Looking to 2024: the challenges facing the education sector in the year ahead

​​How does your business decide who to promote? Is career progression embedded within the workplace culture or is it done in line with employee tenure?

The process of promotion should consider merit, potential, and alignment with organizational values. Meritocracy should be the cornerstone of any promotion strategy, rooted in a comprehensive evaluation of an individual's performance, skills, and contributions to the business. Tangible achievements such as key performance indicators, project outcomes, and leadership abilities, should guide this assessment.

However, merit alone does not paint the full picture. It’s important to identify individuals with the capacity to grow, adapt, and innovate and those who demonstrate a hunger for learning, a willingness to take on new challenges, and a track record of exceeding expectations. Investing in the development of high-potential individuals is key to futureproofing your business.

Promote those who show enthusiasm and excellence

Promoting individuals who embody the core values and culture of your business reinforces a sense of purpose and belonging among employees. Beyond technical skills and performance metrics, assess candidates' alignment with your company's mission, vision, and ethics. It’s usually easy to spot those who both excel in their roles and show enthusiasm for the ethos of the business – these professionals are more likely to drive positive change and inspire their colleagues.

There have been many conversations about extroverts and introverts in the workplace and the traits typical of both – some of which can sway employers to promote one group over another. Personality testing at the hiring stage or as part of professional development, can help identify individuals with the potential to go further within the business, but they can also lead to bias, so should be balanced with traditional interviews and employee performance.

Diversity and inclusion (D&I) should also be central considerations when promoting. Ensure opportunities are accessible to individuals from all backgrounds, regardless of gender, ethnicity, age, or socio-economic status. Actively seek out diverse talent, create inclusive promotion criteria, and address systemic barriers that may impede the advancement of underrepresented groups.

Jobseekers actively look for employers that can evidence their commitment to D&I, so it pays to promote this on all channels, including in your job adverts. Lip service is not enough – professionals will not stay long in an environment they perceive as old-fashioned and out of touch. Embracing diversity strengthens your talent pool and builds on your reputation as a progressive and inclusive employer.

Employees should have a clear understanding of the criteria, process, and timeline for promotion. Provide regular feedback on their performance and development areas, empowering them to actively pursue growth opportunities. Also, establish mechanisms for staff to raise concerns or grievances related to the promotion process.

Deciding who to promote

Look for those who demonstrate both competence and potential for leadership and growth. Here are some key attributes to consider:

Job performance

Consistent achievement of goals and targets - high-quality work output, ability to meet deadlines, and manage workload effectively.

Leadership skills

Demonstrated ability to motivate and inspire others - effective communication skills, both verbal and written, capacity to delegate tasks and empower team members.

Problem-solving abilities

Aptitude for critical thinking and analytical reasoning - proven track record of resolving complex issues, willingness to take initiative and propose innovative solutions.

Adaptability

Ability to thrive in changing environments - flexibility to adjust strategies and tactics as needed, openness to feedback and willingness to learn new skills.

Emotional intelligence

Empathy towards colleagues and clients - skill in managing interpersonal relationships, self-awareness, and ability to regulate emotions.

Strategic thinking

Understanding of the broader organizational goals and objectives - the capacity to develop long-term plans and strategies, skill in prioritizing tasks, and allocating resources effectively.

Team collaboration

Track record of working well within a team - ability to foster a positive and inclusive work environment, willingness to support colleagues and share knowledge.

Continuous learning

Commitment to personal and professional development - eagerness to seek out new challenges and opportunities for growth, willingness to invest time and effort in acquiring new skills.

Ethical conduct

Integrity in decision-making and actions - respect for company values and ethical standards, accountability for own behavior and its impact on others.

Industry knowledge

Understanding of the sector in which the business operates - awareness of industry trends and developments, ability to apply industry knowledge to drive business success.

Final thoughts

Promotion creates opportunities for leaders to strengthen their business and should therefore be seen as an investment. No one should ever feel pressured to take on the greater responsibility that comes with promotion, but providing avenues for those who want the challenge is a win-win situation.

