I am a Manager
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Grow and Perform at Stanford (GPS) supports shifting performance management from a check-the-box experience to collaborative conversations that are aligned, meaningful, inspire growth, increase engagement, and enhance the overall experience for our team members.
Ensuring these collaborative, two-way conversations with our team members are frequent throughout the performance management cycle results in an increased understanding of expectations, hurdles, and how contributions measure up, which positively impacts the work we are doing within our teams, departments, and across the university.
Below are tools and resources to help support your role as a manager for each phase of the GPS process.
Goal Setting
Goals help employees know what is expected of them in their position and help ensure you and your school/unit that employees are focused on the right things. As leaders, it is your responsibility to help your team member(s) see how their goals and the work they do contributes to the university's mission.
The goal-setting process is a collaborative effort between you and your team members. By taking a synergistic approach, you can set clear, concrete, and connected expectations for results and behaviors to foster a partnership for a successful year for you, your team, and your organization.
Goal Setting process:
Program Tools
- Goal Setting meeting guide
- Using Growth Mindset language during Goal Setting conversations guide
- List of university and school/unit competencies
System Tools
GPS Resources
- Job Aid: Goal Setting for Managers
- Job Aid video tutorial: Goal Setting for Managers
- Job Aid: Goal Setting Reporting for Managers
Check-ins
As a manager, it is important to facilitate continuous coaching and encourage skill development, and goal progress. Two-way, open coaching conversations build a partnership for growth that allows you and your employee to recalibrate, course-correct, celebrate successes and continue to stay aligned.
As performance for the first half of the year is reviewed, areas of improvement will surface and as a manager, you are expected to provide specific input and guidance to help your employees perform at their highest potential. GPS suggests using ESLA, a model for feedback that takes a growth mindset and the SCARF model into account in the context of performance conversations.
Check-In Process:
Program Tools
System Tools
LinkedIn Learning Courses (New!)
Feedback
- Continuous, timely feedback (3 min.)
- Taking the fear out of feedback (40 min.)
- How to give feedback people can actually use (24 min.)
- Using feedback to drive performance (75 min.)
Coaching
- Coaching remotely (4 min.)
- Using coaching as a development tool (3 min.)
One-on-One
- A manager's guide to conducting effective one-on-one meetings (65 min.)
- Best practice 1: Make them people-focused, not task-focused (4 min.)
- Best practice 2: Make them employee-driven, not manager-driven (5 min.)
- Best practice 3: Create high accountability, not low accountability (4 min.)
To learn how to create and access your free LinkedIn Learning account, visit the Free Learning Platforms web page
Professional Development Opportunity
Crucial Conversations Professional Development Course (STAP eligible)
Annual Reviews
Annual performance conversations with your team members allow you to deliver fair and actionable assessments that help prioritize, summarize, and celebrate accomplishments, provide meaningful feedback, discuss growth opportunities, and realign for the upcoming performance year.
Below are resources to help you drive impactful and inclusive performance conversations where your team member feels listened to and respected, leaving them with a shared understanding of where they stand. When performance conversations are impactful, every interaction between you and your employee becomes an opportunity to inspire learning, growth, and discretionary effort.
Annual Review process:
Program Tools
- Annual Review: Conversations for managers guide
- Colleague feedback best practices guide (New!)
- Colleague feedback guidance sheet (New!)
- Annual Review narrative and rating guide
- Managing performance in a distributed work environment guide
- Pay for performance guidelines
- A manager's guide to pay performance
System Tools
- Requesting feedback from colleagues job aid
- Providing feedback for a colleague job aid
- Viewing Indirect Reports Job Aids for Managers
- How a manager can view the status of team Annual Reviews video
- Video: Annual Summary System Tutorial
GPS Binary Form Resources
(School of Engineering, Stanford Law School)
GPS 5-Point Rating Resources
(Stanford Alumni Association, Business Affairs, External Relations, Land, Buildings & Real Estate, Offices of the President & Provost, and University Human Resources)
GPS No Rating Resources
(Dean of Research, Department of Athletics, Physical Education and Recreation, Graduate School of Business, Graduate School of Education, Humanities & Sciences, Vice President for the Arts and Vice Provost for Student Affairs)
LinkedIn Learning Courses (New!)
- Tips for successful performance reviews (2 min.)
- How to conduct performance appraisals (3 min.)
- Assessing virtual performance (3 min.)
- How to Be Caring While Holding Teams Accountable (44 min.)
- Demonstrating Accountability as a Leader (15 min.)
To learn how to create and access your free LinkedIn Learning account, visit the Free Learning Platforms web page