How can you avoid conflicts when assessing team performance?

Defining clear criteria is a great start, but: -Be open, honest, and treat everyone the same. No special treatment! -Communicate, ask and Listen.

Having clear criteria is crucial for the success of a team. It serves as a roadmap for all team members, ensuring that everyone has a shared understanding of what is expected and what success looks like. This helps to minimize any conflicts or misunderstandings between team members when evaluating performance. Moreover, it promotes transparency and fairness, which are essential for maintaining team morale and motivation. In my experience, when we establish well-defined criteria for performance evaluation, we create a more productive and accountable team. This enables the team to focus on achieving their goals and delivering their best work.

In my experience, involving the team in performance assessments has been beneficial both for identifying areas of improvement and strengthening team cohesion. It's a win-win situation for both team morale and productivity. One thing that has proven to be incredibly helpful is regularly seeking input and feedback from team members. Their unique perspectives offer valuable insights, and have often led to significant improvements in our processes and performance. It's amazing how much collective wisdom the team holds, and tapping into that resource has been a game-changer.

It's important to gather information from multiple sources to avoid incomplete or biased conclusions. We can achieve this by collecting data from various channels, such as peer reviews, self-assessments, project outcomes, and KPIs. This approach helps us create a more comprehensive and well-rounded picture, which not only minimizes the risk of conflicts but also promotes objectivity and transparency in the evaluation process. In my experience, adopting a multi-faceted approach to performance assessment can be a valuable strategy for improving team dynamics and fostering a culture of continuous improvement.

When we highlight the strengths of our team members, we boost their morale, reinforce positive behaviors, and encourage them to continue excelling in their areas of expertise. However, it is equally important to address areas that need improvement by offering constructive feedback. This will pave the way for growth and development. I have found that framing feedback in a specific and actionable manner is incredibly helpful. Rather than giving vague feedback such as 'improve communication', it is better to provide more specific feedback like 'schedule regular team meetings to enhance communication, ensure all team members are on the same page, and avoid any potential misunderstandings.

Conflict begins where trust ends. In order to learn from your team's performance — which is the whole purpose of an assessment — you'll need varied perspectives. It is the facilitator's responsibility to promote open dialogue by developing a culture of psychological safety. A good way to incorporate this into performance discussions is to start the call with all participants agreeing to Norm Kerth's Prime Directive: "Regardless of what we discover, we understand and truly believe that everyone did the best job they could, given what they knew at the time, their skills and abilities, the resources available, and the situation at hand."

Enabling open dialogue plays a crucial role in preventing conflicts that arise from misunderstandings or miscommunication. To put this into practice, ensure that the team is given the chance to ask questions, seek clarification, and provide feedback during the assessment. Afterwards, it is recommended to initiate post-assessment dialogue where team members can express their thoughts, suggestions, and concerns. Creating a culture of peer-to-peer feedback is a key component in establishing effective communication within the team.

Relational conflict erodes team performance - but task conflict improves it. Creating a team culture with high levels of psychological safety encourages teammates to debate in ways that improve things (ideas, processes, performance). If you're experiencing relational conflict during performance discussions, try re-focusing the convo on tasks and invite the team to help solve for gaps.