If you are looking for new talent for your teams, or considering your next career move, get in touch with one of our specialist consultants today.

​​The annual appraisal is considered a dying practice – but it just needs to be revived in the right way, and more importantly, undertaken more frequently, to benefit the parties involved.

With positive feedback, little and often is the best way to keep employees motivated and inspired. These reviews should be a meeting that employees look forward to because they will either receive praise or constructive feedback that will help them in their careers.

An employer who nurtures the progression of their team and shows they care about them is more likely to retain their employees than those who seem apathetic.

What is a performance review?

A performance review is an assessment of an employee’s performance in the workplace over a certain period. It is typically used to provide feedback on the professional’s strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement. It may also include a discussion of the employee’s career objectives and provide guidance on how best to achieve them.

Is there a difference between a performance review and appraisal?

Performance reviews and appraisals refer to the same type of one-to-one meetings about employee performance and progression. The only difference lies in how they are used: ‘performance review’ connotes an informal meeting between a manager and their employee which focuses on feedback, career progression, goals, salaries and more. Appraisals, on the other hand, often refer to more formal reviews, in which the two parties might, for example, discuss salary.

While other performance review templates will have a firm structure, our template can be used periodically, as needed for any type of one-to-one or group discussion regarding goals and areas for development and tailored to the employee. It is fully editable and customisable.

What should be included within a performance review?

Performance reviews can cover any area of concern employees wish to discuss that might help them improve their work, productivity, skills, or prospects. This might include their progression, goals, salary, benefits, upskilling opportunities, wellbeing and more. The content, context and frequency of the review should be a mutual decision, but the focus should be on the needs of the employee.

Usually, there should be some structure to the meeting in order for both parties to benefit. Our performance review template can be used to cover specific areas for the employee’s development and build a progression plan.

What questions should a manager ask as part of a performance review?

Performance review questions should prompt the employee to speak openly and honestly about their performance and any concerns they have.

Here are some performance review question examples:

• What do you hope to achieve by the next review?

• What do you feel you have done well / how do you feel you’ve developed since the last review?

• What do you feel you could have done better and why?

• Do you have any additional feedback or suggestions for me?

• What are the different types of performance review?

Performance reviews come in various forms

From self-assessments and one-to-ones to wider evaluations by multiple colleagues. Here are the main examples:

• Traditional performance reviews involve a manager assessing the performance of their employee, but feedback can go both ways. When an employee evaluates the performance of their manager, it is known as upwards feedback.

• Self-assessment reviews are undertaken by the individual employee and give them a chance to reflect on their performance from a different perspective, perhaps more objectively.

• Peer reviews enable colleagues to share their perspective of another’s contribution to the team.

• 360-degree reviews involve more than one assessor, resulting in multiple points of view in one review.

Employee performance reviews can happen as frequently as they need to for the best outcomes: perhaps monthly, annually, or quarterly. Individuals may be suited to a mix of the above reviews, according to the level of support needed.

Each type of performance review mentioned above can be facilitated by our appraisal template.

The benefits of conducting performance reviews

Regardless of how frequently they’re performed or who is reviewing whom, regular performance reviews offer many benefits. If done well, there are no downsides.

The overall benefits are:

• Ensuring employees understand their role and your expectations of them

• Determining to what extent employees are meeting those expectations

• Providing support and having an honest discussion

• Acknowledging and rewarding good performance

• Nurturing your employees’ career progression

• Increasing engagement and longevity

Making time regularly to discuss anything and everything is crucial for transparency and building trust between a manager and their employee.

Examples of effective performance reviews

The most effective performance reviews are those where the person comes away with SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, time-bound) goals to help them improve in some way before the next review.

In any employee review form, there must be structure, but there should also be flexibility to adapt it to the needs of different employees.

The fundamentals of a performance review are:

• Setting SMART goals

• Honest and constructive feedback

• A safe space for two-way communication and trust

• Appropriate praise and recognition

Our template provides space to outline key areas of success, development, and focus, to give feedback on skills, and create an agreed action plan with objectives to meet before the next review – whether that’s monthly, quarterly, or annually.

