Fearless Performance Reviews: Coaching Conversations that Turn Every Employee into a Star Player

CHAPTER5TRANSFORMING RELATIONSHIPS AND REVIEWS THROUGH THE COLLABORATIVE MINDSET

Quality is impossible if people are afraid to tell the truth.

—W. Edwards Deming

There’s no doubt that performance reviews often raise uncomfortable truths that, for all of the reasons we cited in Chapter 1, contribute to higher levels of anxiety and fear in a supervisor as well an employee. The omnipresent my-way mindset that we introduced in Chapter 2 and explored in Chapters 3 and 4 is a key driver behind many of these fears and anxieties. At its foundation is a desire to avoid an embarrassment or threat, run for cover, escape blame, and simply avoid having to admit when one is wrong.

As we learned, however, this protective strategy is largely a defensive ...