Most companies will conduct an annual review process to assess their employees and provide feedback on performance. The review will often determine raises, promotions, correctional plans, and sometimes firings. It is very easy to go into your annual process with a largely different view of how you have been performing than the view your boss or peers may have. That is an extremely bad because it shows you are disconnected from the expectations people have of you and are either not making your contributions well known or do not understand what you should be doing.
People easily get trapped into the day to day activities of their job and lose track of the big picture. They feel that status meetings with their boss that happen weekly or monthly are sufficient to discuss work and adequately cover performance. They do not! In a status meeting you are discussing tasks, how they are coming along, any risks or problems being experienced, and sometimes ideas for new projects to undertake. This is not a big picture discussion, this is a details discussion. At no point in most status meetings are you having a frank discussion around how you are performing on the job, opportunities for improvement, making your career goals known, and setting a plan for achievement.
People take the good job praise they hear from their boss or peers and misinterpret it to mean that they are a top performer in the company. Until you have the discussion with your boss, you don’t know what they are thinking. You are not a mind reader, do not try to interpret things people say or do. It will get you into trouble.
This is where the 30/30 comes in. A 30/30 is a 30 minute meeting that you have once every 30 days with your boss. This can be once every 60 days, but it should not happen on intervals longer than that. The purpose of these meetings is not to discuss project or work related daily tasks. The purpose of these meetings is to have an open and honest discussion about your professional development as an individual.
In your first meeting there should be a level setting discussion. Solicit honest feedback and be prepared for difficult responses. I sample way to open would be.
Sally, I appreciate you agreeing to meet with me. I am looking to improve my contribution to the company and continue my professional development. As part of this process I want to have an honest conversation about my strengths and opportunities for improvement. I value your opinion and would appreciate any feedback you can provide. I understand some feedback may be uncomfortable to give, but I value anything you can share. I really want to improve and need honest feedback even if it may be difficult to give.
This clearly states what you are looking for and that you are open to hear difficult feedback points. Once this is established, you should follow up with a series of questions. Remember, you set up this meeting, it is your meeting to run.
- What things am I doing well? Can you site an example of something that stands out by me or one of my colleagues? It helps me to have an example of quality work that I can model future activities after.
- Is there one area I can focus on that would make the biggest difference in improving my quality of work? I personally feel I have significant opportunities to improve the quality of my presentations and delivering them on time.
- Am I meeting your expectations for performance in this job?
- What can I do to exceed your expectations for performance? Can you site an example of someone exceeding your expectations.
These four questions should easily fill most of the time. Once you have an understanding of how you are doing and what your opportunities are, ask your boss for help.
Sally, that is good feedback. I appreciate it. These are all items I would like to work on over the upcoming months. I am going to consciously focus on improving in these areas and would appreciate your feedback on my progress. Over the next month can you keep an eye on my performance. I would like to talk with you again in 30 days to solicit your feedback on how I am progressing.
During subsequent meetings, discuss how you are progressing. Set an action plan on how you can improve areas of opportunity and track how you are doing against the plan. If you continue to do these meetings there should be no surprises during the annual review process as you understand exactly how you are doing.
Execute these 30/30s and there is no where to go but up.
