If you have impending appraisals with your team, the time to start planning is now.
Once the workers are in your office, it’s too late to prepare for a productive appraisal and here’s hoping you have had some useful appraisal training as well.
Here are 6 things to do BEFORE the appraisal process:
1) Set a date
Employee appraisals are typically held at the year’s end, which is a busy time for most managers.
As such, they tend to fit appraisals in whenever they have time.
However, this is also an extremely stressful time for employees, who worry about how well their appraisal will go.
Therefore, it is beneficial to them for you to set a time in stone and make it happen without any cancellations, which will stress them out more.
2) