Annual Reviews
For an employee in a traditional office, there will be a high-stakes interview, usually around the anniversary of their employment, wherein their performance will be reviewed, and a pay raise will be given or withheld accordingly. These are called Annual Reviews, and they are really dumb!
Stop doing annual reviews!… At the very least, ensure that it is not the only contact you have with your employees regarding their performance. Not only do you close the lines of communication until it builds up, but as it builds up, it festers and changes. A parallel narrative also occurs in their mind, and a separate one arises in yours. Because we all have different life experiences, we often inaccurately translate the reasons behind other people’s behavior. Not only that, a one-time per calendar year meetup is robbing you of getting to know them personally, learning their ideas, building their motivation, being inspired by their motivation, checking in on them as humans, learning from them, allowing you to delegate, and countless opportunities for you to improve the practice with THEIR help.
I meet at least monthly with every single one of our 12 employees. I know about why they got into medicine. I know about what inspires them. I know what annoys them about the person they share a desk with. I know their “love language” and what makes them feel seen. I know about their dog/cat. I know what makes them happy. I know the birthday of every one of their children and their spouse. And, in addition to learning about them and how they are doing personally, and how their corner of the practice is doing, I ask them the same two questions:
1- What do I need to know (that I probably don’t know )?
2- If you were in my position, what would you change about the practice today?
Through this, it is clear I am invested in them, and they have an opportunity to be invested in the practice! As for raises, they get a raise every year on their anniversary. Period. Instead of a high-stakes annual interview where they are pressured to “give the right answers”, they know that a raise is coming, and we have collectively improved the office over that time.
Encourage your people, build a culture one brick at a time, and let them be part of the practice’s success. Don’t put them on trial, put them in the driver’s seat and everything will work a little bit better!
