Employee evaluation conversations have the potential to be a very powerful tool for producing desired results, satisfied employees and successful managers. Follow this road map to facilitate conversation and achieve a clear, mutual agreement.

It's that time of year again! Now that the holiday season has passed, it's time for the season of Performance Evaluations. Of course there are those situations where you just want to document someone's ornery behavior and give them a ticket on the next train to Podunk. What follows does not apply to those situations. I have done my best to provide a quick tutorial for using the "10 Essential Elements of Effective Agreements" as a guide for having the employment evaluation conversation. I am pleased to say that this message will be part of an upcoming American Management Association Webinar. I hope you find it useful.

I suggest that you think of the employment evaluation as one step in the ongoing process of developing trust and sustainable collaboration with all of the people you have the responsibility for evaluating. Think of the framework of reaching an agreement as a good way to make explicit the assumptions often left implicit and a potential source of conflict and disagreement. Think of the value of this difficult conversation as an opportunity to produce a road map for the dialogue that creates a partnership for success and improvement.

BIG PRINCIPLES

I suggest that embracing the following values for the process will carry you a long way. Rather than thinking in terms of a second grade teacher finding fault or giving a grade, please think in terms of the process as follows:

• Learning – it is about giving and receiving information
• Listening – that is how the bridge is built
• Developmental – it is about improvement and life-long learning
• Partnership – everyone committed to each other's and organizational success
• Responsibility – for what each person has committed to
• Communication – we must stay mindful of using our best skills
• Commitment – a serious two-way dialogue with a great deal of "atstakeness"

Please remember that the purpose of evaluations is:

• Improvement – what can we do better?
• Coaching and Guidance – how can we do better?
• Feedback and Communication – giving and receiving and connecting
• Compensation – a key point of discussion
• Staffing and Development – making sure the Human Resources needed are provided
• Problem Performers and Documentation – letting people go without trauma and legal wrangling

Remember - The Big Three: Why People Work

• Pride – in their product or service
• Relationships – we all need the connections
• Compensation – supporting ourselves

"Everyone wants to success!"

Conversational Road Map - The value of a map is that difficult conversations that might otherwise ramble or not be complete can proceed with a structure and confidence you are not missing anything.

Cycle of Resolution - The steps of a larger process you can use when this otherwise difficult conversation generates a level of conflict.

Abilene Paradox – Awareness that without explicit agreements desired "collaborations" are a breeding ground for conflict.

Attitude of Resolution - Having the proper mindset and framing the evaluation as a collaborative developmental partnership where discussion and differences are present is part of the territory

LAWS OF AGREEMENT

Understanding that:

1. Collaboration is the source of all productivity.
2. We collaborate through explicit and implicit agreements.
3. We work and live in a "sea" of agreements.
4. We never learned the elements of effective agreements.
5. Clear agreements express shared vision and a road map.
6. Clear agreements improve the chances for satisfaction.
7. Practice enables crafting masterful agreements.
8. No matter how good the agreement, conflict will arise.
9. Breakdowns are an opportunity for creativity.
10. 10.Resolving conflicts leads to a new agreement.

MANIFESTATION

Making your vision real requires understanding that:

1. Thoughts manifest in physical form.
2. Feed yourself thoughts that reflect the reality you want.
3. Express your vision in your thoughts.
4. Be specific and discerning about your vision for the future.
5. Agreements are powerful tools for manifestation.
6. Agreements help produce satisfaction and acquisition.
7. Consciousness about our thoughts makes us human.
8. You can choose what you think.
9. See #1.

AGREEMENT TEMPLATE

Developing an Agreement for Results: Creating a Collaborative Developmental Partnership

A dialogue that includes the following ten elements will go a long way toward building trust and clarity about expectations and desired results. The questions following each element are good things to think about before the conversation.

1. INTENT & VISION: Developing Shared Vision of Success for Everyone
   • What are we doing together?
   • What is our relationship about?
   • What does it look like if we are successful?
   • What do we want to accomplish together?
   • What is the real purpose of the review process?
   • How can we make the review process valuable for both of us?
   • What does each one of us want out of the review process?
   • How can we each make sure the other gets what they need?
2. ROLES: Who's Responsible
   • What part will each of us take in making the vision a reality?
   • What will each one of us be responsible for?
3. PROMISES: Action Steps
   • What will each one of us do to make our vision a reality?
   • What specifically can we rely on each other for?
4. TIME / VALUE: How Long / How Much
   • "By when" will we complete our promises?
   • How long does our commitment last?
   • What is the value each of us will contribute?
   • What value will each of us take from the collaboration?
   • Does each one of us believe we will be getting at least as much as we are contributing? Is this enough to motivate us to keep our promises?
5. MEASUREMENTS OF SATISFACTION: Objective Metrics
   1. What objective metrics will we use to determine success?
   2. How will we know we produced what we envisioned?
6. CONCERNS AND FEARS: Personal "Chatter"
   • Are we ready to move forward together in partnership with a clear mind and heart, or are there things that are troubling?
   • What might the other do to ally our fears?
7. RENEGOTIATION: Changing Circumstances
   • Can we both agree that we do not know and cannot predict everything that may surface as we make our vision a reality?
   • Are we willing to engage and renegotiate when circumstances change or things happen we did not anticipate?
8. CONSEQUENCES: Non-Performance
   • What are the consequences to each of us if we do not achieve our vision? To our team? Our organization? Our customers?
   • What kind of penalty for breaking promises will serve to remind us that we did break a promise?
9. CONFLICT RESOLUTION:
   • How will we resolve the inevitable conflicts that will come up?
   • Can we promise to engage with each other?
   • Do we recognize the huge cost of unresolved conflict?
   • Is there a person we can go to for help?
   • Is there a process we both believe in?
10. AGREEMENT? Yes / No
    • After discussing all of the above do we trust enough to move forward together?
    • Do we have an agreement?

SUMMARY

An employee evaluation conversation that results in a clear, mutual agreement is a very powerful tool for producing desired results, satisfied employees and successful managers.