Here it is 2012 and it has been a great start to a new year. I was seeing some articles starting to appear in December about Performance Reviews. And then last week, I got phone call from a former co-worker who is a Maintenance Supervisor I hired at a property before I left. He was upset about his score and wanted to tell me about the experience. Mostly, he had a rough year because he was hired by me, someone he had worked with for several years prior, and was now working with a new manager who by all intents and purposes is inept and should never have been hired. (But when you leave a position, even under good circumstances and terms, they don't ask you your opinion on the person they intend to hire for your former position.) In any event, I told him not to pay any attention to HER review as she doesn't know what she's talking about anyway .... The problem with that is that his review is proportionately tied to his raise.
This got me to thinking. I have always been a fan a reviews and knowing where I stand with a person or an organization. I am not always a fan of the process though. Personally, I think the Annual Performance Review should not be tied to a raise or to a Bonus or any other form of compensation. I think the Annual Performance Review should be a two-way learning opportunity, much like a job interview. You want to say the right thing, whatever that may be, and you want to make sure everything is clicking so it is a good fit for everyone involved.
I feel that a Performance Review should take place in January anyway, at the beginning of the new fiscal year and not at the end. I think this should be the time for forward thinking, not backward thinking. How can you move forward and set new goals unless you know where you have been?
Wouldn't it be great to sit down with one's supervisor and discuss rationally all the happenings of the past year? The successes and the failures, and the how-can-we-do-this-better this year conversation? I really hate the usual forms that companies have supervisors fill out with the stupid categories of: Arrives on time each day? Check! Well groomed, appearance related category? Check! Met goals? Really - please define these goals. I can tell you from personal experience with that company my former co-worker was upset with, they have no clue as to the goals previously set, so how do they score you on this?
When I hold an Annual Review, I want it to be conversational with some give and take. I want it to be constructive and I always offer positive feedback first. I think that the Annual Review should address all previous "counseling notices" just to make sure those sticky issues have been resolved and will no longer be a problem in the new year. And that is where that would stop. To me, if there are still issues within those areas, then it becomes another counseling session and not an Annual Review. I also believe strongly that whatever I tell an employee, my team member, I better be able to back it up with documented facts. For example, when I am talking to turn techs, I want to document the number of great turns completed, the number of updates made in an apartment that increased the rental rate and made us all money. I want to let the Leasing professionals know their final closing ratios for the previous year (we go over these weekly anyway) and I want to hear them tell me how they plan to increase them! I want to hear their ideas on making the team function better and what I can do to assist them in accomplishing that.
I also like to take the time to actually set new goals with the team at the beginning of the year. Not that I am a cheerleader (exactly), but I feel the entire group should meet and go over all the successes and failures and create a team plan for pulling together to increase our ROI, NOI and decrease turnover costs (keep more Residents? Great! How! Provide better customer service! Great! How? - You get the idea.) In my experience no one in the larger companies has ever done that with me in property management. Somehow, I think some higher-ups seem to encourage the reactive rather than proactive, the negative reinforcement rather than the positive reinforcement. I am not, however, advocating sugar coating anything. If the property had a bad fiscal year, we better all know it and do something different to prevent it this year.
I try to offer everyone the chance to evaluate my performance as well. I invite their feedback. I want to know if I am communicating the needs of the property clearly. I want to know if I can help in any extra way. I want to hear their ideas! If there is an openness of the manager to accept some feedback this can greatly enhance how comfortable team members are in their job. The culture of the office is important! I know that when people arrive on site, whether it is to lease an apartment, inspect a unit, deliver a service or ask for a job, it is very important that there is a relaxed, welcoming feeling within the office setting.
Finally, managers should not leave critiques to the Annual Review. If this is the first time an employee hears something negative, then shame on that manager. Anyway, people are naturally apprehensive about the whole process. I just wish company policy would not tie one's whole raise to someone else's opinion. Then I would not receive a distressed phone call from a former employee that I think does an outstanding job who is completely feeling diminshed and unworthy and who is now looking for another job.
