Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.ibd From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Executive Update Date: Fri, 13 Nov 92 13:07:19 EST Message-ID: <11.1992Nov13.130720@AmeriCast.com> 11/13/92 TITLE Executive Update How To Improve Staff's Performance By Appraising It More Concerns Are Using Reviews To Target Desired Skills, Com- petencies Karen Padley In Minneapolis If you dread giving those year-end job performance appraisals, don't. Done properly, such reviews can go beyond sterile reports where the boss talks and employees listen. The process can in- stead be used to encourage and guide employees toward the skills your company needs most. "It's a way of charting and channeling certain types of behavior and Your Employees steering people the way you want them to go," said David Hofrichter, vice president and managing director at The Hay Group in Chicago. He notes that more companies are targeting specific skills and competencies they deem crucial to their success. Hofrichter and other consultants offer these dos and don'ts for those who give performance appraisals: Sit down with employees at the start of the appraisal period and determine goals to be met. Bob Maddux of Right Associates says this is an important first step. "It shouldn't be an arbitrary and unilateral pushing of goals onto the employee," said Maddux, who serves as the consulting company's director of professional services for the Southern California region. "It should be a mu- tual goal-setting opportunity." Employees will then know what is expected of them and why. Management also can get valuable suggestions from employees on various ways the company can meet its goals. Give employees feedback at least quarterly. Follow-up shows that management was serious about setting and meeting specific goals, notes Robert Greene, a principal with James & Scott Associates in Lincolnshire, Ill. "Don't smother them with attention, but check to see if they're moving in the right direction," he said. Don't wait until the end of the year before writing something down. "Memories fail and may become selective," Greene said. "People can get surprised." He suggests writing down "critical in- cidents," whether good or bad, and reviewing them just before the appraisal. Added Maddux: "You should be constantly giving feed- back to employees. If they're doing something good, give them feedback when it occurs. If they're not, give them feedback. Don't save up the goods and the bads until the end of the year. It's not a bank." Consider getting feedback from others. "If you want to know whether I'm a good team player, maybe you should talk to the oth- er members of my team," Hofrichter said. "If I'm in customer ser- vice and you want to know how I'm doing, maybe you should ask the customers." In some instances, companies have set up electronic systems where an employee can call in and, using a code, rate various other employees. This type of review is sometimes called the "360-degree appraisal" because it involves feedback from all quarters. Deal with job-related results.- Rely on facts rather than impressions. Make sure you aren't hold- ing someone responsible for things that are outside his or her control or was done by someone else. Don't say, "You have lousy judgment," to a bank teller who cashed a $5,000 out-of-state check for a stranger without proper identification, which is against bank policy, Greene says. Instead, point out that the bank lost $5,000 because the teller did not adhere to established policy. By dealing with results, you also can make sure the ap- praisal doesn't become a trait assessment instead of a perfor- mance review. "Too many people spend too much time on things they can't readily measure, such as sincerity, friendliness, what have you," Maddux said. Give the employee advance notice of the appraisal date. Maddux says that allows employees to think about what they may want to discuss. Often, employees will be more critical of their perfor- mance than a supervisor might be. By asking the employees how they think they did, Maddux says, you could become an "enabler" rather than a judge. "It turns from a gripe session into a self-help session," he said. If you supervise those who give performance reviews, consider training new managers and periodically retraining others. "If you don't train somebody to do this stuff, they're going to make it up and their instincts are generally not going to be that great," Greene said. One Arizona company he works with will take several supervisors, describe an employee's performance, ask them to evaluate the em- ployee and then compare the results. That helps supervisors understand the prevailing expectations and standards at the com- pany. "Some people tend to be a little more generous when they evaluate, and others tend to be a little bit more severe, so that makes for some unevenness across department lines," Greene said. "Adopt a common level of expectations." This article is copyright 1992 Investors Business Daily. Redis- tribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM