Appraising staff

The ability to use appraisal to develop and motivate employees is a core management skill. Regular, constructive feedback on performance is vital if staff are to build on their strengths, achieve their full potential, and make the maximum contribution to their organisation.

Here are ten actions to help your organisation conduct better staff appraisals.

1. Agreeing the agenda. For an appraisal to run smoothly, both parties must agree on the items to be discussed. Alter your agenda to include some of the appraisee’s ideas, explain how you will agree future objectives, and check that you have included all the important issues.

2. Encouraging discussion. In a successful appraisal interview, the appraisee should be doing most of the talking. Encourage staff to take a leading role in the discussion by adopting good questioning techniques, then listening actively to the answers.

3. Being practical. There may be a long list of issues to discuss in an appraisal, most of them with significant implications for the future. Ensure that you keep to the agreed timing, tackle all the important items, and prompts appraisees to reach realistic conclusions.

4. Reading the signals. Some people struggle to raise concerns in a straightforward manner. Understand the role that body language plays so that you can read an appraisee’s body posture and facial expression to gauge whether they are holding back or responding positively.

5. Assessing commitment. People turn good intentions into achievement when they are committed to taking action. Check that appraisees take full ownership of their objectives before, during and after the appraisal. If commitment is lacking, take steps to find out why.

6. Dealing with performance problems. Tackling poor performance effectively is a challenge for all managers. Gain acknowledgement that a problem exists, then you can deal with it constructively by identifying causes and asking appraisees to come up with effective solutions.

7. Discussing development. Training and development activities are aimed at helping appraisees to achieve their objectives and improve both short and long-term performance. Choose activities and methods of learning to suit the appraisee, then agree on learning objectives.

8. Discussing aspirations and potential. Most people aspire to take on more senior roles and further their carers. Take the opportunity to discuss an appraisee's future aspiration and potential so that you can help them prepare for advancement in the future.

9. Planning action. In order for an appraisee to achieve objectives, it is vital that they know who is responsible for which actions and the deadlines for carrying them out. Agree and document a detailed action plan that sets out what needs to be done.

10. Summarising the appraisal. Documenting a summary of the appraisal provides a vital record for both parties, and for the organisation, of what has been agreed. Agree a detailed summary with the appraisee as a final check that they are committed to their action plan.

William Montgomery
CEO of TEN

Through his workshops, William Montgomery has helped hundreds of organisations and schools plus thousands of people to achieve their potential. To discuss your continuous improvement requirements, please call 0117 325 2010 or send a message to info@askten.co.uk.