Skip to main content

Effective Communication Skills, HR and Wellbeing, Leadership & Management

Performance Conversations

Our Performance Conversations training session will focus on the key skills managers and supervisors need for holding productive and positive appraisal or performance review conversations with their employees – these could be any form of review, objective or target setting, development planning, supervision or 1:1 discussion. The same skills are required for both face-to-face and virtual performance conversations.

The fundamental basis for our Performance Conversations training course is the belief that when we focus on what is going well, where we are doing our best work and this is valued and appreciated, this in turn encourages and motivates us to do more of the good and great things we do.

This strengths-based or ‘Appreciative Inquiry’ approach to performance conversations can shift the nature and impact of the experience away from the traditional form-filling and ‘compliance’ style of appraisal systems of old, towards a systematic approach to how these conversations can develop talent and motivate people to perform their best work.

As well as our Performance Conversations Training course, you might also be interested in;

You will learn about the current thinking and the benefit of a positive, continuous and strengths based approach to performance conversations. You will come away with a better understanding of the key skills for conducting more effective and more frequent performance conversations and how to make the experience engaging and worthwhile.

Moving away from the annual tick box exercise, you’ll be able to align performance conversations with wider organisational needs and plans.

Course content

  • The strategic value of Performance or Appraisal Conversations – why bother?
  • An outline of the Appreciative Inquiry or Strengths based approach – and how this can create a more productive and meaningful experience and motivate future performance
  • The importance of using our Listening Skills, and the Language and the Questions we ask
  • Providing a clear focus for performance through goal setting, targets or objectives
  • Using effective performance feedback to recognise positives and strengths whilst also addressing areas for change or improvement

This session is for anyone in a line management or HR role who has responsibility for holding face to face or virtual performance and/or feedback discussions with employees. It acts both as a skills refresher and reminder of good practice for those with some experience and also as an introduction for those who haven’t conducted formal performance conversations previously.

As it covers the skills and practical experience, it is ideal for anyone who will be conducting performance, objective setting, development planning and/or feedback conversations with employees shortly after the workshop.

If you are intending to implement a new or update an existing performance management system, it will help to clarify what you will need to consider in order to make the process work effectively.

Build your own bespoke training programme

Talk to us about building a tailored programme of learning to suit your team's unique development needs.

Call us on
01392 409 198

or click here to fill in our contact form