Welcome to the new Manager podcast. I'm your host, Kim Nickel. Hello and welcome. I'm glad you're here and I hope you're doing well. This week. I have attended a couple of very interesting events around AI. That's not going to be the focus of our conversation today. But the reason I mention it is because as I'm continuing to learn about what it means for the workplace and what it means for different industries, there's a lot. Like, there's so much.
There's so much to learn. There's so much happening, and I feel like I'm still at the stage where I'm trying to understand the language with which people talk about it and how to structure my own thinking because I find it to be a topic that, you know, the language around it is still very imprecise. Like people will say, do you use AI at work? And my initial thought is, no, I don't, I very, I, I really don't, I don't intentionally say
I will use AI for this. But when I think about it, I think, well, actually that's not correct. Because for example, I use Zoom for, you know, for all of my video calls with my clients and also with my classes that I teach. And in Zoom, there is a tool that allows you to generate an AI summary of the conversation or the meeting. And I don't use this very often right now, but in the past I have because sometimes my clients will ask, hey, can we use that?
NA, that AI enabled tool to generate a summary. And even though you know it's not 100% precise, it's still, it can still be a helpful tool to document some of the high level topics that we talked about. So there have been times when I have used this tool that is AI enabled, but because of the way that it's integrated into a tool that I'm already using, I sometimes don't even realize or think about it. And interestingly enough, I was at my nephew's birthday party
over the weekend. He just turned 8. So it was a really big deal and a great reason to get together with family. And the topic of AI came up. And in my family, there are, you know, I have family members who are teachers. So the conversation around what does that mean for education and especially for kids, you know, elementary school kids and middle school kids. And also, I was very surprised to learn that my mom uses AI
quite regularly. And she uses a summary tool in the course of her work to, you know, go through all of the notes and all of the transcripts of the the work that she does. And then it generates a summary of here are all of the things that were discussed. And I thought that was quite interesting. So I'm continuing to learn and just kind of keep my eyes and ears open. I found a really interesting conversation at the intersection of entrepreneurialism, AI and climate and sustainability.
And we had SF Climate Week not that long ago. So there were lots of conversations around, you know, around climate and sustainability. And that in and of itself is a really big, big topic. But I went to this meet up the other night because I was curious to find out what is the conversation that's happening, especially in the workplace and what that means.
And, you know, I ended up having some really great conversations with, you know, someone who really cares about soil and the soil Biome and regenerative agriculture and different implications around like, what does AI mean for that? And I talked with somebody else who knows a lot about bioplastics and different sources of materials through which we can create, you know, plastics, but not using
petroleum based materials. But I was like, oh, like, like the fork I'm using right now that is like a, you know, compostable fork. So I mean, just to say that it is such a a big topic and it seems to be a little bit everywhere right now. So if you are also feeling kind of overwhelmed, I think you're in good company and it's OK. I'm, you know, we're going to kind of learn and find our way through this all at our own pace.
And I think that's, you know, that's just the best way to go about it. So I wanted to share an update on my, you know, my AI learning journey. And then today, the topic I wanted to really focus on with you is the conversation around feedback and performance reviews. And in your course of being a manager, you're going to do both.
But I wanted to pause and really talk about these two separately because I think sometimes the language around feedback and performance reviews can be imprecise and very blurry.
And I, you know, I recently taught my class, you know, this module and it made me think that, oh, I should bring some move this to you as well because it's, it's really helpful in the, in both the day-to-day, but also when you think about the course of the year in your role as a manager, what does it mean for you to be thinking about feedback and to be thinking about performance reviews, how those two things are separate and how they go together. So let's get into it.
So with feedback, think of it as the overall category and then performance reviews happen as one part of that. With feedback, you're going to give feedback in a wide range of situations and relationships. You can give feedback, of course, to the people that report up to you. You might be giving feedback up the chain to your manager or
even to your skip level. You might be giving feedback to your colleagues or other managers, directors and leaders, other people that you know, they don't report to you, but you still have a working relationship with them. So there are very wide range of situations where you will use feedback as a, you know, kind of specific category of communication. You're also going to use feedback generally for different purposes. You might use it to influence or to shape a relationship.
