The most common uses for the manager summary box
Manager summaries are an integral part of the review process, as they provide essential content for direct report's performance and professional development.
There are several reasons why you may want to use manager summaries within your reviews. Our top four reasons are outlined below!
1. To summarize the in-person meeting had between a manager and direct report
- Often, direct reports want to be able to provide feedback and thoughts on their review. The summary box gives the manager an option to bring the review into the meeting, have a discussion with their direct report, and then make notes about what was discussed. This allows these notes to be tied to the review and helps keep the manager and employee on the same page about the review's discussion.
- The workflow for this would be: review cycle closes > manager and employee discuss the feedback > manager makes notes in the summary during or after the meeting > manager shares the summary and all the feedback with their direct report.
2. To draft developmental goals between an employee and their manager
- Due to the review, managers and employees often discuss what needs to happen in the next quarter/year to get an improved rating/review next time. The summary box allows the manager to write these action items down with the employee as they collaborate on the employee's goals. Again, this will enable items to be documented inside of Lattice and in the review packet to keep the employee accountable and aligned with their manager on their performance/development.
- The workflow for this would be the same as above: review cycle closes > manager and employee discuss the feedback and settle on goals> manager makes notes in the summary during or after the meeting > optional: manager and employee add goals into Lattice > manager shares the summary and all the feedback with their direct report.
3. To summarize peer and upward feedback
- Since peer and upward reviews are being submitted throughout the cycle and a manager may not take that feedback into account when writing their review, the summary box gives them an opportunity to read through all that feedback and summarize their perspective of it back to the employee.
- Here, a company might use a specific template to help guide what they would like the manager to synthesize (stop, start, continue is very common).
- This workflow would be: review cycle closes > manager reviews feedback > manager writes summary > manager shares packet (which can either be before or after the in-person meeting depending on the internal process)
4. To replace the email a manager would send to an employee with their review packet after the cycle ends
- The final remarks can be used as a way for managers to communicate the release of a review packet and essentially replace the email that they would traditionally send.
- Ex: Hi [employee name], Here is your review packet for our 2018 Quarterly Review Cycle. As your manager, I have read your self and peer feedback - great job! Overall you did a fantastic job. Some points I wanted to surface...etc.
Things to consider:
- We often recommend leaving the summary out for quick reviews as it creates an extra step and can delay the sharing process.
- For manager/self reviews, it may not make sense to use a summary unless you are using it to record notes from an in-person meeting (#1).