At Reviewsnap, we often talk about how a performance review can take on the form of a personal business plan for individual employees. When a review combines competency measurement, goal definition and measurement, and a defined development plan for the upcoming review period, the employee has a road map for success. A business plan is really just a road map for success for the business.

We suggest making the review process more "strategic" and results-oriented than is sometimes the case. Thinking of the performance review as not only a feedback mechanism, but as a success plan will be more productive for the employee and will often yield much better results for all involved. Also, employees feel better about the process when feedback is accompanied by a legitimate and thorough plan for helping them be successful.

The first step in moving along this path is to begin moving work units toward a more complete approach to performance management in general. This represents a cultural change and will likely need to be accomplished incrementally. But graduating to this more strategic kind of approach can produce various results including, but not limited to:

- A more focused employee.
- Better engagement due to very clear goals and known support from management in terms of assisting in the employee's development.
- A platform on which the manager and employee can communicate commonly and effectively about expected results.
- Performance reviews that really have some "teeth" and review sessions that tend to be more productive and ultimately more fruitful in terms of results.
- A year-to-year plan that the employee "owns" and feels positive about being able to achieve.

Certainly effective communication on the part of the manager is important in this process, but thinking about performance reviews in a more strategic framework should produce better overall results over time.