Raise the Bar with Effective Performance Management

09/08/08

Many managers don’t enjoy conducting performance appraisals, and understandably so. They force managers to come to terms with employees’ specific achievements, as well as shortcomings, in a very personal way. At their worst, performance appraisals can take the form of supervisory bureaucracy. At their best, performance appraisals can put your organization on solid legal ground, provide current feedback to employees and set clearly defined objectives for the future. Employees who know what is expected of them tend to be more satisfied and effective, and that mind-set benefits the entire organization.

Use appraisals as multi-purpose employee yardsticks
Performance appraisals recognize employees’ strengths and contributions, highlight areas needing further development and communicate expectations for advancement. Appraisals also serve as official documentation to support the following:

Promotions — Without a series of performance appraisals based on objective factual data, promotions are difficult — if not impossible — to justify. Employees tend to view promotion decisions as preferential when appraisals are absent.

Raises — Pay increase considerations must be linked to performance achievements. Otherwise, a compensation system becomes difficult to administer and generally ineffective.

Demotions — When an employee doesn’t measure up to expectations but still shows promise, demoting the individual is an option that can be supported by performance appraisals.

Terminations — Strong cases can be made for involuntary terminations that are based on poor job performance.

One of the elements of an effective appraisal is a job summary, which may be the first page of the appraisal form. That way, each employee knows the evaluation is centered on what he or she actually does. Another important component is an in-depth review of an employee’s performance based on productivity, quality of work, dependability and contributions to the team. It’s best to use certain words or phrases to express performance, such as outstanding, exceeded expectations, met expectations, did not meet expectations and unsatisfactory.

If you have established objectives for the employee, compare the individual’s performance with those objectives. They should be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-based. Provide supporting commentary that allows the employee to better understand how you arrived at his or her overall performance rating. Then, discuss any differences in views about performance or specific events, and resolve them in a mutually agreeable manner. Finally, instruct the employee to comment on the appraisal in writing and to sign the review form.