Continuous dialogue explained

The continuous dialogue means that, as a manager, you are constantly talking with your people about growth and development. More and more organisations are therefore moving away from the traditional review cycle. That traditional way of appraising consists of three fixed moments a year. At the start of the year you have a goal-setting meeting where the goals for the coming year are agreed, halfway through the year a progress meeting in which you discuss where the employee stands on those goals, and at the end of the year the employee is assessed in the performance appraisal.

Why switch to a new cycle?

Organisations increasingly want to look at their people's performance differently. Because the traditional way of working is often experienced as uninspiring, because these conversations are often relatively subjective, and because people are often tense in the run-up to them, more and more organisations are switching to the new way of appraising and making room for the continuous dialogue.

How do you make the switch?

This change rarely happens on its own. Many organisations start by giving employees more control, by moving to coaching leadership or by working in self-managing teams. Introducing the continuous dialogue usually follows from there. Continuous feedback is an important part of it. With 360-degree feedback you ask for feedback from colleagues and managers as well as from external people such as customers and suppliers. That way the employee always knows where they stand in their personal development, and the manager knows this for all of their people. Putting the responsibility with the employee lets them discover for themselves where their talents lie and how to develop them further.

How can a performance management tool help you hold the continuous dialogue?

It is important to support the dialogue with a good tool. Anchoring it in a tool makes the process far easier to engage with. In a tool like Treams you record your goals, can update them at any moment, ask for and give (360-degree) feedback and make your personal development plan visible. That way you know at any moment where you stand and what you still need to do in your growth and development.