Managing technical professionals: giving employee feedback

As a manager of technology professionals, have you ever entered a mid-year performance review and given negative performance feedback to one of your employees? Did you feel that your message was not getting across? Or during a performance feedback session, did you ever feel that there was a serious difference of opinion with respect to your expectations from those of the employee? Employee reviews are typically performed in the middle of the fiscal year to provide feedback about performance and discus necessary technical and behavioral improvements. This is an opportunity to discuss an employee's career plans and check progress made since the last review. Employee reviews also provide an opportunity for the employee to raise issues related to factors affecting performance and suggest areas for improvement. Simply put, this is a time where the manager and the employee can "sync-up" and reset expectations for the coming year.