Tried and Tested: Weekly performance reviews

19 January 2018 -

Tech consultancy Cloudreach was praised for its culture and leadership style in Leadership and Culture at Work: The CMI/Glassdoor Top 20. Its managers offer employees weekly performance reviews. We followed how it works for three weeks to see if it could work for you

Guest bloggers Jenny Hackland and Nicky Brunton

WEEK ONE

THE MANAGER: Jenny Hackland,  Head of Customer Success

We have a target session on a weekly basis in which we review the full set of active targets for Nicky, triage those with blockers and note any required deadlines or input from me as team lead. Beyond the tactical review, it’s a chance to keep in touch on a personal level. Currently our topics have been about mentorship, personal development targets and the benefits to building rapport with the UK-based Cloudreachers.

Today, Nicky was able to tell me where he might need support to progress with daily resource coordination targets, as well as flag up a wider point of discussion for benefit of the team, or beyond our team, that would be worth me being involved in.

This week’s session also included prep for his upcoming onsite visit to the London office and the specific 121s, objectives and site survey preparation. This week we double checked the recruitment pipeline for particular roles that would enable Nicky to review resource demand targets coming in for next year.

We also agreed that he should set up time with the mentors he had identified and let me know how he gets on in our next ‘Mission’ session.

The benefits are that I can see Nicky’s work towards the role KPIs are aligned with those of the full team and our BU which is important to our strategic goals.

THE EMPLOYEE: Nicky Brunton, Global Resource Coordinator

Weekly catch-ups are a fantastic way to discuss any ongoing risks, concerns or opportunities and receive sound advice in return. I can keep my manager up-to-date with any progress on my active workload, as well as being updated on any changes in the team and business.

My day-to-day role is almost a constant preparation for my weekly catch-ups, as it requires sharing status reports for my team and the wider business. Above and beyond day-to-day progress, I prepare my thoughts on personal development and process improvement.

Today, we had an in depth discussion surrounding the ongoing resource demands for the projects I am managing. I raised a number of risks and concerns surrounding one of our ongoing engagements: it could have resulted in a long-term issue and we were able to iron it out before that had chance to happen!

WEEK TWO

THE MANAGER: Jenny Hackland, Head of Customer Success

A ‘Mission’ session is monthly and I like to make sure time is carved out for an unstructured catch-up on general wellbeing and working relationships. It is a place to discuss challenges or sensitive issues where support is needed.  The team members use this time in varying degrees as suits their nature and personality!

THE EMPLOYEE: Nicky Brunton, Global Resource Coordinator

This week’s catch up was our monthly ‘Mission session’. This meeting gives me the opportunity to update Jenny on how my Personal Development Plan is going and how I am progressing with my scorecard/ Key Performance Indicators.

This meeting keeps me highly motivated. It is a way to understand what the company needs from me, and it also gives my manager an understanding of where I personally want to be and how I can go about getting there.

This week, Jenny and I agreed a number of targets to hit whilst on my visit to London, ensuring we were on the same page in terms of what my aims were. Jenny also signed off me to sit my Prince2 exams in January, in line with my personal development, which was great!

WEEK THREE

THE MANAGER: Jenny Hackland, Head of Customer Success

We set aside 25 minutes a week for each target session. This is supplemented by a six-month ‘Vision session’ for a full review of all personal development.  An annual review is then less likely to raise anything unexpected as Nicky and I have had an open and ongoing forum throughout.

Each individual is aligned to achieving personal KPIs, which are there to drive each of us towards the common deliverables and objectives of each business unit. In turn those feed into the strategic goals of the business. The weekly catch up supports that by giving necessary attention to those key individuals who will make it happen.

THE EMPLOYEE: Nicky Brunton, Global Resource Coordinator

Over the last three weeks – and through the availability of Jenny during our catch-ups – I have been offered the chance to provide support in a totally different business unit, which is super exciting. Without our weekly catch-ups and really caring for my personal development, this potentially wouldn’t have been an option. I am constantly developing in my role and having a solid mind to bounce ideas off has been very useful! Long may it continue!

I’d recommend weekly performance reviews as an excellent way to stay in the loop with what is going on, not only in my own role, but in the rest of the business. Sometimes, a sanity check and running things by someone else is invaluable.