Conducting Performance Appraisals

• the reasons why performance appraisals can be viewed negatively by managers and employees
• the benefits of conducting performance appraisals
• common mistakes that are often made in conducting performance appraisals and how to avoid them
• the preparation a manager should ideally do before a performance appraisal with a member of their team
• the preparation a team member should do for their performance appraisal meeting
• advice on how to conduct a performance appraisal, particularly if doing so for the first time
• how to give feedback effectively as part of the appraisal process

Transcript

Female interviewer: In this interview we hear from Karen Summers, an experienced people manager and business coach, about how to conduct effective performance appraisals with your team members.

We also discussed some common errors that can be made during the performance appraisal process and how to avoid them.

Karen begins by giving a quick overview of her experience in relation to performance appraisals.

Karen Summers: I have worked for a number of diverse organisations over the years and my experience has really more centred on performance appraisals actually. This has meant kind of reviewing processes and ensuring that paperwork is fit for purpose and really kind of simple, often stripping things back to basics. And I really think that is important because I don’t ever want the paperwork to drive the process. I think if you are not careful it can get in the way of having rich conversation.

So in the end I have majored on developing the attitude, skills and behaviours of both the appraiser and the appraisee because I see that as really critical to success.

Female interviewer: And Karen, I am sure you will know that many managers do find the prospect of conducting performance appraisals quite daunting and more often than not, employees feel the same way. Why do you think that performance appraisals can sometimes be viewed in this negative way?

Karen Summers: I think you are absolutely right and people do often really, really dread it. In the old days I used to use a Video Arts video; I am aging myself now, but that was called ‘the dreaded appraisal’ and, you know John Cleese doing his stuff. But I think that kind of baggage and that label has stuck and sometimes people feel compelled to work around an HR timetable, they see it as a burden of additional paperwork to get through, and there might even be aspects linked from the appraisal to inform a person’s pay rise or otherwise, and this can certainly add to the anxiety levels.

Female interviewer: And just moving on from that, why do you think that performance appraisals are really necessary?

Karen Summers: The CIPD recently did some research around this and I think their findings are not unsurprising either. So for me it is about good leadership and management. It is about an opportunity to treat people as you would want to be treated yourself, so the respect piece. It is an opportunity to make sure that job objectives are communicated really, really clearly. That you have got an opportunity to just kind of take a stand back from the day-to-day cut and thrust, have that opportunity one to one so that you can really show to somebody that you are listening and you have got an opportunity to kind of proactively manage any conflict. And there are heaps and heaps of benefits that come from it. I think we can’t underestimate that important time out, so that offline conversation. It really does signal to people that you are valuing them and you are prepared to ring fence some time for listening to them and their issues. So I think if it is conducted properly, it can be really, really beneficial. You can really use it as a way of motivating people. You can get some great feedback yourself as a line manager. So I think it really is fundamental.

There are some very practical things that you get from it as well, an opportunity to talk about, you know, learning and development needs, talk to people about their future career aspirations. You can even correlate with recruitment and induction information and overall get a sense of, you know, how the person is doing and feeling. So from a line management point of view, it kind of saves you any surprises.

Female interviewer: Karen, you have talked there about the main benefits of having a good appraisal system in place. Let’s talk about what can happen when mistakes are made and what can go wrong. Can you perhaps talk me through your three top performance appraisal terrors and how they can best be avoided?

Karen Summers: Yes, I will certainly try, but I think I am going to have to do it in four rather than three, so here’s my top four.

I think the first one is that the appraiser talks too much, therefore, they are not listening and they are not learning about the appraisee. So they are not drawing on their coaching skills and really maximising what they can get from the conversation. And I genuinely do see it as a conversation with a purpose and that purpose is to find out more about the appraisee.

The second thing I think is setting the appraisal apart from regular healthy dialogue which should occur naturally between an employee and an employer. So kind of setting it up, having that wrapper around it of the dreaded appraisal. So for me it is kind of an opportunity to check in, if that is a more accessible kind of language to kind of help people come to the conversation in the right mindset.

And the third thing I think is not explaining how performance is perceived. So, you know, if you and I are having that conversation, not really giving clarity about, you know, how I feel you are doing and if there are any areas that I am expecting you to be performing to a higher standard, then not taking the opportunity to talk to the individual about what they would have to do differently to really, you know, rack up the performance.

And I think the fourth landmine that people often walk into is not managing expectations. So things like educational, you know, training and development needs are discussed and just left hanging in the air without people clarifying one, is there any budget provision for actually sponsoring the person’s aspiration and secondly, who is actually going to take the lead on making something happen, because I have worked in some many organisations where people come, they see it as an annual thing, an annual ritual, they dust off the paperwork and, you know, the kind of conflict is absolutely built in because neither party has really looked at it in the meantime and oh, guess what, there was a wish list on last year’s paperwork and the cynicism sets in because nothing has happened.

Female interviewer: So Karen, you have talked there about some of the things that can go wrong with performance appraisals, so now let’s talk about how it should be done. Could you talk me through the preparation that a manager should ideally do before they actually sit down to do a performance appraisal with a member of their team?

