Performance Development Review Guide

Inspiring Performance Our Guide to the

Performance Development Review Process

What's in this guide?

Page

03

Inspiring Performance – Our Approach

04

Our Performance Development Review Cycle

05

Half-year Review

06

Half-year Review – Roles & Responsibilities

08

Objective Setting - Overview

09

Objective Setting - Roles & Responsibilities

10

SMART Objectives

11

Check- ins - Having great conversations

13

Giving Feedback

15

Tools for the job

What is the performance development review process all about?

What needs to happen when?

What does a Half-year review look like?

Details on how to review performance with your manager

What does a great performance development review look like?

Details on how to set objectives with your manager

How to set smart of objectives Some tips and hints on having great conversations

A overview of Giving Feedback

Details of where to find useful documents Page 02

Inspiring Performance Our Approach We all share something in common – we’re all part of Howes Percival family and this means no matter what job we do, our working day, our time and our energy are all connected. As a business we strive to deliver excellent service and to do this we need excellent people.

That’s where you come in; our performance framework makes sure we’re setup for success, providing you with support, development opportunities and honest feedback to help you achieve your full potential.

We’ll explain what this is all about in the following pages, but in short, it means us all being really clear on what is required of us, what we need to deliver and how we demonstrate our DNA. We want to create a performance culture which enables us to constantly raise the bar, live by our DNA and support each other to deliver our goals and ambitions.

This all starts with us having great conversations with our line managers/or team to set development objectives and agree actions.

 Is underpinned by great conversations with our manager  Helps us to be really clear on what is required of us  Provides support, development and honest feedback  Offers a balanced assessment of what we deliver and how we demonstrate our DNA

 Creates opportunities to ask for support, improve performance and share ambitions  Means we can identify and recognise people who have really gone the extra mile

Our Performance Development Review Cycle Obtain Feedback

Half-year Review and Objective Setting May

Check-In

Check-In

February

August

Half-year Review November

Obtain Feedback

Our performance development review process encourages you and your manager to have ongoing great conversations about your performance and development throughout the year:

Page 04

Half-year Review - Looking back The half year review is an opportunity for both you and your manager to look back over the previous 6 months and reflect on What has been delivered (your performance against objectives) as well as How it has been delivered (your attitude, behaviours and demonstration of our values).

A two-way conversation should take place to review your whole job contribution and a summary should be captured by you and your manager using ‘Performance Development Review’ form.

This conversation offers the opportunity to: • • • •

Revisit and refresh objectives if required Recognise and say thank you for your contribution Provide developmental feedback to help you continue to improve Where performance requires improvement, a plan to provide further support can be obtain with guidance from the People team.

Before

Half-year Review Meeting - Roles & Responsibilities Reviewee

Reviewer

• Request feedback from colleagues or clients connected to your objectives using the template (see page 15)

• Record throughout the year instances when your team members have performed well and what they could do to be more effective

• Book a meeting with your manager with at least two weeks notice.

• Review your objectives and complete the Performance Development Review form to be shared with your manager at least two weeks prior to the meeting

During

• Share feedback received with your manager • Discuss what has been achieved as well as how it aligns to our DNA (values and behaviours) • Discuss what you have learn during the previous period and how you will use that going forward • Agree the rating and discuss next steps

After

• Continue working on your objectives • Collate ongoing feedback from colleagues and clients to support your next half year review

• Review the Performance Development Review form from your team members, received 2 weeks in advance of the meeting • Review the training in this guide on Giving Feedback • Actively listen without judgement, make sure you aren’t making assumptions and your opinions are fact based.

• Provide feedback, ensuring it is specific and factual • Give equal attention to both what has been achieve and how • Agree the rating and discuss next steps • Agree any changes to objectives if required • If the rating is “Requires further support” contact your People team member to create a plan • Share your team’s completed Performance Development Review forms with the Reviewee to get their agreements and then send to the People Team

Page 06

Half-year Review - Ratings After each half-year review you will receive a rating of your performance against your objectives for the previous six months.

There are three possible ratings you could receive: Requires Further support

Has not achieved the majority of their objectives and under-performed in their role.

A plan of support should be discussed with the People team.

Meets Expectations

The agreed objectives have been achieved and key responsibilities in their role have been successfully completed.

Exceeds Expectations

Has significantly exceeded expectations in all agreed objectives with outstanding results achieved.