Every team is different – that’s why our performance review template is adaptable to your own requirements.

Whether you’ve completed many performance reviews in the past, or have yet to conduct one, our template can help you provide the best experience for your employees.

Get started with our free template today – download it now.

​Employers are not required by law to conduct appraisals and reviews, but they do benefit all parties. If all the feedback you give your team members is through one annual appraisal, you’re doing your team a disservice and aren’t unlocking their full potential. Feedback should be far more regular to match the fast-paced environments we now work in.

The value of appraisals

Recently, appraisals have been considered a dying practice by many employers who deem it a tick-box exercise with little value. However, when done well, and more frequently, these reviews are crucial for the development of your employees and have multiple benefits for both parties:

• Ensuring employees understand their role and your expectations for them

• Determining to what extent employees are meeting those expectations

• Providing support and having an honest two-way discussion

• Acknowledging and rewarding good performance

• Nurturing your employees’ career progression

• Increasing engagement and longevity

A manager’s responsibility is to empower their people to do their work to the best of their ability and nurture their successes. Performance reviews are a chance to engage team members with regular, one-to-one, honest discussions. It’s not only a chance for the professional to receive feedback from you, but an opportunity for them to raise any concerns they have and to tell you what support they might need.

Without appraisals, employees will still be evaluated, but without the same transparency and objectivity. It will simply exclude employees from the process. This could make them feel out of control of their own futures and unaware of what they can do to improve. Providing honest feedback, even if it is a hard conversation to have, allows them the opportunity to upskill themselves and for you to show you want to help them improve.

Conducting a successful performance review

Firstly, all parties involved need to understand the process and why it’s being conducted in the first place. What do you want to achieve from this meeting? Appraisals need to be structured to be effective. Performance template examples, like the template we have designed, can help you with this.

Every appraisal should:

Be as regular as your team needs it to be– The regularity of your performance reviews will depend entirely on your company, team and management style. With most companies changing much more rapidly, and employees learning in more fast-paced environments, annual appraisals will not be as useful as a more regular performance review. When it comes to feedback, little and often is the way to go.

You might decide that once a month is best for your team members. However, it’s best to be flexible, and if monthly reviews aren’t working for individuals, try checking in with them more regularly than others. It’s all about the employee and your own judgement.

Provide effective feedback– Fundamentally, all feedback must be honest and constructive. Without honesty, it will have no value to the person receiving it – positive or negative.

Whether their performance has been excellent or less than satisfactory, you need to advise them on the next steps they should take to improve or grow further. All feedback must focus on the future and how your employee can move forward, rather than dwelling on past failures or becoming complacent following their successes.

Set SMART goals– One of the most common mistakes employers make is setting vague goals. Employers must provide their employees with SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, time-bound) goals, that they can focus on achieving ahead of their next review. For example, you may want one of your employees to ‘make more sales’ but this doesn’t give them guidance or direction on how to achieve what you want them to.

To turn this into a smart goal, it might become something like: ‘make eight sales a month, for six months, until you reach 48 sales by the end of this year’. Outlining the main goal, and the smaller steps they need to take to achieve their goals by a set deadline is much better for motivation and productivity. It’s also easier to measure and help them to stay on track to achieve their overall goal.

Be a rewarding experience for employees– Appraisals should be an experience employees look forward to. They should leave feeling that their hard work and progress since the last review has been acknowledged and rewarded by their employer. If the response hasn’t been so positive, they should leave with an awareness of how to improve, through honest and constructive feedback and SMART goals.

Be personalised to individuals– Each member of your team will have a different way of working and different needs. This should be accounted for in your performance reviews. Ideally, you would have a standardised performance review template that can be adapted to each person in your team. A one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t always work.

If any of your team members have health issues which are affecting their work, take that into consideration and do your best to support them. It is illegal to discriminate against someone for their protected characteristics such as disabilities or neurodivergence.

Likewise, be mindful of any personal issues your employee may be struggling with that may have a short-term impact on their performance. You must provide reasonable adjustments where possible to help them improve their performance.

Download our free performance review template to help you ensure your next review has a positive impact on your employees.