Employee appraisals can be a really valuable management tool to:
- set expectations
- assure employees' work is aligned with organisational goals
- address learning needs
- support employee and organisational growth and success
Here are some pointers for conducting effective performance appraisals that drive employee performance.
Conduct self-appraisals
Start by soliciting your employee's opinion on their performance, using your appraisal form for their self-evaluation. Employees are more engaged in the process if they're actively involved.
A self-appraisal challenges staff to think about what they did well, and what they could improve; self-reflection is a powerful catalyst for change. And it gets them involved in setting their goals and development plans, driving engagement and commitment.
It also gives you context or information you might not know, and flags any differences in perception ahead of time, so you can better prepare for your discussion.
Get other opinions
Today, it's rarer for managers to work really closely with their employees, or even to have the same knowledge and skills. So it's helpful to gather 360 degree multirater feedback on an employee's performance from their peers, teammates, or internal clients. It's a way to broaden your perspective so you give more balanced and fair feedback and ratings.
Focus on the competencies
Competencies are a way to define the behaviours and values that are important to the organisation. They're often a competitive differentiator, so it's vital to help employees develop competencies as well as technical skills. So it’s worth spending time discussing how core and job specific competencies apply in the employee's daily work. You might also wish to, provide coaching and assign development activities as required.
Give constructive feedback
When giving feedback, don't just dwell on areas that need improvement. It's actually more important to provide feedback on good performance. Be specific. Give examples. Tell the employee how their performance impacted others and the organisation. Identify the "root causes" of good performance, then explore ways to replicate these. By focusing on good performance, you encourage more.
You do need to give feedback on times when performance was lacking, but never at the expense of providing constructive feedback on strong performance.
Provide a context for goals
When assigning goals, it's critical to give them a larger context. Link each employee goal to the higher-level organisational goal it supports. Your employees need to know how their day-to-day work contributes to the organisation's success. Study after study identifies this as a key contributor to employee engagement, performance and success.
Address learning needs
When you identify a performance problem, talk to your employee about it, identify the root cause, provide ongoing coaching, and put development plans in place to help the employee improve. The most effective way to deal with performance issues is to address them when they arise. You also need to discuss them during your employee's performance appraisal, and document your feedback – as well as any planned actions.
Learning needs may also arise from work assignments designed to stretch an employee. When assigning goals, identify any associated learning needs, and put development plans in place accordingly.
Finally, discuss your employee's career plans and determine if the organisation can support their achievement by assigning development plans that prepare the employee for progression.
And remember, development activities don't have to be training courses. Some research states that up to 70% of learning occurs on the job — through things like mentoring, coaching, job-shadowing, cross-functional assignments, etc. Find a variety of activities that suit your employee's learning needs and their learning style.
Start an ongoing dialogue about performance
If you really want to ensure performance appraisals are effective, you need to ensure they're just the beginning of an ongoing dialogue]. Get together regularly with your staff to discuss progress and challenges. Praise and recognise good performance as it happens, and deal with problems as they arise. Performance management is something you should do every day of the year.
Sean Conrad, CHRP, is a Senior Product Analyst at Halogen Software. He's also an experienced trainer and has helped countless organizations improve their employee performance management practices.