What should I discuss in a review?

An appraisal discussion might be structured as:

• Introduction
• Strengths and success
• Areas for development
• Role development
• Feedback
• Summary and target setting
• Next steps.

Introduction 

The introduction should put the appraisee at their ease. The purpose of the appraisal should be reiterated, along with the importance of their contribution. The structure of the discussion should be outlined, so they know what to expect, and they should be encouraged to ask questions and make comments throughout the process. They should also be reassured that the discussion will be treated confidentially.

Strengths and successes

Begin with a review of strengths and successes. This will build confidence and motivation. General skills and attitudes should be highlighted along with specific examples of where the outcome has been good. For example, you might highlight dressing the shop window as a strength and, specifically, how the window was dressed in a particular month, describing exactly what you liked about it.

This is also a good time to pass on secondary feedback – positive comments you have received from colleagues or customers – as this is often highly motivating. People are often very aware of their weaknesses and less aware of their strengths. Asking a team member what they consider to be their strengths and weaknesses will often provide honest answers.

Areas for development

When discussing areas for development, a summary of feedback, supported by specific examples where performance could be improved, should be given. This is an opportunity to clarify your expectations as a manager and identify the reason for problems with different areas of performance – either around issues relating to skills and knowledge or issues relating to attitude and motivation.

Attitude and motivation issues might need further exploration. For example, a team member who is performing poorly at managing shop stock might agree that they don’t have a positive attitude towards the task, but with further discussion may reveal that this is because they feel they share an unequal burden of this boring task. Without really understanding the reason for such attitudes it will be impossible to resolve these issues. 

It is important that a plan is agreed to resolve any identified performance issues. For a skills or knowledge problem, this might be with a formal training programme, or informal training or coaching from you or another experienced and competent member of the team. A motivation or attitude problem will need a solution based on the cause of the problem.

Role development

The next stage will be to discuss role development. It is important to ask the team member to describe how they would like their role to develop and their aspirations for the future. The manager has the opportunity to describe how they see the team member’s role developing. This might be in terms of moving to another role or taking on a wider range of responsibilities.

New roles and responsibilities should be designed to support the delivery of the pharmacy’s business plan. This might be for one or two people to take on new roles, for example as an accuracy checking technician or shop front manager. Alternatively, it may be a change in responsibility for a range of staff, such as having all pharmacy counter staff take on the role of putting dispensary stock away in order to allow the dispensary staff to free up the pharmacist to take on different roles. 

Feedback

The appraisal also gives the manager the opportunity to obtain useful feedback from their team. This might be in terms of how the manager can improve the way they manage their team or what the team member thinks the business could do differently to be more effective or efficient. When this type of feedback is solicited it is important to provide a thoughtful response to it.

Summary and target setting

To complete the discussion the manager should summarise and set targets for performance for the following year. These targets might be the completion of a course or a change in the level of performance, for example to improve the speed at which accuracy checking is carried out. The targets should be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time bound).

Next steps

Finally the manager should describe the next steps – when the employee will receive their appraisal report, and how long they will have to reflect on it and agree goals for the following year. 

 

The next step is to put these ideas into action. Finish by recording your learning outcomes.