You might use it to influence or shape up like a product, a process or an outcome. There are different reasons why you might want to give feedback. Sometimes you'll give feedback just to establish a record of having reviewed something you know, participated in the conversation. Like there are different reasons, different purposes for
why you would give feedback. And you can think of it as a tool for influencing behavior, shaping relationships, facilitating change, and also for learning and for getting better. So feedback, you might be, it might be something that you request in order for you to learn and to get better at something. Or it might be something that you offer as a, you know, a way of, of learning like, OK, we learned this, this is the
feedback we received. So as you know, a team or as an organization, we want to work to get better in this way. And importantly, no matter what your title is, you can give feedback. The way you give it might differ depending on the power dynamic and the relationship that's in place. But you can give your feedback, you know, no matter what, what your title or position, you can give feedback, request it. You can also receive feedback from all kinds of directions no matter what.
So that's feedback. Now, over here, we have performance reviews, which is sort of a very specific purpose in an organization. And #1 realize that every organization handles performance reviews a little bit differently. In some organizations, it's going to be a very formal process. In others, it might be a little bit more ad hoc. And honestly, every organization is different. So you want to be curious and understand how does this organization do performance reviews?
Like are there specific platforms or tools for that? Is there a specific timeline or timing for that? So get curious about that part. Your performance review is something that will happen between a manager and a direct report. The purpose of the performance review is to evaluate the performance of the person against a known standard or expectation. This part is really important because it can be overlooked or it can get a little bit fuzzy as the course of the year goes by.
Because if we're not clear about what is the standard to which someone will be evaluated, then it can feel very arbitrary or very unfair about, you know, you're giving me this feedback and saying I'm, you know, not performing well, but according to my standard, I am. And if there was no agreed upon standard or expectation in place, then it is really tricky
to give useful feedback. So at some point you want to be clear that, you know, are we on the same page and are we in agreement about what is the known standard to which someone will be evaluated? Is there clarity and agreement about what the expectations are for what this person will be performing at? With performance reviews also, you know, they shouldn't be a surprise and they shouldn't be a surprise because feedback has been happening along the way.
It shouldn't be a surprise if someone gets reviewed and marked at, you know, performing below expectations. They should have a good sense of the ballpark of where they're going to land because you've been giving feedback along the way. And that means both telling them what they're doing well, helping them to course correct. Or if they think they're doing great and you're thinking, oh, this is not what we expected, have that conversation early so
they have a chance to correct. We don't want to ambush or surprise people with their performance reviews. Now, importantly, performance reviews are very often tied to compensation and advancement. So that's raises, bonuses, promotions. Those are very personal and real consequences. Anytime we're talking about someone's livelihood, what they're getting paid, whether they're going to get a bonus or get a promotion to the next
level. That's where performance reviews carry a lot more weight and have a lot more importance, where feedback doesn't necessarily tie directly to that. With performance reviews, because we are specifically evaluating the performance that someone is giving, they'll tie into these more financial consequences.
And if someone has been struggling or they haven't been performing to the level that's been agreed upon and expected, that's where it could also turn into or be connected to a performance improvement plan or a PIP as it's often called in the HR space. And I, you know, that might vary a little bit country to country or industry to industry. In the US, I've heard it primarily referred to as a PIP and that's, you know, a performance improvement plan when someone is not performing well.
And as an organization, the thought maybe we might need to manage this person out, but we can't simply fire them without having documented that they are aware that their performance is below standard. We have to give them a chance. We have to help support them in raising their performance.
A PIP is a formal tool or process where HR, your human resources team will typically be involved in structuring that and there's usually timelines and set goals or milestones in order to see can this person raise their performance level. So again, that's something that falls under the category with our performance reviews, that's really important.
And also with performance reviews, these are typically going to be a formal process that everyone in the organization goes through at the same time. So there's very often a performance review season where everyone in the organization is going to be doing the performance reviews, you know, for their team and maybe for yourself. With a lot of organizations, there is a self-assessment as well where you would say, OK, this is what I said I would accomplish within this time
period. Here's how I was successful or not, this is what happened. And then that self review might get compared to the managers assessment and say, Yep, like agree or no, like this is what I observed or this is the evidence that I saw and I've come to a different conclusion. So there's typically a formal process that everyone in the organization goes through around the same time.
And also with that formality, with performance reviews, your organization will typically have a policy regarding documentation, what is documented, how is it documented, where is it documented? And this may stay kind of with that employee's, you know, personnel record over the time that they've been with that organization. So there's something that's a little bit more lasting and around the documentation aspect that can then of course come into play around promotions.
