what are the top 5 questions to ask employees in a performance review at a small company?

Andres:
This is a great question and how meaningful it would be if all leaders took your approach to using the performance review process as an opportunity to do some information gathering on employee perception. You noted two goals in your question: To secure a deeper assessment of your team and to gain an understanding of their view of the company. Therefore, I would suggest the following 5 questions:

1) What do you see as the primary drivers of success in our organization?
2) What do you see as the top opportunities for us to increase our organizational performance (e.g., increase market share, drive customer satisfaction, reduce cost, improve processes, etc.).
3) What do you feel your greatest win/success has been over the past 6 months?
4) What do you need from me in order to be even more successful in your role?
5) What feedback or questions do you have for me as it relates to your goals and objectives for the next 6 months?

1. When we sit down 12 months from now to review your year, what do you plan to tell me about what you accomplished?
2. If you could rewind the clock 12 months what would you have done differently this past year?
3. Tell me one thing you read, heard, or attended that helped you improve your productivity.
4. What do you need from me to help you become more successful?

1- What can we (employer) do to make what you (employee do) more efficient?
2- What can we (employer) do to make whaty you (employee) do easier?
3- What are we (employer) doing as a company that is counter productive or inefficient?
4- What else can you (employee) do that would help us (employer) be more competitive?
5- Is there anything in your personal life we may be able to help you with? (i.e. regards to commuting, if kids - school hours vs schedule, education?, etc)

Performance management addresses two areas of importance: one for the organization focused on business strategy and one for the individual focused on career development. The key for managers is to show employees how their work contributes to the business strategy and provide the support they need to do their job well. Questions to ask during a performance review include:

1. Are your job responsibilities / performance standards clear and do you have the necessary resources to be successful in your role?
2. What are your strengths and weaknesses in your current role ?
3. What short- and long-term developmental activities are you interested for your current / future role?
4. What suggestions do you have to improve efficiencies in your role / our department / the Company?
5. What drives you, inspires you and creates job satisfaction?

Considering both areas of performance management (the individual and the organization), the performance discussion can help engage employees so that they take pride their work / in the Company, talk positively about themselves / the Company, view working for the Company as a long-term career; and, above all, perform better.

1) What have you done this month to be successful?
2) What problems/issues have you come across that have had an impact on your work?
3) How are you finding working in this environment?
4) Is there anything we can do to make you more productive?
5) What do you plan to do in the next 30 days to hit your targets?

1. What went well this quarter? Why did it go well, or what did you do to contribute to this going well?

2. How can we leverage this good result for the next period? What do we need to do more of/less of to continue this?

3. What do you need to learn next that will help you most?

4. What do I need to do more of/less of/differently to help you be more successful next year?

Most performance reveiew discussions get bogged down in listing every item/task completed or not completed in the past year. The 'rear view' can aid in setting a path for the future, but looking ahead is more direct. Discussions that connect the work an individual does with goals for business results and individual professional growth are high impact and future focused:

1. How do you (in your role) contribute to our company's business success?
2. What one thing(or two or three) within or outside of your control would you change to help us better achieve our business goal/s?
3. What are your personal career goals, how do they align with our business goals and how well have they been supported? What could we do better?
4. Who (manager/team/colleague) have you learned from and how can I/they/we enable your learning and development in the year ahead?
5. Are there other points you'd live to share/cover/discuss?

1. What did you accomplish the past 3 months?
2. What are your plans for the next 3 months?
3. How can I help you?

5 QUESTIONS

1. In what areas do you believe that you contributed the most to the company's success?
2. In which areas do you believe that your performance did not meet expectations.
3. What can we do to help you to become more effective and efficient in this position?
4. Are you confortable in your current working environment? If not what changes do you believe are necessary?
5. Do you receive regular and meaningful feedback from your manager from time to time, and if not how can you or we address and correct this problem?

Is it a review of the employee's job performance or the employer's job performance? Do not conflate the two.

"I want to make a productive assesment of my team and their view on the company and their work."

Andres, do you want to know what they think or what they think you want to hear?

I'd suggest a 360 assessment that has the raters answers kept from the employer so that the raters need not worry about retribution, real or imagined.

Sometimes the best feedback comes from the least listened to employees so you'll need to assess the employees' 360 ratings without knowing who said what.

One of the really important part of performance management is aligning the manager/leader's expectations of performance with the employee's. If you as an employee think you're doing a great job, but your manager doesnt - then its very hard to have a conversation about goals, development, future career roles, etc.

So what we've actually found (through a lot of research on this topic) is that the #1 thing that has to happen is a "convergence of expectations" - which should result in a coaching conversation, not an "evaluation."

So one very important step I would add (and we recommend this is done before the actual evaluation) is asking the employee to "self-evaluate" their own performance against your goals and company competencies. This "self-evaluation" should be done in advance and shared with the manager, so the manager can look at what the employee thinks they're doing well and not well in advance.

Separate from this the manager does their own evaluation - then the appraisal is all about matching these up.

I like all the questions listed above, plus:
1. What could happen or is happening that would cause you to want to leave us?
2. How does your vision for your career fit into our company vision for the future?
3. Do you have a mentor and if not could I help you identify someone who could provide you career guidance?
The remainder of what I would ask is contained in the above questions.

If I were to have my own business, I would probably incorporate some form of self evaluation. For example, I would give each employee goals for the individual quarters. I would also task them with creating 1 or 2 goals for their career growth.
Approximately, a month before their formal evaluation, I would have them rate themselves on a scale of 1-5 (1 being poor, 5 being outstanding)depending on how THEY felt. Did they feel that they were effective? Did they achieve their objectives?
By implementing this method, the employee becomes invested in not only the company but their own personal growth. This type of evaluation fosters a true dialogue.

1. How do you think your performance aligns with the company's goals?
2. How could our overall company performance be improved?
3. What's getting in your way at work and what can I do to help?
4. What challenges do you have with achieving your personal objectives?
5. What new ideas do you have for the company to grow and innovate?

Focus on strengths, not weaknesses. Deal with problems directly and be clear about what you want and expect from the employee.

I have owned my own small business and do tend to have clients in that arena in Tampa Bay, Florida.

The most important question I have asked is how involved do they feel in the success of the company and on the flip side, how invoved do they feel that we are in their growth and success. A negative on these questions could mean a negative conversation.

Hope that helps.

Five questions....
How do you feel within the team are you happy at work...

Do you feel that you get the right feedback and support for the contribution you make to the firms success.

Whare is your goal for the next twelve months.

Is there anything that we can do that would make this a better place to work

How do you feel you fit within the team.

You see, a happy motivated and content team member will always give you 100% They need to feel valued at all times. They are the company, without a well motivated and balanced team your company will fail.

1. Whats your view of your achievements during the year and how you think it effected the overall corporate performance?

2. What were the motivating and mitigating elements in your job?

3. How you think you can add value to personal and corporate performance?

4. What are those specific areas of special interest or key importance for you that you think are also beneficial for the organization?

5. Can you describe some of the things that you need to be able to achieve your personal and professional milestones that also can contribute to organization objectives, in terms of manpower, budget, empowerment, assignments, training, or benefit etc?

1/ what does make you happy each morning waking up with the idea of a full day work ?
2/ Is there anything you think we should do to even improve those feelings ?
3/ How do you feel about your job being well recognized?
4/ How do you feel about your job being paid at its right value ?
5/ If you were the manager facing ratio, share holders, obligations, mployees' claims and so on, how would you try to reconciliate all those different targets ?