Karen Summers: Definitely. I think the key word there is preparation that, you know, when I have done this in the past, you know, shut the door, think about the individual and think about some rounded examples of how they have done and how you have felt about that. You know, I used to jot down thoughts in a diary as I went along just to make sure that it wasn’t just the last couple of weeks that were in my head, that I had got some other things to talk about. And also, I didn’t allow it to go for more than a couple of months before we had a more detailed touchdown so that it is part of a natural cycle of conversation that is taking place, the individual is building up trust in the sense that they feel very comfortable giving me feedback when I am, if you like, leading their appraisal discussion and we are referring back to conversations that are actually quite current. I think those are really, really important things.

Female interviewer: So we have talked about the preparation that managers should ideally do, but what about the team member themselves, what kind of preparation should they do for their own appraisal meeting?

Karen Summers: I think this is vital to success as well. It is really the only way forward. If you are on the receiving end of an appraisal, you have got to think about it as you would if you were going to another kind of meeting. You would not just ruck up to a meeting, I would hope, and not have, you know, thought about the agenda, have thought about the actions since the last meeting, so this is no different.

I often, when I am training people or coaching people to make the most of their appraisal conversations, get them to think about getting across their points of view, almost as if their manager, you know God forbid, was run over by a bus, they are putting stuff out there, they are jotting things on the forms so that the organisation at large, if you like, knows how they are feeling. So it’s an opportunity just in a slightly more formal way than normal to have your view out there and I think that’s the way that I would encourage people to go forward. So, certainly some preparation up front, but also some follow up as well.

Female interviewer: And in your experience Karen, when it actually comes to sitting down and conducting the performance appraisal meeting, how should this really be done? Could you perhaps outline any specific steps or a process that a line manager might be able to follow?

Karen Summers: Definitely. People listening to this podcast might be thinking, ‘Oh my goodness, you know, she is talking about doing this really regularly, you know, I don’t have time for the one off’, but I would argue that actually doing a regular conversation actually saves time because you have got a better relationship with the person so you can have a more dynamic experience with them and certainly in my experience I diarised that in and, you know, really made sure I stuck to it.

I think the way that it works the best is if you keep it relaxed so that you, yes, you might have the HR discipline of getting forms filed, but have some additional touchdowns to that. I have usually followed that up just with a note and found that has gone down really, really well with people.

I think the regular thing is vital. I would often do it over coffee just to help, you know, that’s kind of how I like to do things anyway, so it feels quite normal, can help with the anxiety levels if they are not used to that kind of approach.

I use a logical, chronological kind of process. So, looking back over the past, thinking about how things have gone up to now, then moving to the present, current objectives, that kind of thing, and then think about motivational objectives moving forward, what the team requires going forward, what the overall key success factors are for the business and any future career aspirations. So that kind of past, present, future thing works really, really well for me. And then at the end I would always wrap things up with asking people, have you had chance to say everything that you hoped that you would, so that is a kind of nod to in your preparation, have I given you space to talk about everything that was important, and then I would also request feedback so say, you know, what could I do to support you better and if you were me, what might you do differently?

Female interviewer: That’s really good advice there Karen. What would you say to a line manager who is perhaps conducting a performance appraisal for the first time and who maybe feels a bit nervous about doing so?

Karen Summers: Yes, I think that’s a really interesting question because I think often people don’t have a good role model that they can actually look to. So, you know, often they might have been clumsily appraised previously so they maybe just haven’t got that mental model of how this could really work. So, I would really want to say, you know, remember why you are doing this. You know, at the end of the day it’s about, you know, motivating people, helping them to feel valued, so just keep that in your line of sight. Be yourself, you know, have some normal conversation to kick things off, but then really make sure that you are asking insightful questions, you are giving the other person the opportunity to talk, you are managing expectations. I think also remember that the form is only like completing the minutes of a meeting so, you know, don’t go filing them away and forgetting about them because you will need to look back and just keep making sure that you are on track. And do definitely take the opportunity to check in again regularly with the person so that you actually, yes, you might be investing quite a lot of time when you do this properly for the first time, but put it into a cycle in a kind of pattern of meetings and you will, you will definitely reduce the amount of time that it takes overall.

Female interviewer: Lastly, giving feedback is part and parcel of the appraisal process as well. What tips could you offer on how managers can give feedback, both positive and negative?

Karen Summers: I think there are a few things to remember. I think, one, it’s about being really, really specific and giving examples, and then also talking about the impact of the action, inaction or behaviour, so that you are really trying to get that person to think about, okay, I can really understand what that person is saying to me and why they are homing in on that as an area for feedback and then they know what not to do again or what to do more of.

And maybe an example might be, if you had been working with me and you had given a presentation that perhaps I knew you were nervous about, then I could maybe say to you, ‘You know, when you gave that presentation to the Board last week, I was really delighted with how it went’, and then I could be a bit more specific, I could say, ‘I think you prepared really comprehensively for it, I think you handled that killer question really confidently and, yes, you managed to put across what we needed to get across on the budget reduction in a compelling way without de-motivating your audience. I also felt that your written information that you gave as a handout was really well written and I liked the creativity in how you balanced the mix of text and the visuals.’ So, and then maybe I would say, you know, ‘What will you take from that experience to help you to ensure that you have further successes of that nature in the future?’