Fostering communication with employees

I know, however, in talking to a lot of other collision repair shop owners, that I'm not the only one who hasn't instituted this practice as well as I would have liked. But I'm working on changing that.

Dunn recommends quarterly meetings with each employee, rather than just an annual review, and I can see the logic to that. He says shop owners who hold such meetings can feel a difference in the "motivational pulse" of the business in the weeks right after the quarterly reviews, and after about three months, that pulse needs to be re-energized.

I won't argue against that idea; I'm just not there yet. But I am working on getting a more standardized review process in place and am seeing the benefits, for the employees and the company, of regular (even if not yet quarterly) performance reviews.

Here's some of what I've learned over the years from Dunn and others about handling performance reviews successfully.

• Many people confuse performance reviews with discussions of pay adjustments. The two don't have to be linked. Performance reviews are discussions about how someone is doing, not necessarily what they are being paid. Treat reviews as regular, ongoing conversations with employees rather than just an annual discussion about wages.

• The goal shouldn't be only to tell employees what they are doing wrong. Help motivate them by showing you recognize their strengths as well. Consider asking them to rate their own performance and to comment on areas where they see a need for improvement in themselves.

• Give them a chance to talk about any questions or concerns they have about the company, their job responsibilities, their training needs, their co-workers or their supervisor. Ask about their goals for the future. Some questions you can ask include: Do you feel you are treated fairly? How could shop management improve? Do you have any concerns about your fellow workers? What suggestions do you have to make this a better place for all to work?

• Getting them to answer the above questions and offering their feedback and ideas for the company generally requires giving them advance notice of the review session so they have some time to prepare. Again, this is where holding reviews on a regular, scheduled basis helps, but it's also worth a reminder to the employee a week or two ahead of the review.

• Some shops develop a standardized form they use that allows them to rate an employee's performance in various areas. This can help you prepare for the discussion, take out some of the subjectivity, and give the employee a clear idea of how their performance is being measured.

• Even if you don't use a standardized form and rating scale, use objective numbers whenever possible. Discuss the number of flat rate hours they are completing, how the shop's CSI or profitability compares for the jobs they are involved with, how many files they are handling, etc.

• Don't save stuff up for the reviews. Praise or reprimands still need to happen immediately. Those incidents can be things you discuss again in the reviews, but don't put off giving that necessary feedback to employees immediately.

• Make sure there's adequate privacy for the review. Criticize effectively, by focusing on specific behavior, not "character" or "attitude," which are more apt to make someone feel attacked. Don't exaggerate or threaten and keep your cool. Offer them some direction or ask how you can help them improve. Let them know you are confident in their ability to improve. Set a deadline when appropriate.

• Perhaps the most important point is to listen, not just talk. It's a good chance to get ideas from employees, and to find out what's working and what's not at your business.

• Lastly, follow through. If an employee asks a question or makes a suggestion that you weren't able to address at the time, follow up with him or her once you have a response. If you've asked for a change, follow up to provide feedback or to see if additional training is needed.

While all of these suggestions will help you get the most out of the reviews, don't wait to have it all in place to get started. We're not yet using a standardized form, for example, just documenting our notes about the discussion for the employee's file. We're still trying to squeeze in the reviews around all the other day-to-day demands on our time, but we plan to do a better job at scheduling them on a regular basis.

Even with these weaknesses to our reviews process, we still can point to positive outcomes. Our technicians have accepted very positively the areas in which we've suggested they could improve. It's given us a chance to specifically ask them if they are happy working at our shop. And we've made sure we've left the door open for more communication, ending each review by telling them if they subsequently think of anything they wanted to ask or tell us to just let us know.