Performance appraisal

• Old fashioned performance appraisals clash with empowerment.
• Employees need to manage themselves more...like independent businesses supplying you with services.
• Your suppliers monitor their own performance by surveying your satisfaction level and that of other customers.
• How can you build in more self management and self assessment.
• Also, less top down appraisal and more feedback from a wider range of internal and external customers.
• Performance needs to be discussed formally at least once a quarter with the onus on the subordinate to report progress.
• The subordinate should lead the meeting, by reviewing what went well, what not so well and what will be done to improve.
• The manager operates as a coach in this approach, less as sole judge.
• This puts less pressure on both sides as power is more equalized - hence less defensiveness and avoidance of issues.
• Even if some bad news needs to be conveyed, more frequent discussions make it more bearable, less to be feared.
• Annual appraisals put too much emphasis on a one-time discussion, hence so much aversion to it on both sides.
• Effective appraisals always combine good news as well as a prompt to improve.
• Preserving the employee's self esteem is an essential feature of a well conducted appraisal meeting.