Tips to make your next performance appraisal powerful & effective

Deliver more effective performance appraisals and become the leader your employees can trust by applying these ten practical and proven tips. 1. Plan Meetings in Advance Most organisations have an annual performance appraisal cycle so time block and book meetings well in advance. Schedule your one on ones with each employee and, if you don’t [...]

When looking at conducting performance appraisals, it never ceases to amaze me how many people focus on the forms and the computer systems that generate them. It is almost as if my depersonalising the process, ticking the boxes, and filing the paperwork, that they believe they can miss out on the sometimes messy conversations that [...]

In previous articles on the topic of performance management and appraisal, we covered the ten stupid things managers do to screw up performance appraisal, and a similar article on ways human resource departments screw up the process. Now it’s time to turn our attention to employees! Managers, feel free to share this with employees, and [...]

Many businesses fall into the trap of relying on performance appraisals as their sole means of trying to manage performance. They “save up” all of the good, bad, and challenging feedback for one big discussion once a year, and wonder why people are not motivated. Think of managing performance in the same way you think [...]

In numerous programs I’ve conducted on performance appraisals, with Human Resource people (who are responsible for developing and implementing programs) and with line managers (who actually conduct the reviews) are often foggy about performance appraisal procedures. Here are some frequently asked questions. Questions asked by HRD Professionals: 1. What are the essential ingredients of an [...]

Have you ever noticed that many businesses hold exit interviews to find out why people are leaving, yet few hold retention interviews to find out why people are staying? Performance Appraisals, if handled correctly, can give you invaluable feedback about the reasons why people stay in your organisation. When conducting reviews, make sure you include [...]

Just as you would prepare for a job interview, preparation is key for ensuring that your performance appraisal process goes well. Your performance review becomes a permanent record in your employee file, both in terms of how you rate yourself as well as your managers’ evaluation of whether you’ve achieved the agreed business objectives or [...]

If you hire freelancers or subcontractors to complete work for you, should you be measuring their performance? Yes! To me the philosophy around ensuring effective performance is the same no matter whether you are talking about an employee, volunteer or freelancer. You need to: Discuss what is to be delivered by when. Have clearly defined [...]

There are legal risks and potential liabilities involved with using 360 degree feedback, although you can reduce your risk by using 360 feedback correctly. The risk of a law suit associated with 360 increases when you use it for determining promotions, bonuses, pay raises and the like. It’s much less when the ONLY purpose you [...]

Many managers struggle with the concept of performance appraisals, so in an attempt to solve their concerns, they create a system that puts people in order from the “best” to the “worst”. There are lots of creative ways of doing this ranking. They can simply put people on a list and write down a number [...]