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There’s a silly yet popular practice in management that we need to rethink. When evaluating employees who are truly excellent, managers often feel the pressure to name something on which the employee can improve. However, if you have a really amazing employee, there may not be much for them to improve. That’s okay! That’s great actually! Congrats on having such a wonderful contributor on your team! Don’t assume that you need to come up with areas for improvement, just for the sake of it. If a student is getting an A+, he is told to keep up the good work. He doesn’t need to do more. This approach can be used with employees, too.
One problem with constantly coming up with areas for improvement, when there really aren’t any, is that the employee begins to have to go above and beyond her peers. Although she may naturally want to do this—that should come from her, not from your evaluation feedback that creates a double standard for your team members.
Further, if you fear that your best employee may want to leave her position because she’s outgrown it, that will happen regardless of if you make up stuff for her to keep on improving. If a person has outgrown a role, she knows that. No amount of unnecessary feedback is going to keep her there longer than she wants to be.
Don’t be afraid to tell someone that she’s doing a terrific job. Of course, if there are areas to grow, talk about those. Identify ways to deepen her learning or to prepare for a promotion. However, frame these messages very clearly: she is exceeding expectations in her current role but if she is interested in doing/learning/achieving more, you are here to support her and coach her through that. Be clear that the growth is about your interest in her overall development, not about a lacking in her current responsibilities.
Enjoy your best employees. Be honest when they’ve hit the mark and when they don’t need to do more for the role. They’ll trust your judgment and honor your feedback more if you speak to them with honesty and integrity.