Performance Appraisals

Performance Appraisals How Not to Hate Them

Why We Hate Them • They are a lot of work. Going back over the last year, remembering the highs and lows of the last 12 months, is hard! • Talking about negative performance makes me uncomfortable, the employee may ask for specifics, and I don’t have any. • Trying to come up with goals and objectives is time consuming. How am I supposed to decide what they will need to work on for the entire next year? • My employee is exempt, it is hard to define goals that are measurable. • There is no pay associated with a good review so why bother?

Step 1: Set Up Capture the moment • Update job description • ·Reflect current responsibilities • ·Incorporate expectations • Evaluate last year’s performance • ·Where were the successes? • ·Where were the failures?

Step 2: Set Goals • Stress how the employee and their responsibilities fit into the goals of the department • Lay the vision for where you want your department to be in one year • what contributions do you expect to see from the employee towards that vision? • give ideas of what specific projects you want to see the department accomplish etc. • Based on last year’s performance, what needs to be done better? Differently? • Ask for input: What goals do you want to accomplish that will enhance your contributions to the department. Where do you feel you can effect our department and organizational goals? • Work towards agreement on the employee’s goals

Step Three: Follow up • Break down goals into monthly or quarterly projects • Check in • What success are we seeing towards our goal? • What do we need to adjust? • How is the project going? • Have you scheduled the training we decided you would attend? • What did you take away from the training? • How will you use that information in your job? • What do you need?

Whose Responsible for What? • Supervisor’s Responsibilities • Outline goals for department and results you need to see from employee • Take away barriers to performance • Coach • Be available • Employee’s Responsibilities • Outline details surrounding achievement of goals • Take responsibility for performance!

Here’s the Good Stuff! • Compliment • Great job on getting that project done, I especially liked the way you . . . BE SPECIFIC • Thanks for taking care of ordering the materials, assembling the content for clarity and ensuring I had all the pieces I needed. • Correct • That wasn’t quite the information I was looking for, in the future I’d like to see . . . • This is a good start, I need to have more details on . . . • I’ve noticed you were late again today. We discussed this at your review and it was one of the things you agreed to take responsibility for improving. I’m expecting you to accomplish this goal.

Good Stuff (cont.) • Document • Record notes to file on discussions, e.g. Sue completed goal 1 on 10/15/09. Discussed next steps of . . . • Training courses taken • Copies of projects completed • Comments or memos from others regarding the employee • Any disciplinary discussions or memos • Annual Wrap Up • Take all the information you already have discussed, and write review. • No surprises

How To’s • Define performance standards: • ·Tell what results you want to see – start with the end result in mind - ‘We will be successful if we increase our attendance at monthly supervisory sessions and the reviews are done by April 30!’ • ·State how you will measure results • 1.Specific, • 2.Measurable/observable, • 3.Achievable, • 4.Relevant/realistic, and meet a Timeframe.

Continuing How To’s • Deliver constructive criticism • Criticize the behavior, not the person. State how the behavior is job related and gets in the way of the person or the office performing to standards. Example: Don’t - Martin doesn’t work well with the rest of his team. He always works by himself and never shares his work with the group. Do – We work best when we all have the information we need. Martin plays a big role in this, he needs to continue to build rapport with other staff so information moves freely. Don’t - Maria is too emotional for this job. There’s a lot of stress and pressure that she can’t manage. Do – Our office must continue to function in all conditions. Maria has difficulty anticipating and mitigating stressful situations.

The “I’ve noticed”, How To • I’ve noticed you don’t always greet students at our window, I believe the students might see this as uncaring, that they are not important. What gets in the way of your greeting a student? • Employee may give insight into what they don’t like about customer service, why they don’t jump up etc. • Reach agreement on the goal. . . Our students are our most important customer we need to show them that is the case. • Ask employee to outline how they will correct this action. • Ask them to confirm the outcome you can expect • Decide and reach agreement on the behavior you can expect

When Appraisals Fail • Fear of Failure (if my employee looks good, I look good) • The Fudge Factor (if I tell them they are great, they will be) • Aversion to Judging • Positive Feedback-Seeking game (Comments made, may haunt) • Inadequate appraiser preparation • Lack of employee participation (invest them in their success) • Isolated, year-end reviews (what have I been saying?) • Comparing employees • Focusing on blame • Believing a rating form is an objective, impartial tool • Canceling or postponing appraisal meeting • Measuring trivial things

When Appraisals Succeed • Open Discussion – Employees have the chance to talk freely about their performance • Constructive Intention – Employee must recognize that negative feedback is provided with the intent to improve their future performance. If feedback is perceived as destructive criticism (vague, unfair, or harshly presented), problems such as anger, resentment, and tension result causing further deterioration of performance. • Set Performance Goals – Goals stimulate employee effort, focus attention, increase persistence and encourage employees to find new and better ways to do their work. • A Credible Appraiser – Appraiser must be well-informed. They should be respected by the employee. Appraisers should be comfortable with the appraisal process and knowledgeable about the employee’s job and performance.

How We are going to Learn to Love Reviews • They are a lot of work. But I will be prepared by keeping records throughout the year! • Talking about negative performance makes me uncomfortable, the employee may ask for specifics, and I don’t have any. I will talk about these issues as they arise, and document each discussion so there are no surprises! • Trying to come up with goals and objectives is time consuming. I will focus on the end objective and break goals into smaller pieces. • My employee is exempt, it is hard to define goals that are measurable. I can give a vision of the final result I want. • There is no pay associated with a good review so why bother? I can motivate by giving employees greater involvement and ownership in their work.

Performance Appraisals