- Do you look forward to performance reviews? I doubt it. Who does? Just the thought of them can fill both employees and managers with dread and anxiety. But what if I told you it doesn't have to be this way? Leadership development professional Dr. Tim Baker noticed a growing discontent with performance reviews. So he re-envisioned them. He felt that traditional appraisals were often too formal, too infrequent, and even stressful. He argued that they should instead focus on identifying and building upon people's innate talents. To do this, he created the Five Conversations Framework. It consists of five different topics. Climate review, Strengths and talents, Opportunities for growth, Learning and development, and Innovation and continuous improvement. Over the course of a year, you discuss one of these themes per month in your appraisals. That means you cover each topic twice a year and leave two months spare for other work. Let's explore each of the different types of conversations and how you can use them to improve your performance reviews. The climate review focuses on job satisfaction, morale, and communication. It's a chance to identify any problems your team member is facing and to find solutions. Let's take a look at how a climate review conversation might take shape.

- [Julia] How are things for you at the moment?

- [Max] Yeah, not bad. Thank you.

- [Julia] So how would you rate your job satisfaction on a scale of one to 10?

- [Max] Pretty good. Perhaps a six or a seven.

- [Julia] Okay, why is that? How can we improve that score?

- [Max] Well, with this big rebranding project that we're focusing on at the moment, I'm actually struggling to get through all my normal day-to-day tasks and it's stressing me out quite a bit.

- [Julia] Okay, well, thanks for your honesty. Unfortunately, we can't put the rebranding project on hold. However, would it help if we look at your workload and delegated some tasks out to others?

- [Max] Yeah, that'd be great actually. Thank you.

- [Presenter] The second conversation is strengths and talents. If you don't already know your team member's innate skills and abilities, this is a great chance to find out. Ask your team member what they most enjoy doing in their job, and discuss how their skills and interests can be used to further develop their role. The third conversation, opportunities for growth, is around improving performance. While this may seem more like a traditional performance review, take care not to simply evaluate your employee. Instead, ask them what they think they need to work on. Then ask what you can do to help.

- [Max] So I'm actually going hard copy journals instead of having everything digital just so it's something more palatable to work with.

- [Julia] So tell me, what areas would you like to improve on?

- [Max] Well, I think I can be more organized when it comes to project timelines. I actually struggle working out what elements to prioritize.

- [Julia] Okay. Yeah, we can definitely look at that a bit more. Is there anything specific that I can do to help you become more organized?

- [Max] It'd be great if we could have more regular check-ins to discuss what things to prioritize and ensure that I'm on track.

- [Julia] Good idea. I'll schedule those check-ins right after this meeting.

- [Max] Thanks.

- [Presenter] During this conversation, you can suggest other areas that you feel your team member should focus on, but try to keep them engaged. It shouldn't become a monologue or a critique. You likely identified some learning and development opportunities in months two and three. So make that your fourth conversation. What skills would your team member like to develop and how can you help them to achieve this? What impact would this have on their role and performance? And that makes a neat segue into your final conversation, innovation and continuous improvements. Ask your team member what they could do to improve their own work. How could they be more effective, for example? Then ask them how they think the team's ways of working could be improved. You might not be able to act on every suggestion, but there could be some real "light bulb" moments that come out of this conversation. So let's take a look at how this might play out.

- [Max] I mean, I have like 20 tabs open at a time, so...

- [Julia] Well, I was thinking that today we could look at some ideas on how to improve our ways of working. Do you have any suggestions?

- [Max] Well, sometimes I struggle with messages coming in from the team chat. It can be quite lively. So with all those messages coming in, I can be quite distracted. So I was thinking I could turn notifications off and prioritize my workload.

- [Julia] Oh, I think that's a great idea. And if you have any suggestions on how we can be more efficient as a team, I'd love to hear them too.

- [Max] Well, I've often thought that we could have a standup meeting once a week so that we can discuss project timelines and any potential blockers.

- [Julia] Another great idea. I'll take that to the team and see what they think.

- [Presenter] So let's recap on what we've learned today. You can use the Five Conversations Framework to improve the structure of your performance reviews, get more out of them and make them positive, engaging experiences for both you and your people. To do this, shape your performance review conversations around five key topics. Climate review, Strengths and talents, Opportunities for growth, Learning and development, and Innovation and continuous improvement. Start using the framework today and turn your performance reviews into conversations that really matter. © Mind Tools Ltd