6.1: Best Practices in Performance Appraisals

A performance review process could be intricately detailed and organized, but if the meeting with the employee doesn’t go well, the overall strategic objective of performance reviews may not be met. In Norman R. F. Maier’s famous book The Appraisal Interview, he addressed three types of appraisal interview styles. The first is the tell and sell interview. In this type of interview, the manager does most of the talking and passes his or her view to the employee. In the tell and listen type of interview, the manager communicates feedback and then addresses the employee’s thoughts about the interview. In the problem-solving interview, the employee and the manager discuss the things that are going well and those that are not going well, which can make for a more productive discussion. To provide the best feedback to the employee, consider the following:

1. Be direct and specific. Use examples to show where the employee has room for improvement and where the employee exceeds expectations, such as, “The expectation is zero accidents, and you have not had any accidents this year.”
2. Do not be personal; always compare the performance to the standard. For example, instead of saying, “You are too slow on the production line,” say, the “expectations are ten units per hour, and currently you are at eight units.”
3. Remember, it is a development opportunity. As a result, encourage the employee to talk. Understand what the employee feels he does well and what he thinks he needs to improve.
4. Thank the employee and avoid criticism. Instead of the interview being a list of things the employee doesn’t do well (which may give the feeling of criticizing), thank the employee for what the employee does well, and work on action plans together to fix anything the employee isn’t doing well. Think of it as a team effort to get the performance to the standard it needs to be.

The result of a completed performance evaluation usually means there are a variety of ramifications that can occur after evaluating employee performance:

1. The employee now has written, documented feedback on his or her performance.
2. The organization has documented information on low performance, in case the employee needs to be dismissed.
3. The employee has performed well and is eligible for a raise.
4. The employee has performed well and could be promoted.
5. Performance is not up to expectations, so an improvement plan should be put into place.
6. The employee hasn’t done well, improvement plans have not worked (the employee has been warned before), and the employee should be dismissed.

In each of these cases, planning in advance of the performance appraisal interview is important, so all information is available to communicate to the employee. Consider Robin, an employee at Blewett Gravel who was told she was doing an excellent job. Robin was happy with the performance appraisal and when asked about promotion opportunities, the manager said none was available. This can devalue a positive review and impact employee motivation. The point, of course, is to use performance evaluations as a development tool, which will positively impact employee motivation. (8)

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(8) https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cerritos-hrmanagement/chapter/11-3-completing-and-conducting-the-appraisal/

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