Performance Management Meeting Memo

This email is a reminder of our performance management meeting on date at time in/at location. I'm looking forward to sitting down with you and going over your year and talking about what we're going to do next year.

Between now and then, I encourage you to review your self-evaluation. The day before our meeting, I will be giving you a copy of your review to go over BEFORE our meeting. I've found that reading something in front of your boss for the first time is no fun, and I don't want to do that to you. This will give you a chance to find where we agree and disagree, and to take your time and think clearly about any questions you might have. Your salary information will not be on the copy I give you the night before.
During our meeting, I'm going to follow a simple pattern that I've found works well. First, I'll go over our agenda. Then I'll give you a broad overview of how you performed, giving you a core message. I'll do my best to summarize your year, if you will. Then, we will walk through each part of your review. I will start with areas that you and I agreed upon, and then move to areas where we disagreed. I've found that makes for a little less tension.

When we've walked through the whole form, we'll discuss compensation changes. If there is time, I will discuss the details of how our company administered annual compensation changes for this year and next. If you have questions, I'll answer them.

Then we'll talk about your goals for next year. These will of course be affected by your evaluation, but I'd like you to come prepared to BEGIN a discussion about them. I don't expect us to make it through all of your development planning for next year, but if we do that's great.

We have an hour scheduled. I WILL NOT go over that time. I've found that if it does take that long, going longer doesn't help - starting fresh in a second meeting is better. I will be HAPPY to schedule more time if we don't finish. My goal is always to finish the review of last year, discuss compensation, and at least BEGIN talking about goals for next year.

I will finish by reminding you of the core message I began with.

Please let me know you've received and read this mail by replying to it simply. If for some reason you're thinking you may not be able to make this meeting, I encourage you to let me know NOW. While I urge you NOT to try to re-schedule, if necessary I may be able to be flexible.

If you have any questions about the process, please just ask.

Thanks,

Manager