What happens in a formal performance meeting?

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The most important question to ask first is; is this a regular, run-of-the-mill performance meeting, or is it a formal meeting with potential formal consequences such as warnings?  Language can let us down a bit on this, and doesn’t help us differentiate between these easily.  A common term at the moment (and this isn’t universal and may easily change) is a PIP; a Performance Improvement Plan, which is the later of the two above- a structured process that is outside of regular monthly/quarterly/annual performance meetings. 

To learn more about what to do in regular performance reviews, see here.  But otherwise we are talking about what happens when you’re in a PIP.

What you ought to be doing

This is when they tell you what they think you ought to be doing (that was complicated, but it’s right, I double-checked it).  This should be straightforward, but is actually complicated when you get into it.  It’s very likely that there is an unrealised difference between what you think you ought to be doing, and what your boss thinks your ought to be doing.  Whether your boss has done the job before (i.e. they got promoted) or not, can make a difference over how right they are.  But they need to clearly tell you what they think you ought to be doing; and not give you ‘just do it and I’ll tell you if you’re getting it wrong’ expectations (see here for more).  

What you’re currently doing

Now they need to tell you how you’re currently doing.  What you’re missing, what you’re not doing, what you’re doing wrong.  It has to be recent though (see here a line in the sand for more).  You need to know how you are tracking in their eyes, and whether it’s correct.

The gap to be fixed

This is the straight-forward flow-on from the two points above.  This is the gap they need you to fix, and it should flow naturally from the conversation.  If you don’t know by the end of the meeting, circle back, write it down.  It’s not unreasonable for them to ask you to give them what they are paying for, but you need to be crystal clear what you need to do to protect your job.

Support

Most of the time, you’ll need help to fix it.  If it was easy, and straight-forward, you would have already done it.   For most performance issues, it’s not a question of attitude (see here) but capability, and you can’t fix capability by just changing your mindset.  You will need help from your employer to fix this, and they need to provide this.  The best option is some coaching from a co-worker, so think about this, but this may not be a good option for you.

Timeframe

So now you know what you need to fix, you need to know when by.  This is needs to be a fair and reasonable timeframe.  What is reasonable depends on the complexity of the tasks- if it’s simple and easily done (e.g. getting to work on time) then you could do it better tomorrow.  If it’s complex, requiring a knowledge and lots of practice to get it right (e.g. making a statue of a bird from molten glass) you’ll need some time to get there.

Consequences

What happens if you don’t bridge this gap? What happens if you can’t do it in the timeframe?  This isn’t pleasant to know, but you need to know- will it be a warning? Will you be dismissed?  What can be issued does vary from country to country (see here) but you need to know now what they intend to do.  This is hard to hear, but you need to know.