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Although Amazon has instituted a hiring freeze and layoffs are probably on their way, I went through the loop for a security engineer position at AWS. Before I attended the final interviews, Amazon placed the hiring freeze and called me to ask if I wanted to go ahead or cancel my application. I decided do go ahead Right now I'm waiting for their response and the position I applied to changed from "under consideration" to "no longer under consideration". Thoughts?
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Send the review document ahead of time. Give the employee time to have whatever emotions they need to have and get through it so they can have a productive conversation. Be straightforward with the feedback and stick to the facts. If the conversation deteriorates, end it and offer to reconvene when you both have control.
For you: be prepared and know the message you want to deliver. Don’t get sucked into an argument, and reward yourself with some self care afterward…
It should not be a surprise and it should not come from someone they don’t usually interact with. Year-end reviews are an unfortunate corporate process that’s not actually focused on the individual person. Our people should be getting regular real-time feedback whenever possible.
That said, start with laying out the positives… break the ice with celebrating what they’ve done well and where they excel. (Even if there’s not much, there is always something) before you move on, ask if they agree with this input or have anything else to add… this will make it a conversation and not a “witch-hunt” feel.
Next, lay out areas for development and personal investment in a fact based, supportive way. “In order to be successful at the next level (or to meet expectations of your current level) we’d like to get you more experience prepping client proposals so you can get more cycles working with close attention to detail.” Rather than “your attention to detail is lacking and you need to address it or be fired.” It puts the employee’s defense response in the back and brings up the mental approach of, “yeah I know that’s a weakness but I feel supported to work on it safely.” Again, ask for their inputs and if there’s anything else they’d like to call out as a growth priority.
Then transition to a final section of, “we’re excited for these future opportunities for you…” and lay out 2 or 3 areas or things where you’re anticipating them to grow into.
It’s a positive-negative-opportunity sandwich and it allows you to remain in a position of support and partnership rather than someone the employee feels is just being unfairly critical.
Hope this helps!! Good luck. Remember to approach them how you’d like to be approached and avoid doing anything you wouldn’t want to experience.
Mentor
Depends on the resource really. If the resource is calling it in and not taking feedback or their role seriously, then show them the link to consequence with a poor review and see if they choose or wish to exceed it. If the resources is struggling to meet a certain standard or missing the mark completely, they may be a poor fit for the role and may never succeed. Use this as a dialog opportunity to dig in a little deeper, there may be something else going that could potentially be addressed to elicit positive change. You never know until you ask.
In an environment of grade inflation, consider risk reward impact of providing below expectations rating on paper. That’s my current stance, which has changed in the last 2 years… for the better.