Many times, the individuals involved in a performance meeting are a manager and their direct report. If this is the case, managers have a tremendous amount of power in the conversation:
Legitimate power: This is the power associated with their position title.
Coercive power: This is the power to impose punishment.
Reward power: This is the ability to give rewards.
Managers must remember the amount of power they have during the meeting and show restraint at certain times. It can be tempting to use the performance conversation as what Andy Porter, Vice President of Human Resources and Organizational Development at Merrimack Pharmaceuticals calls the preaching session. This is when the manager tells the employee what they should do to fix the issue.
It might sound mean or seem unhelpful to not tell the employee what they need to do to correct an issue. Managers have experience. They might know exactly what needs to be done. But telling an employee doesn...