"I know this is awkward"

It is performance review time and Fred, the manager, needs to give feedback to his new employee, Ethel. Ethel worked for Ricky most of the year, but joined Fred’s team about 6-8 weeks ago. Fred’s job is to convey Ricky’s information, keep Ethel engaged in the conversation, and be future-oriented. (10:15 minutes)

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Lessons Learned

• Set a positive tone and language - Set a positive tone. Despite the impulse to do all the talking and make this about the manager’s need to convey information, try to start with a positive tone that is about building the team, together with the employee.

• Be honest - acknowledge the awkwardness. Fred and Ethel are in an awkward position. Acknowledge that fact. Ethel talked about the relevance of talking about information that Fred hasn’t necessarily seen firsthand. Fred acknowledges her statement as a true fact, but agrees to do the best he can. This prevents the concern from being a “show-stopper.”

• Ask what the employee needs from you - Fred took a risk to ask Ethel what she needed from him. She wasn’t able to respond right in the moment, but it did open the door to future conversations where she can ask for something from Fred. Fred seemed to be open to being a partner in creating Ethel’s success

• Create a plan - What happens next? How will success be defined? At the end of the conversation, both Fred and Ethel agreed to a plan to develop her action plan. There will be multiple conversations. Fred wants to take the “guess-work” out of knowing whether Ethel has been successful. Create a plan to define the behaviors as clearly and succinctly as possible.

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