Why Do We Need a Formal Process for Performance Appraisals? December 18, 2006
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There’s no question that discussing expectations and coaching and feedback should be a routine and ongoing process. And some managers—the great ones, the naturals—do these things routinely. But managers such as this are few and atypical. Left to their own devices, too many people with manager titles will give the goal-setting and feedback requirements short shrift. They’ll stick it on the “when I get around to it” pile.
That’s why we need a formal process. Sure, the ideal is to have an environment of constant feedback and communication. But an environment like that is rare. That’s why it’s important to require managers to—at a minimum—discuss goals and expectations with each staffer at the start of the year, and then, at year’s end, evaluate just how well that person has done.
Reliability and validity are certainly worthwhile concerns about performance appraisals, and much of the research in academic journals focuses on the problems and deficiencies here. But academics tend to make a much bigger deal of this issue than practitioners do. No argument—reliability and validity are important. But companies aren’t psychology research labs. The question to which every employee wants the answer is, “Boss, how am I doing?” While on an organization-wide basis the overall reliability and validity may not meet the rigorous standards of academia, on an individual basis, if people are getting the straight scoop from their boss on their performance, that’s OK.
Don’t forget what a performance appraisal is. A performance appraisal is a formal record of a supervisor’s opinion of the quality of an employee’s work. Opinion is the operant word here, and if that opinion can’t meet exacting tests of reliability and validity, that’s OK. We’re trying to run a business here, not write a Ph.D. dissertation.
But there is some good news here. Many companies are genuinely concerned with increasing reliability and validity and are setting up calibration meetings or “rater reliability” sessions. In these meetings, supervisors review with each other the performance-appraisal ratings they’re planning to give their subordinates before they actually hand them out. They check each other’s intended ratings before they’re made final in order to assure that people who work for different supervisors are held to similar standards and that there’s a level playing field for all.
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The Complete Guide to Performance Appraisal Book December 6, 2006
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Unlike most technical or professional books, The Complete Guide to Performance Appraisal is extremely personal and forthright. Author Dick Grote has worked with performance appraisal techniques for more than a quarter century, and he tells you which methods have been successful and which have flopped. And Grote writes in a style that’s so enlightening and engaging you’ll feel impelled to keep on reading. |
Discover the quickest, surest methods for making your appraisal system a winner. Whether you’re looking to get the maximum impact from your existing system, or you want to create and implement an ideal system from scratch, The Complete Guide to Performance Appraisal is your one-stop, how-to-do-it resource. You’ll find candid, informed, on-the-mark solutions to every question you have about performance appraisal. (more…)
Rationale for Performance Appraisals December 4, 2006
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Nobody seems to like performance appraisals—neither the managers doing the evaluating, nor the employees being evaluated. Clearly, evaluations are front-runners for being the most maligned of corporate processes. And yet they should be a good thing. After all, doesn’t everyone need—and deserve—to know where they stand? In theory, yes, but bring theory to ground and it’s quite a different story, often one with a sour aftertaste if not a bad ending.
We know there is something wrong with the performance evaluation-process, which is why we’re always trying to fix it—360-degree feedback and forced ranking are two of the more prominent recent fixes. But none of the fixes seems to satisfy everybody.
To start, I’ll fess up to an obvious fact: Most managers hate conducting performance reviews. If they thought they could get away with it, they’d probably skip the whole annoyance completely. In too many places, performance evaluations are sloppily done and not taken very seriously. A lot of supervisors would rather endure a root canal than write and deliver a performance review, particularly if there are some hard, cold truths that they can’t avoid discussing.
But in spite of all the problems and resistance, I‘m a solid believer in performance appraisal. I think performance appraisal is critically important for any organization that’s more sophisticated than a mom-and-pop store—or that wants to be.
As hard as performance appraisal may be—and done right, it is hard—I’m convinced that we do it because it’s an ethical obligation of leadership. Every person on the team wants the answers to two questions. First: What do you expect of me? Second: How am I doing at meeting your expectations? The performance-evaluation process answers those two questions. So why do we do performance appraisal? Because as leaders we have a moral obligation to do so.
And we also have an obligation to put the time into performance appraisal that it deserves. Goodness gracious! Managers don’t spend a tenth as many hours assessing and developing and appraising people as they spend in the restroom. But they’ve got the gall to whine about appraisal taking too much time. That’s nonsense.
About the Author
Dick Grote is one of America’s most successful and best-known authors, consultants, and business keynote speakers on performance management. He is the Chairman and CEO of Grote Consulting Corporation – http://www.groteconsulting.com
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