Performance evaluations are easily one of the most dreaded practices of management, probably right after terminations and discussions about body odor. This is no different in the veterinary clinic.

They are so dreaded, in fact, I get emails at least weekly titled "Get Rid of Performance Reviews for Good!" with the same general look of the ads on the Internet that say "Earn $5,000 a Week Working Part-time from Home!"

Both are possible, but they are, in most cases, highly unrealistic. You can do away with performance evaluations — look at Accenture's recent big move — but just like that part-time Internet job, the rewards will require plenty of hard work.

If you regularly (i.e. quarterly, monthly, etc.) have performance discussions with your employees that you consistently document, the need for whatever form you fill out would be moot. Yes, I see the dilemma with this statement, too. First, you are essentially doing a formal evaluation, just more often. Second, if you had time to do that, the annual performance evaluations would be a breeze with all of the documentation you would have collected throughout the year.

The first and most important fact to remember about performance reviews is they were created (probably by a lawyer somewhere) as a structured system to ensure that employees receive regular, documented feedback. If done correctly, this type of documentation can help you defend yourself from allegations of wrongful termination, discrimination and more.

Performance evaluations can also help you grow your employees' development areas and motivate them to achieve goals that are in line with the overall goals for your clinic. More often than not, however, managers struggle with either being overly positive or overly negative. Both can hurt you.

An employee who is struggling, but received a sugar-coated evaluation to avoid hurt feelings may be shocked later when you write him up, or worse, terminate him for finally pushing you over the edge with that scheduling mistake or client communication problem.

Reviews that are overly harsh and negative end up being anything but constructive and are often either ignored or utterly demoralizing. An example from a performance review for a federal government employee: "This employee sets low personal standards and then consistently fails to achieve them." Ouch!

In addition, writing reviews often becomes cumbersome when managers don't have good documentation of performance throughout the year. That being said, I have never met a manger who remembers to take consistent notes about performance throughout the entire course of the year. The resulting consequence is the review tends to focus on the last few months, not the entire year.

So, what's a manager to do? There are several steps that can make the process less dreadful for all involved:

Document

Yes, it is difficult and often gets put behind the 203 other issues that can pop up in a day, but you don't need to write a book. Write yourself a quick email (two to three phrases) when both positive and negative performance comes to your attention.

This can be used as time-stamped documentation that can help you in corrective actions and terminations. You can also track an employee's increasing and decreasing performance throughout the year (which may help you pinpoint issues), or it can simply be used to help you with writing specific feedback for your staff.

Make your reviews goal-focused

Your employees should be working toward specific, time-sensitive, measurable goals each year that fall in line with the overall goals you have for the clinic and the development areas your employee needs to improve to either be more effective or to grow to take on increased responsibility.

Now, most of us know this. Where I see managers slip up is on the "specific, time-sensitive, measurable" part. What I often see is "Monica's technical skills need improvement." This is extremely vague for an employee, and Monica may not ask you what you mean. Rather, she will assume she understands and may spend time working on the wrong skill.

"Monica needs to improve her anesthesia skills and get more hands-on experience with dentals. Monica needs to take additional training in these areas by March." Written this way, this goal is either achieved or not, is specific, and has a deadline. Your employee will know exactly what your expectations are and what she needs to do to meet them.

Be specific

We often think employees know exactly what we mean. Writing "Monica needs to improve communication" is not, however, clear or specific. Who does she need to improve communication with? What is she doing that is causing a communication problem?

A more effective way to write this is: "Monica needs to speak more slowly and less abruptly to clients. Several client complaints in the last few months resulted from Monica's rushed statements, which caused the client confusion in understanding our discharge instructions."

Get the employee's help

Have your staff help you with their evaluations. How do they think they are doing? Often, people are either hypercritical of themselves or think they are the reason you are still in business. Usually neither is true, but their feedback can still be helpful is the information you request is focused.

Ask them to sum up accomplishments and some projects that did not go as planned and explain what contributed to each. What are their career goals, and what can you do to challenge them? This information may jog your memory of the last year and assist you in defining goals that are meaningful for your employees.

Not all reviews are created equal

While your veterinary technicians should all be evaluated with the same general categories, your entire staff doesn't need to be. Do your kennel assistants need to be rated on "innovation"? Probably not. Your associate veterinarians are another subject altogether.

I suggest keeping your staff veterinarian evaluations focused on bigger picture objectives, such as medical acumen, client communications and leadership. Their goals should also be tied more directly to the clinic's financial goals, which can be easily measured with production. Your veterinarian staff can also benefit from reviews that include feedback from you, their peers and their support staff.

Don't make the process overly complicated

Remember the point is to give regular, consistent, documented feedback. If the format you're using now doesn't work, change it.

Make the process easier on yourself. If you want to write a paragraph on what's working and what's not — that works. If you just want to write goals for your staff, fine.

Do whatever works for you and your clinic. Otherwise, it will be a process that is avoided and "worked around."