Whilst most people aspire to exceed expectations it is very difficult to exceed expectations in all objectives.

As a firm we expect the majority of our people to achieve a ‘meets expectations’ rating. That means they have delivered a great performance in their day-to-day tasks and achieved the majority of their objectives.

Below is an indication of the distribution we might expect to see: 5-10%

75-85%

10-15%

Requires Further Support

Meets Expectations

Exceeds Expectations

Objective Setting - Looking forward Objectives help to motivate and engage people by providing clarity of what they need to achieve in their role and by when.

During the May half-year review you should agree with your manager up to seven objectives for the following 6-month to 12-month period as well as discuss your personal development and career aspirations.

When setting your objectives, you should include both business and personal growth objectives and consider not only what you will achieve but also how you will achieve it.

Business objectives: You should set business objectives which are: o o o o

Aligned to our business strategy Relevant and realistic to your role and personal circumstances Focused and measurable with clear outcomes and deliverables Stretching yet achievable

Personal growth objectives:

Top tip: Our career framework documents can really help you with personal growth objectives, see page 15 for more information.

You should set personal growth objectives which: o o

Help you to build capabilities to enable you to excel in your current role or Build capabilities to prepare you for the next phase of your career

Objectives can be added and amended throughout the review period however, you should be mindful to set achievable objectives.

Page 08

Objective Setting - Roles & Responsibilities

Before

Reviewee • Take time to understand the team vision and objectives for the next 12 months and how that can inform your objectives • Book a meeting with your manager with at least two weeks notice.

During

• Draft S.M.A.R.T. objectives on the Objective Setting form to be shared with your manager at least two weeks prior to the meeting • Attend the meeting with a clear understanding of your personal development and career aspirations • Discuss both what you would like to achieve as well as how you will achieve your objectives • Discuss what support you require from your manager in order to be successful • Agree the objectives and discuss next steps

After

• Start working on your objectives • Collate ongoing feedback from colleagues and clients to support your half year review

Reviewer • Review the draft forms from your team members, received 2 weeks in advance of the meeting • Review the training in this guide on Great Conversations • Contact your HR team member if you have any queries or require any support

• Make sure you are on-time for the meeting and are able to give your team member your full attention.

• Actively listen without judgement, make sure you aren’t making assumptions and your opinions are fact based.

• Ask open questions to ensure the draft objectives are S.M.A.R.T. • Agree the objectives and discuss next steps • Check in informally with team members from time to time to see how they are getting on and if they need any support from you.

• Share your team’s completed Objective Setting forms with HR

Objective Setting - Being S.M.A.R.T. Objective setting is like using a good road map.

Without clear, specific goals, you’ll find that it’s much more difficult to stay on track when trying to reach an objective.

S M A R T

•Be clear and specific of what your objective is which will be easier to achieve. This helps you know how and where to get started.

•Your objective should be measurable which will help you determine how successful your progress is. You should think of the indicators of success.

•It should be attainable, think of the time and resources you may need, think of the support from others that ill support your delivery.

•Your objectives must be relevant, they should align the business values and overall business strategy.

•Set realistic timeline for your objective, with specific start and end date.

“To be promoted to Director level within 6 months by completing the necessary training requirements and applying for the role at the end of March 2022.”

“To learn more about Equality and Diversity by joining the E&D committee and undertaking the Inclusion course on the LMS by the end of July 2022”

Page 10

Check-Ins - Informal, everyday conversations As a part of the Performance Development Review Process we recommend managers have informal “check-ins” with their team members between the half-year reviews.

Whilst these aren’t enforced, they are great way for managers: • • •

to build relationships with their team members to help them to achieve their objectives to support them with their development and performance.

No documentation needs to be completed following a checkin, they are simply an opportunity for managers to have a really great, open conversation with the people in their team.

There is no fixed structure to these meetings, however below is a framework you can follow to help during your check-ins.

Understand their overall situation •Ask broad open questions like: •How are you?

•How are you finding things at the moment?

•What are you currently working on?

Focus on the specifics

•Explore 2-3 areas in more detail: •How are things progressing with a specific project or objective?

•What are the barriers?

•What are the next steps?

Offer support or guidance

•Offer support to your team member: •How can I best support you?

•Would you like to hear suggestions on how I would approach that situation?

