PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL- HITTING THE BULL’S EYE
The end of the year is a great time to look back and look forward. It’s the perfect time to capture and streamline your learnings with your team, from the year that is ending and make plans for the new year.
Many working people have annual performance reviews at this time of year. It’s quite a hectic process, but the review process is still a great opportunity for you to claim and reward the “Aha!s” you and your team have earned in previous year.
A bad performance being a combination of haste, non-empathic mechanical attitude and lack of focus calls for a diametrically opposite approach for getting fruitful results.
Below are a few tips that could be helpful to the managers conducting their team’s performance reviews:
Do Your Homework: In order to design a just appraisal, it is necessary to have fruitful discussions referring to the employee’s annual performance. This includes old emails, memos, other communications as well as pertaining mental notes regarding his/her overall professional attitude. This, however, is a two-way process allowing the employee to self-assess against the set goals hence, enhancing the quality of discussion and also reducing any potential fireworks.
Set A Positive Tone:A manager should realize that performance appraisals are imperative. Most employees tend to be anxious about them as it affects a lot of things that affect them, directly depend on it. Therefore, a manager should try to be empathic towards the employee rather than making him feel entrapped. Re-affirm that the sole purpose is to help both the employee and the organization. The best way is to let the employee present his/her appraisal while the manager pays courteous attention towards the employee’s key achievements.
Identify Performance Gaps: After the self-appraisal manager can carry on with his/her own assessment of the employee’s performance. This should highlight whether the employee’s perceived triumphs align with the set goals and to identify the gaps. Employees should be made aware that how performance deficits impact the organization. Employees tend to agree if they see their work in a larger picture. Manager should:
- Allow the employee to articulate disagreement
- Not pass judgments or make depreciating personal comments
- Stick to areas that matter
- Use praise as well as criticism
Agree On An Action Plan:The employee should be allowed to suggest an action plan first. There should be no external pressure or spoon-feeding at this stage. The manager should, however, ensure that the plan is achievable, smart and addresses the former performance deficits.
Work hand in Hand: The performance review discussion should result in the establishment of new goals, or amendments to the previous goals. This again is a two-way process which includes the employee ‘s skills and abilities and the manager supervision and guidance on how working on these goals canlead to organizational success.
Annual performance appraisals stand as a formal system. They serve as a discussion forum that allows all concerned to examine an employee’s performance over the bygone year. However, this process must always be balanced and complemented with abundant recognition and real-time feedback throughout the year.