What are you missing in your performance appraisal discussions?
Performance appraisal is one of the most important aspects of someone’s professional life.
So, what is the basic definition of this term?
It refers to the review of the work of an employee and the contribution he is making to the company.
In simpler words,
Performance Appraisal = performance review/evaluation
Performance appraisal evaluates an employee’s skills, achievements, growth, or lack in a work.
The company evaluates an employee and gives them the annual review and feedback thereby expecting the employee to act upon the feedback.
These discussions of performance appraisal between the employer and the employee are one of the major pillars of the success of the organization.
If you take into account the working of any organization, you will come across this particular term. Be it a gaming industry or a software industry!
Performance appraisals help increase the quality of the work of the employee and thereby increase the overall quality of the organization
This is because the success of a company is based upon the equal effort put out by all the employees in the company.
And therefore, discussing the annual or monthly performance of the employees is a crucial step towards the success of the same.
As you may be aware, the performance appraisal process constitutes three aspects:
● Setting up the goals for the employee.
● The manager and the employee both are part of the entire process.
● How do we improve our performance or how do we upgrade our performance?
It is basically the foundation brick in any organization because if you haven’t set your goals then you really don’t know what to achieve and what to not.
Think of the first thing that comes to your mind when I say the word performance appraisal.
Many of you might have thought about improving performance and the others- salary hike, isn’t it?
This is the first and the most common myth in the performance appraisal process.
But do you know the history behind the evolution of performance appraisal discussions?
An interesting fact about the history of evolution is, it commenced during World War 1!
Can you believe that it can be traced back a century before?
People’s performance was evaluated and asked to fill out forms about the work they have done in the company so far.
It has evolved tremendously from filling out the forms manually to filling them out in different software platforms.
In addition to this, marking on the rating scale to having a two-way discussion with the manager about the performance along with the review from the peers helped a lot in the process of evolving.
Keeping aside professional development, the performance appraisal helps with personal development as well.
This is one of the most amazing evolutions one will have.
If you are a manager in a company, what are the dos and don’ts for you while conducting the performance appraisal?
Here are the top two things from an HR professional to a manager.
● Make the process a two-way process.
The managers should contribute the same to every employee. They should personalize their feedback to each and every individual.
● Don’t hold onto the thought till the end of the year to have a conversation.
Give feedback to the employees about their work as and when it is required.
Giving an annual appraisal at the end of the year will not only make the employee bored but also make him want to improve his or her work for the next year.
If they are given feedback then and there, they can improve their work then and there itself.
Dos and Don’t from an employee perspective:
● Should never treat the opportunity as a salary hike.
● Do self-reflection and focus on career progression.
● Document everything in detail so as to have a meaningful discussion with the manager.
● Should be very honest and real about your performance.
● You have the right to go to the manager to talk about the performance appraisal rather than wait for the end of the year.
There are trends happening in every sector and every form of work.
Have you ever wondered about the trends to foresee in performance appraisal?
The process is always evolving and there will be a big change in the coming years in how employee performance is noted by any organization.
It is also important that the managers and the employees feel empowered and are enabled with the right kind of tools so that the overall mission is met.
However, the success of the process always depends upon how the manager and the employee take the discussion-
● Whether they have the ability to have a healthy disagreement with each other.
● Enabling the manager and the employee to have a healthy discussion.
You can always have meaningful conversations and discussions with the manager about your work performance.
They can not only help you become better at professional development by giving out feedback but can also help you develop personally.
One should always remember that feedback isn’t criticism. They are constructive criticisms for the betterment of the individual.
You should take it in a positive manner and apply it to your work to become better.
Take the feedback, act upon it, and all the good wishes for your work and for improving your work!
Hope this piece of writing helped you in some way.
Have you found this post useful? If so, please share with your friends/colleagues or those who can benefit from this.
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We’d love your feedback as it will help us get better. Please provide your feedback in the comments or email us theguidingvoice4u@gmail.comThis blog post has a few excerpts from The Guiding Voice podcast Episode 181 ft. Nikeeta Gupta, an HR professional.
Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com.
