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Uncoupling discussions on evaluation and compensation

Experts in human resources say that you should talk with your direct reports about their performance and then in a separate discussion talk to them about their compensation.

People are unable to get out of their minds what they’ve heard about dollars, and focus on how they can improve their performance if you couple the two topics. All too often, the pay message disappoints the listener, and defensiveness – at best – kicks in when they must then listen to what’s wrong with them.