Effective Feedback and Performance Evaluation in HR Management

Human Resources Management: Module 4 Evaluation and Giving Feedback Produced in conjunction with The African Entrepreneur Collectiveand Opportunity International www.oppteachers.org

Learning objectives By the end of this section you will be able to: • Explain the importance of giving ongoing feedback to employees • Describe four different methods you can use to evaluate your employees’ performance • Prepare to write and deliver annual performance reviews • Understand how performance evaluations can be used to make human capital decisions

Developing a performance management system • Set performance goals for each staff member • Give ongoing feedback throughout the year • Conduct annual performance evaluations • Meet with employees to discuss annual reviews

It is a leader’s responsibility to provide ongoing feedback to his or her employees • Once goals are set, it can be tempting to forget about them until the end of the year. Beware of making this mistake! • As a school leader, you should discuss progress on achieving goals and provide feedback to your staff on an ongoing basis throughout the year, NOT just once per year • In fact, having effective, ongoing performance conversations between managers and employees is probably the single most important success factor of a performance management system

Tips for creating a positive feedback culture • Ensure that all of your staff understand their roles in the feedback process • Provide feedback whenever exceptional or ineffective performance is observed, and give feedback to recognize day-to-day accomplishments and contributions • Give feedback soon after the event occurs Source: Pulakos, Elaine D. “Performance Management: A roadmap for developing, implementing and evaluating performance management systems.” SHRM Foundation.

Conducting teacher observations • Because teachers spend most of their time in the classroom, regular classroom observations by the head teacher can be a helpful tool for providing ongoing feedback • Before beginning these observations, the head teacher should create an evaluation tool and make sure that teachers understand what is expected of them in the classroom • The head teacher can visit each teacher at least once per term and score the teacher based on the evaluation tool, then meet with teacher soon afterwards to share results and feedback

Sample evaluation tool for teacher observations Score (circle) • Clearly explains new concepts 1 2 3 4 5 • Provides relevant examples 1 2 3 4 5 • Engages students with questions 1 2 3 4 5 • Offers practice exercises 1 2 3 4 5 • Maintains discipline in the classroom 1 2 3 4 5 • Encourages participation from girls & boys 1 2 3 4 5 • Uses time efficiently 1 2 3 4 5 2 areas of strength (describe): 2 areas for improvement (describe): Scoring criteria

Conducting annual performance evaluations • At least once per year, school leaders should conduct formal performance evaluations for each of their employees to assess how well they have achieved their goals and identify strengths and areas for improvement • Performance evaluations can incorporate information from the following sources: • Past classroom observations by the head teacher / principal • Evidence of student learning based on student assessments • Peer assessments • Employee self assessments

Conducting evaluations: Classroom observations • Review the results of all of the classroom observations conducted over the last year • Think about how well the teacher performed compared to the other teachers in your school • Look for evidence that the teacher has made progress in achieving his or her Results and Development goals

Conducting evaluations: Evidence of student learning • The ultimate test of a teacher’s performance is the extent to which his or her students have learned the required materials • School leaders should partner with teachers to create written assessments of the key concepts for each subject to measure whether students are in fact learning these concepts • The results of these assessments should be incorporated into teachers’ evaluations because it is a strong indicator of whether or not they are meeting their “Results Goals”

Conducting evaluations: Peer assessments and self-assessments • Head teachers can ask all teachers to complete a confidential, written assessment of their colleagues’ performance • This can help evaluate how well each teachers worked on a team and contributed to departmental and team-building goals • You can ask employees to complete a self-assessment describing their progress in achieving their goals for the year, including the specific actions they took to achieve results

Bringing it all together:Writing annual performance reviews The performance evaluation process should conclude with a written annual performance review of each employee • This review should incorporate all the evidence of the teacher’s performance over the past year (i.e., classroom observations, evidence of student learning, and peer and self assessments) • The review should describe employees’ major contributions and accomplishments, key strengths, and areas for improvement • It should also summarize whether the employee is “meeting expectations,” “exceeding expectations”, or “not meeting expectations” overall

Meeting with employees to discuss annual reviews • Employers should meet individually with employees to share and discuss their annual reviews • Evaluations should act as a direct feedback loop into the development plan for each employee. • This meeting is also a good time to explain how the evaluation will affect human capital decisions

Making decisions based on evaluation data It is important to clearly communicate to employees in advance how their evaluations will be incorporated into human capital decisions. For example, you might set the following guidelines: Rewards for top performers: • Employees rated as “exceeding expectations” will be eligible to be considered for a promotion • The top-rated employee in each department will receive a cash bonus Consequences for poor performers: • Employees rated as “not meeting expectations” will be put on probation and will be eligible for dismissal if their performance does not improve within one term

Getting started with performance measurement Tips for successful implementation • Communicate the plan in advance • Begin with a one-year pilot test • Ensure that your employees are on board • Train employees, and review often • Evaluate and improve

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Effective Feedback and Performance Evaluation in HR Management