Nobody likes performance reviews. They are uncomfortable, but they are necessary, and when done right, they can be a powerful tool to improve your team. So if you’re a manager, HR professional, or small-business owner dreading your next batch of performance reviews, these six tips can help you make the most of your meetings.

1. Waiting until the annual review to give feedback. Shaping employee performance is an ongoing, everyday process, not just an hourlong meeting once a year. How else will an employee be able to define success or make modifications? An employee who receives a bad review will wonder why you didn’t say something sooner before blindsiding them with a blemish on their personnel record. Instead, give employees regular feedback about their good and not-so-good work, with suggestions for improvement.
2. Failing to prepare. Useful performance reviews aren’t thrown together in the five minutes before the meeting. They should be an accurate and insightful overview of the employee’s year, which will require some prep work on the boss’s part—a lot more than cutting and pasting the previous year’s comments! Preparing for the meeting shows that each employee’s performance matters to your team.
3. Focusing on the most recent work. Unless you’ve been taking good notes or giving regular feedback, your review may suffer from the recency effect: letting the most recent work shape your perspective for the whole year. An employee’s recent mistake can cloud an otherwise banner year. In the interest of fairness, be sure to consider the entire year’s performance when giving a review.
4. Giving an unbalanced review. Even the best employees have skills that could be strengthened, so don’t shy away from encouraging improvement! That means giving an honest review balanced with good and bad. Just be sure your comments are on target; nothing is more frustrating than a boss with a skewed perception of an employee’s work.
5. Overlooking self-evaluations. Find out where employees feel they shine and where they could use extra help. This is a great way to uncover talents or achievements you may have overlooked. This is also an opportunity for employees to take proactive ownership of a performance problem, so you don’t have to beat them over the head with it.
6. Ignoring career goals. Feed your employees’ success by checking in with their career goals. You’ll find many employees aspire to a higher position or a different role in the company. You’ll also find some employees who are unhappy in their current role. In either case, you can foster engagement and motivation by offering encouragement and tips to steer the situation toward the employees’ goals.

Don’t let your employees sweat! A well-prepared and productive performance review can help employees to see what they’re doing well and what they could improve, and will give them a new outlook on their work for the coming year.