Stress-Free Performance Appraisals
A Candid Interview with Sharon Armstrong
By: Heather L. Fallon
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I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Sharon Armstrong, co-author, along with Madelyn Appelbaum, of the book, Stress-Free Performance Appraisals: Turn your Most Painful Management Duty into a Powerful Motivational Tool. Published by Career Press, this book spices up a frequently avoided topic. It underscores the point that since performance appraisals are a given in our work lives, we may as well learn to do them right. This book takes you through the entire process of conducting a productive and meaningful performance appraisal—without the usual tension, anxiety, and uncertainty that most managers encounter in this process.
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Q: What is your definition of Performance Appraisal?
A: Most employees want to know how they are performing. Most care about their progress. And, most want to do things the right way.
Employees have a right to know what their managers expect from them. Furthermore, they are entitled to know how they can meet those expectations. Therefore, managers must have an effective, ongoing way of communicating with employees and evaluating their performance. The formal performance discussion, as well as frequent communication, is just the answer.
- A Performance Appraisal is:
- One of the most important responsibilities of a manager
- An ongoing process, not a one-time event
- A culmination of mini-meetings between manager and employee during the entire performance period
- An objective way of determining the quality of an employee’s performance in accordance with predetermined expectations
- A tool for clarifying present expectations, setting new expectations and developing new responsibilities
Q: Why do so many people dislike them?
A: I’ve actually heard performance appraisals described as being just like ‘fruitcake” – they’re given once a year and no one likes them.
- When I asked managers why they didn’t like performance appraisals, they said things like:
- they were never taught how to conduct them
- they make them uncomfortable
- they’re afraid they will be misunderstood
- they don’t have time
- they don’t want to jeopardize the relationship
Employees said:
- It’s a 1-way discussion
- It’s too short
- It leaves out a lot of things I do
- It’s always late
It doesn’t have to be like this. I found a number of organizations that are thriving on effective performance appraisal systems. They find out how their managers and employees feel then provide training and support to counter those feelings. Those organizations have performance appraisal systems that add value and benefit all the stakeholders.
Q: As a manager, how do I prepare?
A:
- Familiarize yourself with the form
- Think about the goals each employee has been working on. What contribution is the employee/should the employee be making? Does the employee know clearly what is expected? What are the strengths/areas for improvement?
- Collect objective information, pull examples, observations
- Pull job description
- Fill out the form privately; put it aside; review the next day or so
- Be sure to add specific examples
- Plan your discussion in detail; compliments; areas for improvement
- Schedule the meeting; plan enough time for the discussion; assure privacy; select a time when you and the employee are not under pressure
- Review discussion once more before meeting
- Make sure it’s job and goal-related; fair and objective; based on performance
- Remember – ABC (accurate, behavioral, and complete and consistent)
- Ask the employee to prepare a self-assessment
- Think about how to involve employees in the process…how to get them to take part in the discussions…in addition to a self-discussion, how to get them to do most of the talking during the session, and help them identify and plan their professional development.
Q: What are current best practices?
A:
- Train your managers in giving effective feedback and hold them accountable.
- Actively seek to align individual goals with corporate goals
- Use the mechanism of the performance management system to establish and reinforce the importance of the organization’s core competencies.
- Transfer the responsibility of the ongoing administration of the performance management system from the HR function to the line organization.
- Increase the amount of employee involvement
- Train your employees on their role in the process
- Make sure you have senior level support
- Continuously monitor and improve the performance management process.
- Keep it in the spotlight
- Use a system that fits your culture
Heather L. Fallon currently serves as the Director of the Center for Human Capital Management at The American Strategic Management Institute. For questions and or comments, she can be reached directly at Fallon@PerformanceWeb.org.
Sharon Armstrong has 20 years of experience as a Human Resources consultant, trainer and career counselor. Since launching her own consulting business in 1998, Sharon Armstrong and Associates, she has consulted with many large corporations and small businesses. Sharon can be reached at: Sharon@sharonarmstrongandassociates.com or visit her website at: www.sharonarmstrongandassociates.com
