7 Tips for Effective Employee Performance Appraisals
January 16, 2016 | Written by Sree Ravela
Photo courtesy of Unsplash
One of the most important functions of a manager is to prepare and deliver effective feedback to their teammates. In a high performing organization, besides the head manager, Senior Management/Functional Leadership of the department and Human Resources play a vital role in delivering successful, meaningful, and efficient performance management. In this blog, I would like to share my experiences benefiting from receiving, as well as delivering, more valuable feedback for producing more effective employee performance appraisals.
Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound (SMART) goal setting is the foundation for evaluating a teammate’s performance regarding why is expected to be achieved and by when. Their behaviors will contribute more toward how they’ll achieve those goals. Here are seven key tips to make the performance appraisal process more effective.
1. Avoid unpleasant surprises and recency bias.
In the modern corporate world, most managers have very busy schedules. Several operational meetings, budgeting tasks, planning related activities, reporting to superiors, and managing projects, etc. These responsibilities occupy most of a manager’s day-to-day job. I highly recommend maintaining each teammate’s performance log, including both positive and otherwise behaviors, outcomes, etc. Make sure you date every entry so you don’t have to keep recollecting data points during formal appraisals. In fact, the best practice is to provide continuous and real-time feedback throughout the assessment period. The formal appraisal should only be a recap or summary of all those performance comments, thus avoiding recency bias and surprises, if any.
2. Avoid halo and horn effects.
The halo effect is where a positive impression about a teammate impacts specific traits and imprints on the overall performance assessment. The horn effect is the opposite, where a negative impression overshadows positive characteristics of the teammate. A good manager will not fall into the trap of cognitive bias and will always be honest in including both positive and constructive feedback.
3. Provide specific examples.
The inclusion of detailed stories may take away focus from being complete in all relevant aspects of the assessment. Vague statements also don’t do any good to the feedback process either. Statements like “Lisa had stellar performance completing her projects” does not provide details of exactly which traits matched her role and responsibilities. Similarly, sentences like “Bob’s work has been sloppy, and it adversely impacted his projects” also don’t provide pinpointed areas for him to improve. The bottom line is to be brief, yet provide a comprehensive assessment.
4. Avoid guilt by association or bias.
Rating someone’s performance based on the company they keep rather than actual performance must be avoided at all costs. Often, managers tend to judge based on their relationships with a teammate or the perceptions they develop about them. This will undoubtedly lead to some level of bias during the assessment. The best practice is to collect feedback from at least three to four other team members, collect additional data points, and verify facts for a comprehensive evaluation. Focus should only be on actual results and not perceptions or a teammate’s associations.
5. Give great ratings for great performance.
Always keep an eye out for teammates with the strongest performance and attitude, and rate them highly for their efforts and positive demeanor. Remember, performance appraisals are instrumental in motivating high contributors to go an extra mile and perform better. Equally important, if a teammate is performing on a mediocre level, do not provide a high rating just to look good in your upper management’s eyes.
6. Avoid excessive strictness or leniency.
Managers should aim to strike a balance between being very strict or very lenient. This ensures fair and consistent performance evaluation, fosters a positive work environment, and ultimately drives employee productivity and organizational success. Keeping the correct context and assessment criteria in mind will bail you out of the tendency of either being very strict or lenient.
7. Identify opportunities to improve your teammates’ professional development.
Always be on the lookout to identify opportunities for your teammates’ professional development, even if they receive the highest rating. If you are intentional and honest about their development and want to drive better results, performance evaluation discussions will become vehicles.
Give give each teammate an opportunity to provide some non-defensive feedback. Also, follow up in a few days and make sure to answer any additional questions they may have after having time to reflect. Remember, the performance evaluation process is not a tool to hold a grudge. Value the teammate for who they are.
At the end of an employee appraisal process, both the manager and teammate should walk away with clarity on what specific behaviors should continue and what needs to change for development so they can meet their performance goals.