“It is
one meeting both the employee and the manager dread equally – the performance
appraisal. Arvind Suri gets into the details how an objective performance
appraisal should be and what are the pitfalls one need to avoid…”
There
are always two sides to a performance appraisal:
For the employee:
As
an employee, I want to know how I am doing. What do I well and what do I need
to work on? How does my work fit in with the organization’s goals, and what are
the plans for my future? This process should engage me. By providing criticism or
praise, summarizing my progress towards the goals, and assessing individual
growth, my role in the organisation is clarified.
For the appraiser:
As
a manager, I want to know where my resources stand, how my team is performing with
respect to the set standards so that I am able to make sensible staffing
decisions regarding promotions, raises, transfers and terminations. I use
performance reviews as a health check for my organisation—how are we performing
when compared to the rest of the department or company? As a group, did we
value-add to the company? How might we be better utilized in the coming year?
But
more often that not, these two sides do not coexist in an appraisal. The need
of the hour is to make the exercise meaningful for both. A performance
appraisal is rated good only when the required Key Result Areas ( KRAs) are set
at start of the year and also mutually agreed between the appraiser and the
employee. Each KRA should be given a weightage for evaluation at the end of the
year. The performance appraisal should be should be a structured, semi – formal
meeting which needs prior preparation by the appraiser as well as the employee
for it to be effective. It also should involve objective discussions on the set
KRA’s and focus on the future performance, potential and improvements of the
individual.
Following
are some points that need to be prepared before the review meeting of Performance
appraisal:
1.
Sufficient time should be provided for both the
appraiser and employee to prepare the observations and comments about the performance
of the employee for that particular year. This document should be shared with each
other before the meeting. So that both the parties can be ready with their
observations. Arvind Suri
2.
The discussion should be objective and not subjective
and observation of each other’s should be exchanged and discussed. The
discussion should evolve around the performance throughout the year and it is
the responsibility of the appraiser to anchor the discussion towards a meaningful
and measurable outcome.
3.
It is imperative that achievement of each KRA
should be discussed and analysed on the outcomes. Positive and negative opinion
about the document prepared by each other should be discussed and consent shall
be made.
4.
The appraiser should avoid the following:
a.
Recency effect – The appraiser should not judge the appraise with his/her
recent performance
b.
Halo Effect – The appraiser should not judge the performance of the appraise
with just a single incident or achievement
c.
Central Tendency effect – It is a general tendency of the appraiser to rate the
appraise on the middle level instead of too good or too bad.
5.
The employee should avoid the following
a.
To speak about the compensation or the materialistic outcome
b.
Confronting or defending mode to the feedback of the appraiser
c.
Predetermined mind set
6.
The employee and the appraiser should be prepared
to discuss and figure out the future aspirations of the employee. The appraisal
discussion is not only based on the past performance but also on the future
aspiration of the employee and his/ her career pathing. The appraiser should be
in a position to chart out a clear long term plan for the employee.
7.
The training needs identification should also be
an integral part of the appraisal discussion. The apt training required for the
employee to take up the higher responsibilities should be identified. This
should eventually result in developing a individual development plan.
8.
The appraisal should end in meaningful conclusion
where the rating of the appraise should be clearly identified communicated and accepted
by both the parties.
It
is always possible that the appraisal discussion may end without consensus
made. It is the duty of the appraiser to give more opportunity to the employee
to voice out his/her own opinion or concern to the higher authority.
The
appraisal discussion should end with setting up the KRA for the next year.
Though many companies sport this annual appraisal system, it would make sense
to have a more regular performance management system in place so as to follow
effort immediately with a reward and inappropriate behavior with corrective
feedback in time.
Best
practices for Performance Management
1)
Set self-reporting quantitative measures in place. Link the MIS directly to the
review/reward mechanism on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.
2)
Evaluate every project. Every finished report,presentation, or project should
be graded.
3)
Make observation a part of the manager’s routine. Set up a weekly process to
record an entry (good or bad) about the employee.Towards the end of the year,
this report will show a pattern of behavior that is unbiased towards any
recent happenings.
4)
Goals should be flexible. Link the measure directly to the strategy. Any change
in the marketing, technical, or Quality assurance directions should
automatically trigger a review of the employee’s set performance goals.
No comments:
Post a Comment