Making Performance Appraisals Constructive – Instead of Combative

I wanted to share a really interesting perspective on constructive employee evaluations that I found from blogger Simon Stapleton. In a recent post he talks about how most employees don’t see value in performance appraisals and that in fact a full 90% of respondents (in his surveying) reported their appraisals to be little more than checking off another to-do in their daily grind.

Simon talks about his personal feelings around less-than-stellar reviews he used to get from an employer. He says he was so frustrated by the experience that he consulted a career coach and found an interesting way to look at his issue:

“The cause wasn’t about the attitude of my boss, or that I was the victim of some malicious and well-orchestrated smear campaign. It was my own attitude that stunk. Ouch – it hurt. My problem: I wasn’t using my performance appraisal as a learning exercise and a way of setting future direction that I could influence. My performance reviews were my opportunity to reach my potential.”

Simon shares some of the best practices he has discovered since “seeing the light” about performance appraisals. He cites employer AND employee preparation and flawless execution as key to making the process strengthen an employer/employee relationship.

I couldn’t agree more – that’s exactly why tools like performance journals, 360 degree multi-rater reviews, goal alignments and integrated development planning are so important to organizations – they neutralize the issue of defensive employees who feel attacked and ridiculed, and turn reviews into a truly constructive, creative process. They create a partnership between manager and employee, and put some of the power back in the hands of the employee, especially as it relates to specific functional feedback.

Simon talks about the benefits of a review process that is properly visioned, documented and attended by the employee:

• When I talked about the future, we didn’t focus entirely on the past
• When I began to admit mistakes or discuss things I thought could be improved, my reviewer began to offer support
• When I showed my humanity, rapport developed with my reviewer
• Hey, when I began to enjoy my review, my results improved remarkably!

That’s the heart of what we’re talking about! An engaged employee is a more productive employee. A more productive employee helps an organization better meet its goals. And of course that’s what we need now more than ever in this challenging economy. So it’s worth it for employers to equip their teams with the most comprehensive talent management tools possible.

I’ve given you just a few snippets from Simon’s thoughtful post. I encourage you to read it in its entirety, especially his best practices for engaging employees in the process in a positive way – he’s got some concrete suggestions that could help most organizations.

And as always, let us know what you think about this issue.