Lately I’m seeing and hearing of an increasing number of leaders who are sacrificing their organization’s mission because they can’t untangle themselves from the effects of ineffective employees. Effective leaders need to be focused forward on opportunities, not reacting to recurring operational challenges and mishaps caused by a disengaged or unmotivated workforce. Leaders who oversee these disengaged employees often suffer a loss of time and lack of control that consumes any semblance of leadership effectiveness, leaving them frustrated and confused. The solution to this problem in many cases is improved performance management practices including a collaborative performance appraisal process.
While the key to overcoming employee engagement and motivation issues is a successful performance appraisal process, misapplication of this process is actually worse than not having one at all. Employees who are participants in a haphazard performance appraisal cycle can actually feel less important, not more, resulting in decreased engagement, employee frustration and increased attrition. In worse case scenarios, the employees actually come to resent the poorly executed performance appraisal process, which is supposed to provide them with heightened motivation. In the brief video below, taken from the popular British television series, “The Office,” we see an employee reacting to a poorly implemented appraisal process.
It’s not that leaders don’t have good intentions. Many well-intentioned leaders in the workplace attempt to manage employee’s performance effectively but just don’t have the knowledge or skills to do so. What are the preferred methods and best practices of effective performance appraisal processes? Listed below is a simple process that can improve the leader’s performance management effectiveness significantly.
Step 1- Set performance expectations at the beginning of the annual performance cycle. This is a collaborative process that begins with the employee writing their own annual objectives under the guidance of their supervisor. As with other strategic organizational activities, these SMART objectives need to reflect the larger organization’s objectives.
Step 2- Hold informal performance conversations regularly, informing employees of their progress toward their objectives. An effective supervisor who is paid to accomplish work through their employees realizes that the majority of their workweek should be spent in performance conversations with these subordinates. Topic-wise, these conversations provide both corrective and reinforcing feedback in a coaching format, increasing the employee’s ability to expand their thinking and solve their own dilemmas. The frequency of these planned and spontaneous conversations change by subordinate as each individual has unique needs and desires for performance feedback.
Step 3- Hold at least one mid-year performance review with your employees. Although less formal than the end of year review, this should be a formal review of progress made toward the objectives set at the initial planning meeting. The purpose is to check on the progress and make any final adjustments to objectives that are under or over achievable.
Step 4- Hold an end of year performance review with your employees. This is a formalized milestone to celebrate the results of a year’s worth of effort by formally rating the final performance of the employee. Due to the regular performance meetings throughout the year, there is nothing of surprise for either supervisor or employee at this meeting. This final meeting is a ritual, highlighting the importance of the employee’s effort to the achievement of the larger organization’s objectives and should be handled with the utmost of ceremony.
Effective leaders find success by combining the process of visualizing and communicating an effective future with supporting their employee’s ability to create it. Confusing these activities by not providing a proper performance appraisal process for your workforce, well, just doesn’t make sense.
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