Christina Osborne - Appraising Staff

Dorling Kindersley Limited

The Penguin Group

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First Published in paperback in 2002 by Dorling Kindersley Limited. ISBN: 9780751320848
Copyright 2001 Dorling Kindersley
Text Copyright 2001 Ken Langdon and Christina Osborne

This Digital Edition published 2009. ISBN: 9781405352260
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The ability to use appraisal to develop and motivate employees is a core management skill. Regular, constructive feedback on performance is vital if staff are to build on their strengths, achieve their full potential, and make the maximum contribution to their organization. Appraising Staff equips you with all the skills and techniques you need to conduct successful appraisals. It clearly explains the key aims and benefits of the appraisal process, and leads you step-by-step through the preparation, management, and follow-up of the appraisal interview. The content is packed with advice to help you encourage open discussion, interpret body language, build confidence, deal with performance problems, and more. With 101 practical tips scattered throughout and a self-assessment quiz that allows you to evaluate your skills as an appraiser, this is an invaluable pocket reference to appraising effectively.

Effective appraisal is at the heart of successful management. Understand how the appraisal process works, and recognize how a well-managed system benefits employees and organizations.

Regular feedback develops staff and helps them to achieve their objectives. Create an environment in which people welcome continuous feedback, and use the appraisal interview as a formal round-up of these on-going, informal reviews.

Encourage people to work to their full potential for successful results.

Praise good performance when you see it to motivate people to do even better.

Providing feedback

All employees want to know how their performance is viewed by their manager. It is important to provide this feedback continuously, whether it is positive or negative. Proper feedback helps team members identify where they need to improve their skills, knowledge, and attitudes. Even highly successful achievers need feedback to help them sustain their performance. On-going feedback improves morale, since people know exactly where they stand, and enables managers to express concerns rather than storing them up.

Appraising formally

Formal appraisal interviews, held on a regular basis with your team members, are a culmination of continuous informal feedback. If on-going feedback has been effective, this formal meeting will not contain any surprises for appraisees, and the atmosphere should be positive and business-like. There are two parts to the formal appraisal: the performance review and the developmental review. The performance review enables you to gain agreement from an employee on how well he or she has done in achieving objectives, and developing skills and knowledge, during the period under review. The developmental review is aimed at pinpointing what needs to be done in future to sustain achievement or meet new objectives. This part of the appraisal helps you to continuously improve an appraisees capabilities and prepare them to take on more responsibility. Do the two parts in one appraisal session to emphasize the link between them.

Getting the most from appraisal

An effective appraisal system has many benefits. Use it to:

• Sustain motivation and commitment;
• Continuously improve performance;
• Give direction and agree expected contributions;
• Set targets in line with organizational and team goals;
• Review development so far;
• Identify training needs;
• Celebrate successes and learn from disappointments;
• Understand career aspirations and assess potential;
• Gather ideas for change.

Defining appraisal

Effective appraisal relies on the provision of regular feedback. This feedback is then formalized in a two-part review of a team members performance and development.

Make sure that people know how important they are to the organization.

Appraising effectively

Think carefully about how you will give feedback both formally and informally. In order to build for the future, it is important to be constructive in what you say and to focus on the future in the way that you say it. Make sure that all feedback is two-way, and that discussions are honest and open. Consider how you will put your points across, since people will react to the manner in which you provide feedback. Bear in mind that criticism can be difficult to take, even when an individual is aware that it is justified.

Defining Appraisal Types

There are three distinct types of appraisal, each involving a different approach to evaluating performance. Understand the purpose of top-down, peer, and 360-degree appraisals, and why self-assessment must feature in them all.

Ensure that staff understand how they will be appraised.

Find out how others in your organization view an appraisees performance.

Appraising top-down

Top-down appraisal means that the appraisees immediate manager, who knows the appraisee best, is responsible for their appraisal and has the authority to agree a development plan for the future. Some companies use a matrix approach in which one manager appraises an individual in terms of their contribution to a specific office or region, while another manager appraises their input to their specific area of work. A human resources specialist, for example, with an objective of putting employees on new contracts, would be assessed by a manager with human resources or legal expertise.

Using peer appraisal

In this type of appraisal, people at the same level appraise their peers, so that each appraiser can use his or her expert knowledge of the appraisees role and responsibilities to give an authoritative opinion on their skills. Peer appraisal is often used in the professions, where specialist knowledge of issues such as ethics or technical competence is important. By monitoring colleagues as part of the appraisal process, changes in practice can be fed back to the profession, and improvements made to the way in which members behave and carry out their work.