How AI Tools Like ChatGPT Are Transforming Performance Reviews & Employee Feedback
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I’m writing this from Chicago where I’m giving a talk for Cornerstone to a group of around 600 of their customers and prospects, all of whom are leaders in the people and talent space. One of the things that keeps coming up from my discussions is the impact that AI tools like ChatGPT are going to have on leadership and how leaders can actually use these tools to be better at their jobs.
Today, I’m looking at how leaders can use ChatGPT specifically for feedback and performance reviews. This example is taken from my brand new course, “Leadership GPT The Top 10 Ways You Can Use ChatGPT To Become A Better Leader.” If you want to get access to the specific prompts I use, the full course including video, screen sharing examples, and follow-ups, then I encourage you to sign up, you will also get a certificate of completion.
Performance reviews are a vital tool for assessing and nurturing leadership talent within organizations. They provide an opportunity to recognize achievements, identify growth opportunities, and align individual aspirations with organizational goals. Leaders often have unique expectations tied to their roles, requiring a distinct approach that emphasizes strategic thinking, decision-making, and emotional intelligence.
At the same time, performance reviews take a lot of time to prepare for and can be stressful for both the employee and the leader.
Let’s say it’s time to do a performance review for an employee that is excelling in areas like decision making but is struggling in more of the human areas like empathy and emotional intelligence.
I went into ChatGPT and typed in the following prompt:
“Create a template for a performance review that focuses on leadership qualities, including areas of strength such as decision-making and areas for improvement like empathy and emotional intelligence.”
Here’s what it gave me.
**I. Employee Information:**
- **Name:** [Employee Name]
- **Position:** [Employee Position]
- **Review Period:** [Start Date] — [End Date]
- **Reviewer:** [Reviewer Name]
- **Date of Review:** [Review Date]
**II. Summary of Review:**
Provide a brief overview of the employee’s performance during the review period.
**III. Areas of Strength:**
1. **Decision-Making:**
- **Evaluation:**
[Describe the employee’s ability to make decisions effectively. Highlight examples where their decision-making positively impacted the team or projects.]
- **Examples:**
[Include specific instances where the employee demonstrated excellent decision-making skills.]
- **Comments:**
[Add any relevant comments regarding the employee’s decision-making abilities.]
2. **Strategic Thinking:**
- **Evaluation:**
[Describe the employee’s aptitude for strategic planning and long-term thinking.]
- **Examples:**
[List instances where strategic thinking was evident and contributed to the team’s goals.]
- **Comments:**
[Provide comments or suggestions to enhance this skill.]
3. **Communication:**
- **Evaluation:**
[Evaluate the employee’s ability to clearly communicate ideas, goals, and strategies.]
- **Examples:**
[Provide specific examples where effective communication made a difference.]
- **Comments:**
[Offer insights into how communication skills can be further honed.]
**IV. Areas for Improvement:**
1. **Empathy and Emotional Intelligence:**
- **Evaluation:**
[Assess the employee’s ability to understand and relate to team members’ emotions.]
- **Examples:**
[Provide instances where a lack of empathy or emotional intelligence may have impacted team cohesion.]
- **Action Plan:**
[Offer concrete steps to improve empathy and emotional intelligence, such as training or regular check-ins with team members.]
2. **Conflict Resolution:**
- **Evaluation:**
[Evaluate the employee’s ability to handle conflicts fairly and diplomatically.]
- **Examples:**
[Describe specific situations where conflict resolution could have been managed more effectively.]
- **Action Plan:**
[Provide strategies or resources to improve conflict resolution skills.]
**V. Development Goals:**
Outline specific, actionable goals for the employee to achieve by the next review period. Ensure that these align with their role and aspirations.
**VI. Additional Comments:**
Provide any other relevant feedback, observations, or recommendations that can help the employee excel in their role.
**VII. Employee Feedback:**
Allow the employee to share their thoughts on the review and provide their perspective on the evaluation.
**Signatures:**
- **Reviewer Signature:** _____________________
-**Employee Signature:** _____________________
Now you have a starting point that you can work off of and can even edit with ChatGPT to better personalize it for the employee you are meeting with.
For leaders, tools like ChatGPT are a complete game changer and in my course I go over 10 practical and actionable ways that leaders can use ChatGPT to be more effective. The 10 ares I cover are:
- Enhance your communication skills
- Professional development guidance
- Meeting preparation
- Feedback and performance reviews
- Brainstorming sessions
- Enhanced decision support
- Learning new management techniques
- Crisis management strategies
- Culture and team building
- Time management and productivity
I go through each of these in detail along with a screen share where I develop prompts for each of these 10 areas. I also give you a PDF with 5 prompts you can use for each of the above.
Don’t wait to learn how to use ChatGPT, part of having a growth mindset means constantly growing, developing and learning new things. This course will completely change the way you think about and use AI to become a better leader.