Having great conversations…

Having a great conversation doesn’t just mean getting to know someone or enjoying talking to a person, a great conversation has structure, purpose and outcomes. Those outcomes could be helping to support improved performance to providing recognition of success.

There are 5 stages to a great conversation as per below: Stage Open

Clarify

Develop

Summary Choose a suitable location and time then establish a connection and a degree of rapport Be clear what it is you want to talk about. Use positive, respectful language. If there’s a problem, focus on the problem, not the person.

Get into the heart of the conversation. Make your point, share thoughts, feelings and rationale; explore different perspectives or alternatives; listen and respond with empathy.

Example language • • • • • • • • • • • •

Agree

Close

It’s vital that you check for understanding – do both parties properly understand each other?

Are you both clear about what the conversation has been about and what’s been discussed? Is there a clear action to be agreed?

If there’s nothing else to be discussed, check for questions, summarise the outcome of the conversation and thank the other person; close the conversation.

• • • • •

• • •

How are you today?

Are you having a good week?

What did you do at the weekend?

I arranged this meeting today to discuss …

I wanted to talk to you about the recent situation with …

I wanted to take time to explore …

I noticed that recently…

I have received feedback that..

Can you tell me more about…

What is your view on…

That is an interesting point, can I offer you my perspective…

You mention X, can you tell me more about that please I’m hearing that you feel..

It sounds like you are saying that…

So we both want to achieve X, is that right?

What are the next steps to move this forward?

How can we approach this situation in future?

Is there anything you want to discuss with me?

Is there any support I can offer?

Thank you for your time, let’s book in another meeting in 2 weeks to see how things have progressed.

To ensure you have a great conversation, prepare ahead by thinking about the purpose of your conversation and what you need to do and say at each of these stages to ensure the conversation is successful in achieving it.

Page 12

Feedback - How to collect Giving and receiving feedback is important part of all of our development. Positive feedback helps us to recognise our successes and constructive feedback helps us to develop and grow.

You will be asked to share 360 feedback to support your half year review. The easiest way to do so is to request feedback as you complete key projects or objectives to ensure it is timely and people have a clear memory of what has been achieved and how.

There is a template you can use to collate feedback (see page 15) this structure can make it easier for individuals to provide feedback.

Don’t forget…

360 feedback means from stakeholders who have different working relationships with you, including at the same and different levels in a hierarchy and both inside and outside the firm.

CLIENTS

Feedback – How to give Giving feedback is a skill that you can develop over time with practice. To begin with giving feedback can feel uncomfortable but remember if someone has reached out to you to provide feedback that means they value your opinion and trust you as a colleague.

Basics of giving feedback: • •

Be Specific Be clear

• •

Be respectful Be empathetic

What specifically is being done well or could be improved?

• •

Use non-judgmental language Give examples

The effects these actions are having/ have had

What can be done more effectively or more of in the future?

The AID model above can provide a simple way to structure your feedback, lets see how it can work for both positive and constructive feedback: Positive feedback Action

Impact

Do

Last week your report was clear, well structured and contained all the information required for the us to make a decision.

This meant we have been able to plan our workload for the next 12 months so well done.

Please continue to use that style of report and share your knowledge with the team to help us develop their skills in report writing.

Action

Impact

Do

Project Y was delivered two weeks late as there was no project plan created.

This means the rest of the team will be delayed with their work as they couldn’t start until the project was complete.

More effective project management and a clearly defined project plan in future would help to prevent this happening again.

Developmental feedback

Page 14

Tools for the job Tool: Performance Development Review form

How can it help: To record the outcomes of your Half Year Review meetings

Where to find it: Visit the intranet

To document your business and personal objectives.

Visit the intranet

Feedback Template Email

To request and collate feedback throughout the year

Visit the intranet

Performance Development Review Training

To support you in following this new process and understand what has changed.

Objective Setting Form

Visit the LMS

Career Development Frameworks

To support career planning and setting personal objectives

DNA – values and behaviours framework

To help describe the way we should be acting and how we should be achieving our objectives

Visit the Intranet

Business Strategy and Plans

To understand the firm’s goals and aspirations and consider how you can work towards these in your objectives

Talk to your Manager or PGL member

The LMS – Learning Management system

To learn new skills or request additional training

People Team

To coach people through the process and provide guidance and support for people to achieve their objectives.

Coming in August 22 on the intranet

Visit the LMS

Email: peopleteam@howes percival.com