7 Traits of Effective Self-Review Questions

How would you rate your job performance at our company?

For many employees, this feels like a question that's just a little too loaded.

By its very nature, employees feel like there's a right and wrong way to answer, making it impossible for them to take a breath and engage in the kind of quiet self-reflection that can give you the authentic insights you need to help them actually improve their performance at work.

In Gallup's 2017 analysis of high-performing teams, only 14% of employees said they strongly agree that performance reviews inspire them to improve, and only 2 in 10 employees strongly agree that their performance is managed in a way that motivates them to do outstanding work. Making your employees feel like the cards are stacked against them is probably the worst possible way to kick off the performance review process, and in cases of extreme employee resentment, the self-review is often a major culprit.

But wait. Before you go deleting your self-review template, you should know that it can be a valuable part of the performance management process, IF you know how to use it. Here are 7 things an effective self-review form should accomplish.

1. See your employees for who they really are (and what they really do)

There's a pretty big gap between employees and managers. In fact, according to Gallup, only 50% of employees say they clearly know what's expected of them at work.

An effective self-review lets both you and your employee get crystal clear on what it is that they do, what others think they do, and what they actually do. Businesses regularly let performance gaps slip through the cracks simply because they don't understand that all performance gaps — no matter how strategic or far-reaching — begin at the ground level. An effective self-review, followed by fair and focused coaching, can help you close those gaps before they grow out of control.

2. Gauge employee satisfaction

At the risk of sounding "buzzy", employee experience and employee happiness are truly the name of the game in the new talent economy. According to experts like Brad Grossman, founder and CEO of the cultural think-tank Zeitguide, “More jobs available means more competition for great employees. So it’s very important that you appeal to them in a great, amazing way, so that they choose your company as opposed to another company.”

A study by economists at the University of Warwick found that happiness led to a 12% spike in productivity, so from the looks of it, experts like Brad aren't far off. Perhaps more than other parts of the employee review process, the self-review form can be a great place to inspire your employees to connect with the parts of their job that give them the most satisfaction and remove, reduce or transform the parts of the job that tend to drain them of their energy.

Instead of putting the onus on the employee with generic questions like, "Do you have suggestions on how to improve employee morale?", try literally asking them which tasks tend to make them feel energized vs. drained.

3. Reinforce the vision

Employees who can link their individual goals to the organization’s goals are 3.5 times more likely to be engaged.

Your top performers see themselves in the future picture of your company. A great self-review enables them and you to get a better idea of what that picture looks like. Use the self-review form to prompt employees to think about the common values they share with your organization, share their personal goals and find out how they imagine growing and developing moving forward.

Again, keep it specific. Rather than asking, "What goals would you like to achieve in the future?", try linking their growth path to the parts of the job they most enjoy.

4. Make recognition a breeze

Most of us get so busy, we forget to celebrate our successes. And in some cases, we can even forget we had any successes to begin with.

But great managers want to know what makes their team members feel like they're totally on top of their game. An effective self-review form helps employees identify their biggest wins and gives team members and leaders a chance to think more deeply about the kind of activities that light the team up and where the lightning-strike moments tend to come from. These insights can give managers a ton of ammo they can use later on down the road to help keep employees engaged and on the right path.

5. Uncover innovations

As part of an awesome performance management process, an effective self-review form can shed a light on inefficiencies and enable you to quickly replace them with innovations.

If there's a dark spot in your SOPs or workflows, your employees are usually the first to know. Encourage them to speak up about any challenges or problems that may be preventing them from doing their jobs more effectively. Making them part of the problem-solving process will also help ensure they're all-in on whatever new tool, system or innovation you choose to solve it with. Again, be careful not to shift the responsibility back to the the employee with questions like, "What can we do to help you perform your job better?". Too often, these questions raise an issue, but fail to scratch beneath the surface. Follow it up with 2-3 more questions about what workflows or inefficiencies are wasting their time or energy, then get together to brainstorm solutions as a team.

6. Pave the way for a more productive performance review

At The Stanley Clark School in South Bend, Indiana, employees are given 6 questions and 30 positive statements to review before each performance-related meeting in order to help spark a productive conversation.

Rather than nailing your employees down to a few key moments, why not use the self-review to help them see how they fit into the greater whole of the business? Getting the employee to see themselves as one crucial part of a worthy bigger picture is a great way to set the scene for any future conversations that might include an adjustment or work expectations or negative feedback.

7. Find common ground

Perhaps the biggest benefit of the self-review form is that it empowers employees and managers to walk in each other's shoes.

By asking employees to reflect back on their own performance, you're effectively asking them to see things from their manager's point of view. And if you're doing it right, your employees will be encouraged to show managers how much they know and care about the work you're doing together.