Or if someone says, look, I've had this long record of performing at a very high level and yet I continue to not be promoted or I continue to not receive a pay that's commensurate with the documented performance that I have been been doing over the last couple of years. And, you know, every organization is different here. And it's reminding me, you know, this can get really tricky for a
couple of reasons. One is you might work in an organization where you have someone who has been performing at a very high level consistently, but because the organization might be very flat, there's nowhere for them to go. They might not have a clear path of advancement and in that situation, a couple things might happen. You might actually have the conversation with them and say you're amazing. I wish there was a role that I could promote you into, but there isn't.
So how can I support you and your professional growth in another way? Or you might be able to go to the leadership and say, look, I've got this incredibly high performing person, here's a record of their achievement over time. My concern is that if we don't have a role for them to grow into, they might leave. They might look for something elsewhere. And that might either, you know, create the conversation of is there another role that we can either create for them?
Does that? Is that something that makes sense for us to do, or is it more like, yeah, we might have to live with the fact that they might end up leaving? Having those kinds of conversations are part of what performance reviews can do. And again, like some organizations have very clear leveling and very clear definitions and expectations of what's required at each level.
Some organizations, especially if you are in startup mode where things are very fluid and there's not as much rigidity or formal declaration about levels, there might be more opportunities in that case to say, yeah, let's actually create a new role for this person because it makes sense given their track record, given what the organization needs. We can now establish this new role of this new level.
So something to think about, You know, as we're recording this, we're now coming into the month of May. For a lot of your organization's, your fiscal year is going to change in July. So you might be moving towards performance reviews if that's something that happens in your organization kind of mid year or even for some organizations they do, you know, a formal performance review at mid year and at year end. So be thinking about some of
these these elements, right? The difference between feedback, which happens more frequently and then performance reviews that happen within a more formal timeline and a more formal process. You want to be aware of how those things work together so that you can also be keeping notes and keeping track of, you know, how people are doing so that when you get to that formal performance review stage, you're not trying to remember like, oh, what did they do this year?
I don't remember. I'm sure it was good, but I actually can't remember anything specific. We want to start creating some ways for it to be easy for you to fill out those performance reviews. So be curious about the process. Be curious about the timing, the timeline, the tools, and think in terms of what is the feedback you want to be giving overtime so that it doesn't become a huge surprise when people are getting their performance reviews.
This is it as a topic that is honestly, it's one of the most challenging ones for me to compress into my class because there's actually a lot that can be said to that. But hopefully this will give you some clarity of thought just as you're, you know, starting to organize your own thinking about what kinds of things are in your awareness and on your landscape as you're thinking about what is the feedback that you need to be
giving? What, what is the feedback you're avoiding giving is also a really good question. What is the feedback you want to be receiving? Maybe the feedback that you're not asking for. And then thinking about performance review.
You know, when you're a manager and you're kind of stepping into that leadership role, it's such a different kind of experience when you're the one initiating and making decisions about people's compensation, which sometimes happens too in the process of doing performance reviews. So use this to start thinking, to get curious, to kind of take a step back and ask like, is there anything that I need to put in place now that will help me when I get to that stage and
that process? So that's what I wanted to share with you today. And if you want to learn more than I encourage you to sign up for my next course on communication strategies for managers. You'll find links for that in the show notes. It's a six week course and we have different specific topics each week. All of them are related to foundational skills that you will need to be more effective working with different people, working with, you know, change and uncertainty in your organization.
And what I found is when you have more clarity about those things, about those fundamentals, it actually allows the stress to come down because now you feel like you've got a plan. And one of the things I love is I really love supporting managers because I feel like, you know, there's a lot on your shoulders and often not a lot of help. So come and you know, you can get help and support in that way.
Or if you want to work with me one-on-one, that's an option to go to my website, kimnickel.com and we can set up time to talk about your specific goals and situation and how coaching can help. I will also add that I love it when my clients and students are able to get their organization to cover the cost of their learning and development.
So if that's something that you want to learn more about, I've got a couple episodes already about that topic, but that's something I can also work with you individually on. It's usually just a very quick call and it doesn't take a lot to actually get the wheels turning and realize, oh, this is how I can present it in a compelling way to get my work to say, yes, that's a great idea. We'd love to cover the cost of that professional development for you.
So all to say, I'm really glad you're here. Being a manager, it's a really important job and it's not always easy. So thank you for being here. Thank you for listening. And oh, if you like this podcast, please leave a rating or a review. It means a lot to me and it actually helps the show. So again, thank you so much for listening. I'm glad that you're here and I will talk to you next time.
When you're more effective at work, you're happier in your life, and when you're happier in your life, you're more effective at work. I can help. Go to my website, kimnickel.com and sign up for a coaching consult. It can get better.