As Managers you have a lot of tasks to take care of, some of which are less enjoyable than others. One of such kind is the employee performance appraisal. As is the case with anything else, practice makes perfect, and the same could be said for conducting an effective and engaging performance appraisal. With some organization and finesse, you’ll be ready to conduct the best performance review possible in order to benefit you, your employees, and the organization as a whole.
WHAT ARE PERFORMANCE APPRAISALS ?
A performance appraisal is the name for a formal review of employees to assess how effective they have been and how well they are performing against the performance goals.
PURPOSE OF EMPLOYEE APPRAISAL
Provide Effective Feedback to employee on his performance.
Identify any gaps in performance and create actionable plans to bridge those gaps.
Determine the strengths & weaknesses of the employee.
Provide satisfaction and encouragement to the Employee.
Help determine the correct Training & Development Program.
Insight on budgeting, and human resources planning.
PREPARING AND CONDUCTING THE APPRAISAL
Preparation is the Key. Organizing your thoughts is essential to conducting an appraisal and providing clear feedback on performance. Preparing helps you to stay on course during the appraisal. That means understanding the job the employee does, the requirements of the job, and how well their performance is compared to expectations. Devise an itinerary before the appraisal, including open-ended questions to prompt conversation with the employee.
Set a date and time in advance that is mutually convenient for you and your employee.
Allow enough time for each of you to do preparation.
Hold performance appraisals in a location that allows for confidentiality of discussions.
A good choice for a performance appraisal is a conference room outside of the immediate office.
Set aside between 1 hour and 1 ½ hours for the meeting.
“You’re not the only one in the room so you shouldn’t be the only one talking”
It’s important to remember that the appraisal will be a two-way discussion. You are not here for the sole purpose of criticizing your employee. Don’t let the discussion be dominated by discussing all the failures and mistakes your employee has made. The meeting should be a free discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of an employee as it relates to their own achievements during the review period. Don’t delve into the deep past. Only discuss the time between the last and current appraisal, unless discussing the goals they set previously and how effective they have been at completing them.
INFORMATION NEEDED FOR A PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL
Employee job description and any previously established objectives (KRA’s)
Any feedback from co-workers or customers on employee.
Letters of commendation.
Any current disciplinary documents.
Information from the previous appraisal.
Anything else that will be relevant to that individual employee’s performance.
WHAT GOES INTO AN EFFECTIVE APPRAISAL MEETING?
Start by explaining the goals of the meeting. Let your employee know just what the appraisal is and what is going to be discussed. Encourage a dialogue with the employee and listen to anything they have to say. Make sure to discuss any significant achievements with them. You are there to appraise the good as well as the bad. It shouldn’t be all negative. Of course, you must also discuss any unsatisfactory performance. An employee cannot improve if they don’t know the areas they need improvement.
After this you should mutually discuss any plans for development and training. If you feel the employee would benefit from training – or they have something they want to learn – then discuss their options with them and make arrangements if necessary. Finally, close the meeting properly and try to end on an as upbeat a note as possible. Employees should leave the appraisal hopeful about the future.
HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF PERFORMANCE APPRAISALS
The appraisal process should be an ongoing one, and the meeting itself should be a positive experience for all involved. Here are some steps on making the most out of the appraisal process and making them truly effective:
Hold periodic, ongoing progress reviews.
Immediately acknowledge good performance to put employees at ease.
Address problems as soon as they arise to prevent them becoming major issues.
Observe and make record of specific examples of good – or bad – performance when they happen.
Keep communication with employees open.
While it is good to keep things as positive as possible and make use of positive reinforcement, not every employee will have a glowing performance appraisal about how well they performed. Only 35% of employees that perform well feel that their manager is speaking honestly with them about their performance. It is true that there are some managers that would rather avoid the confrontation that may come with explaining to employees just how they could improve their performance. Get over this by remembering that you are critiquing your employee. It is for their benefit. You are hoping to help them by telling them how they could improve.
BENEFITS OF PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL
An effective performance appraisal benefits the employee being appraised, the manager/team leader performing the appraisal, and the organization as a whole.
BENEFITS FOR THE EMPLOYEE
Gain a better understanding of their role and what is expected of them.
A better understanding of how their performance is monitored and assessed.
An insight into how their performance is perceived.
Improve their understanding of their own strengths, weaknesses, and developmental needs.
Understanding and agreeing on objectives for their next appraisal.
The opportunity to discuss their career prospects and direction.
BENEFITS FOR MANAGERS/SUPERVISORS/TEAM LEADERS
The opportunity to identify potential weaknesses or difficulties.
An improved understanding of what resources are available.
The opportunity to consider and clarify what their own individual role is.
The opportunity to create an action plan for improving employee performance over the next appraisal period.
The opportunity to plan for potential coaching and delegation in the future.
The opportunity to motivate members of their teams.
