4 keys on how handle employee performance evaluation disagreements

How to reconnect the employee who doesn’t think their employee performance evaluation was “on target”

The easiest employee performance evaluation you’ll ever do will be with an outstanding, compliant performer.
But they aren’t all like that, are they? When there’s a serious disconnect between the worker’s point of view and reality, it’s the reviewer’s job to narrow that gap. Here’s some advice:

1. Make sure people feel you “got” what they said.
   One tactic is mirroring. Feed their words back to them: So what you’re saying, Mary, is that you feel that your lower-than-average customer contacts per hour are acceptable because you’re developing rapport with customers and seeking out cross-selling opportunities. Is that correct?
   
   
2. Separate process and results in their employee performance evaluation.
   When employees aren’t getting results, they tend to direct the conversation toward process. Don’t let them: Mary, I think it’s great that you develop rapport with customers, but that’s not our objective. We need to 1) decrease hold times for customers, and 2) answer questions

3. Give them the facts.
   Smart bosses anticipate disagreements and come armed with statistics to back up their point: Mary, your contact rate is 25% below the average for your department. Your calls are 2.5 minutes longer than the average. Despite this, your cross-selling success is no better than anyone else’s.
   
   
4. Get agreement in writing.
   Your efforts are for naught if in the end you don’t get buy-in. After your meeting, ask employees to draft a quick memo that 1) states their objectives, and 2) explains what they need to do differently from this point on in order to achieve them.