APPRAISALS - 11.04.2011

Is your appraisals system a guaranteed success?

Making the meetings work

We’ve already looked at the benefits of a robust appraisal system and what that process should entail (yr.13, iss.1, pg.5, see The next step). But if care isn’t taken when carrying them out, the process will fail everybody it’s been designed to help, i.e. you, the employee and their manager. So what areas should you be focusing on in order to maximise their potential?

Continuous monitoring

The first point to consider - particularly for those new to carrying out appraisals - is that the system is an ongoing monitoring process. A meeting should only take place to review a specified period of performance, e.g. six or twelve months. Therefore, it’s not the time to be throwing any nasty surprises in the employee’s direction. Should this happen, they’re likely to become defensive and take a negative view of the whole process.

Note. Any problems - especially if they involve an element of misconduct - must always be dealt with at the earliest opportunity. Never ignore them and/or wait for the meeting to take place.

Advance preparation

Secondly, those carrying out appraisal meetings must come fully prepared. Unfortunately, many managers don’t do this. For example, they fail to look over records, treat the appraisal as a tick-box exercise, or want to get it over and done with quickly and so end it after a little chat.

Pitfall. Doing this devalues your system and leads employees to conclude it’s not that important. So managers must be directed to:

• review the employee’s performance against objectives previously agreed
• consider if any barriers existed that prevented them from meeting their targets, e.g. the employee was on maternity leave or long-term sickness absence; and
• whether or not the employee’s job description and list of duties remain accurate.

Employee involvement

Also, as appraisals are two-way the employee must be fully engaged in the process. So they should come armed with evidence of their performance (good and bad) over the review period and a list of items that they wish to speak about, such as training requirements or opportunities for promotion. However, this is not the forum for them to raise grievances on minor niggles.

Tip 1. There’s no reason why this information can’t be e-mailed to the manager before the meeting; it could even speed up the process.

Tip 2. Prevent an employee going on the defensive over any poor performance by allowing them to give their views and the reasons for it first. This also gives their manager time to formulate a suitable response.

Tip 3. An appraisal checklist can help you to confirm that your own system covers all the important points. It can be given to managers and tailored to meet the needs of your own business.

For a link to the previous article (PS 13.08.07A) and for a free sample appraisal checklist (PS 13.08.07B), visit http://personnel.indicator.co.uk.