is a great time of the year to purposefully and intentionally press that pause button and have at least a mid-year review.

Development and Growth for Mid-Year Performance Reviews

Mid-year reviews are essential in an employee’s development and growth and serve a different purpose than year-end reviews. According to Fast Company, a key difference between mid- and end-of-year reviews is that the former is more relaxed in tone, and the focus is more on communication and further strengthening the relationship we have with our employees. The mid-year review is an opportunity to engage with the employee in a collaborative conversation that centers around:

• Reflection on their accomplishments, challenges, and progress toward goals that were established at the beginning of the year;
• Reassessment of the relevance and priorities of their original goals; and,
• Alignment of the goals for the second part of the year in a way that supports both the organization’s objectives and the employee’s professional/career objectives.

Management Investment

To make the most out of a mid-year performance review, as managers, we can help our employees by:

• Investing the time to prepare for these conversations (e.g., review their performance during the first part of the year, set and communicate a clear agenda, prepare questions to engage them in the process etc.);
• Creating a safe space where thoughts can be exchanged in an open two-way communication that is non-judgmental in nature;
• Focusing on their development by providing feedback on strengths and opportunities for growth and identifying and mitigating for any roadblocks they may encounter along the way; and,
• Helping them to set or refine SMART (i.e., Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound) goals for the remainder of the year.

And as we prepare for and enter this mid-year review with our team members, we need to remember that one size does not fit all! To make this conversation as impactful as possible, we can leverage our understanding (or better yet, our data from tools such as the Predictive Index) to inform our approach.

Creating Opportunities

We can consider factors such as the drive to control one’s own destiny, introversion/extroversion, need for clarity and process, etc. For example, with our high-performing and driven team members, we can start the conversation with a review of all their achievements up to this point in the year. Such employees need to feel that they are making their mark and are acknowledged for it; they also need to be given the opportunity to set their next big challenges for the future. For team members who are more introverted and less likely to engage in “the moment,” we will be much more productive if we provide them with enough advance notice and an agenda with specific topics we would be looking for their input and insights on. That will give them the “headspace” they need to reflect and come to the conversation with well-thought-out ideas and insights.

Mid-year reviews create the opportunity for us to have collaborative, transparent and growth-focused conversations with our employees and avoid any “surprises” during the year-end review. Beyond realigning on performance expectations and goals, mid-year reviews promote and support a culture of employee development and engagement. If we have not yet scheduled or held those conversations, this is a great time for us to go ahead and do so.

If you would like to further explore mid-year review best practices and how to hold effective performance and development conversations, please feel free to reach out to us.