The Employee Performance Appraisal Doesn’t Have to Be the Worst Day of the Year
Most people would rather get a root canal than participate in an annual employee performance appraisal.
The reasons employee performance appraisals are so difficult is simple:
- Many managers don’t deliver timely and balanced feedback throughout the year.
- Many employees don’t ask for regular feedback.
- Too much information is delivered during the annual employee performance appraisal.
- And as crazy as it sounds, managers and employees haven’t agreed to give and receive regular and candid feedback.
Here are four steps to ensure employee performance appraisals are useful and positive:
- Managers and employees must agree to give and receive balanced, candid feedback. Don’t assume the agreement to speak honestly (throughout the year) is implicit, make it explicit.
- Managers, be honest and courageous. Don’t rate an employee a five who is really a three. You don’t do anyone any favors. Employees want to know how they’re really doing, no matter how much the feedback may sting.
- Managers, focus on three things the employee did well and three things to do more of next year. Any more input is overwhelming.
- Managers, schedule a second conversation a week after the employee performance appraisal, so employees can think about and process what you’ve said and discuss further, if necessary.
The key to being able to speak candidly during an employee performance appraisal is as simple as agreeing that you will do so and then being receptive to whatever is said. And don’t make feedback conversations a one-time event. If you do a rigorous workout after not exercising for a long time, you often can’t move the next day. Feedback conversations aren’t any different. They require practice for both the manager and employee to be comfortable. Speak regularly, even just for a few minutes. And remember, the right answer to feedback, in the moment, is “thank you.” Make it easy to tell you the truth.
About Shari Harley
Shari Harley is the founder and President of Candid Culture, a Denver-based training firm that is bringing candor back to the workplace, making it easier to give feedback at work. Shari is the author of the business communication book How to Say Anything to Anyone: A Guide to Building Business Relationships that Really Work. She is a keynote speaker at conferences and does training throughout the U.S. Learn more about Shari Harley and Candid Culture’s training programs at www.candidculture.com.
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Tags: annual appraisals, candid communication, giving helpful feedback, how to manage performance appraisals, performance appraisal, performance appraisals, performance management, receiving feedback, receiving negative feeback, writing performance appraisals
