Welcome to LarkApp's How to Run a Great Performance Review series! In this post 6 (of 6), we’ll go over best practices on translating the results of your review into action, including tips on getting feedback on the review process, helping your teams continue the conversation, and tying feedback to actions.

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Once your review cycle is over, you’ll probably ask yourself — where do I go from here? Your results should ideally translate to actionable insights. The performance review should not be a formality to be forgotten about, but a path to actual development. Read below for some best practices on navigating the post-review period.

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(1) Do a post-mortem analysis

We know you just spent a lot of time on this review, but this is the perfect time to start thinking about your next one! Performance management is an ongoing process, and understanding the strengths and weaknesses of each review cycle will help you improve your system in the long run. Aim to:

• Get managerial feedback — one lightweight way to do so is putting an agenda item in recurring manager meetings (e.g. weekly execs syncs) for a a quick post-mortem of the review process.
• Conduct a brief optional survey soon after the review that includes questions on highlights and areas of improvement for the process.

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(2) Give pointers for the organization to continue the conversation

Reviews are only one aspect of performance management — they should be treated as periodic overviews of a continuous dialogue about performance, not the whole enchilada of performance conversations. A couple of things you can do to encourage ongoing performance discussions are:

• Send managers best practices on giving continuous feedback
• Recommend that managers kickstart weekly or bi-weekly 1:1s if they are not happening already

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(3) Create goals around L&D and performance

The post-review period is a great time to tie review results into development and performance goals. Linking feedback to goals positions the review as a future-oriented process and makes the feedback more concrete. With this orientation, employees can attach their drive to improve to tangible, impactful benchmarks — leaving less room for subjective interpretation.

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(4) Document post-review progress

We recommend documenting all progress updates that come out of the review process — the aim is for this review to inform the next review, and so on. Specifically, managers and employees should keep an ongoing record of the employee’s steps toward meeting the goals set in the review, developing strengths, and improving weaknesses. Relying on memory alone is too subjective — documenting progress ensures a more systematic way of looking at what has and has not improved since the review.

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(5) Update leadership on benefits

No one wants yet another drain on everyone’s time. Aligning the company’s leadership team on the success of the desired outcomes will go a long way in ensuring that the review process gets the resources and attention that it deserves. ROI can be illustrated both quantitatively (an aggregated employee satisfaction score) and qualitatively (quotes and anecdotes from review participants).

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This concludes the How to Run a Great Performance Review series — thanks for reading! We hope that our insights inspires you to run a productive, seamless review. Check out CareerLark Reviews if you’re interested in software that can help you wit this process.

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