BENEFITS FOR THE ORGANIZATION
Appraisals are a structured way to identify and assess employee potential.
Provide up-to-date information on aspirations and expectations of employees.
Gain information to help in the decision making process when determining promotions and motivation.
Information on any training needs to help develop potential training plans.
Updating employer records – including achievements, competencies, etc.
Career counseling.
THE 4 STEPS TO DELIVER SUCCESSFUL FEEDBACK
There are four key steps to delivering successful feedback; investigating opportunities, determining commitments, executing the plan, and assessing the outcomes.
STEP I - INVESTIGATING OPPORTUNITIES
Start by sharing your observations with the employee. Ask them questions and listen to what they have to say. Explore any potential causes for the problems in their performance and determine any new skills they may need.
Then agree on the goals and come to an understanding and agreement on the best course of action to address any problems in performance or close skill gaps.
STEP II – DETERMINING COMMITMENTS
The next step is to agree upon S.M.A.R.T goals that the employee should work on. These are goals that are;
STEP III – EXECUTING THE PLAN
At this point the appraiser has two primary responsibilities:
They have to keep coaching commitments made during the coaching agreement (i.e. ensure employees receive the agreed upon coaching).
They also have to observe the performance of their associates and refine the approach when necessary by providing additional feedback, which leads into the final step.
STEP IV – ASSESS THE OUTCOMES
Assessing the outcomes is a critical aspect of the feedback process. Feedback is when you share observations about how employees have performed, and it needs to be followed up on by assessing outcomes.
Get together with employees regularly to discuss where they are performing well and where they have shortcomings. If necessary, consider making adjustments to their goals or your coaching process.
COMMON PROBLEMS WITH APPRAISAL INTERVIEWS
There are always some Common problems that arise when trying to arrange or conduct an appraisal, including:
Projects ‘too busy’ to devote enough time to the appraisal process.
The appraiser and employee failing to prepare properly.
The appraiser treating the interview as a monologue and receiving no feedback from employees.
Concentrating too heavily on the mistakes the employee made, or focusing too heavily on how well they performed; critiquing involves looking at the good and bad.
The appraiser lacking listening skills.
Postponing the interview.
An interview that is too short or is constantly interrupted.
Not assessing training needs properly.
Providing employees with poor quality feedback.
WHEN CONDUCTING THE APPRAISAL INTERVIEW
Start out by creating a positive environment and helping the employee to feel at ease. Offer them both positive and negative feedback, but start out with positive feedback. Ask the employee questions and give them the time and freedom to answer them and offer their own feedback. When the time comes to discuss areas of improvement, make sure you discuss methods of improvement with the employees and invite employees to respond and offer their own input. Make sure to keep the interview on track and provide the employee with specific information on the activities or behaviors that you are looking for. Make sure they know what you want.
CONCLUDING THE APPRAISAL INTERVIEW
Unfortunately almost every employee feels that their performance review is just a waste of their time. Give the employee something they can learn from during the meetings to demonstrate their value.
“Nobody is perfect, so you should have always have something that the employee can practice or try to make a change”
If you or the employee hasn’t learned anything from their performance appraisal, then can it really be considered a valuable use of time? Professionals do spend more time in meetings than they have to. Save everyone plenty of time and effort by focusing the performance review around key takeaways;
Summarize and review important points of discussion.
Reiterate the recommended action steps and provide employees with time tables for action.
Ensure that employees review their appraisal and have the chance to offer comments of their own
FOLLOW – UP
Don’t forget to follow up on the appraisal. Check on employees to see how well they are progressing since the appraisal. Offer them any necessary assistance in reaching their goals and encourage further discussion with them. Periodically review objectives between appraisals and make any necessary changes. There’s no need to set objectives in stone. Make them flexible and work around employees.
FOCUS ON THE PROGRESS
The main reason that appraisals don’t succeed mostly is because they are treated as nothing more than a requirement that has to be fulfilled. Given that there are several employees in your department that must be taken care of, there’s no reason at all to allow yourself to forget just what these performance reviews are all about. Remove all the “this needs improvement” and “good job” statements in the review and focus instead on how they have grown, and the new heights their development could take them in the company.
An employee will typically dread having to go through a performance appraisal, but there’s no need for them to. Managers aren’t too fond of appraisals either. However, as long as the review is conducting as more of a discussion that emphasizes on progressing and providing helpful takeaways then they are much smoother and both employers and employees will dread them much less.
THE LAST WORD
As managers, you can be better at conducting performance reviews by communicating employee goals and expectations before going through with the review.
“Remember that, as a leader, it is your responsibility to properly conduct performance appraisals”
Prepare questions ahead of time that will prompt discussion and aim to communicate with employees to set the stage for establishing a more productive team and a proper performance review that is worth the time of both yourself and the employee. I hope this article helps you, especially newly promoted managers to manage the performance appraisal process more effectively.
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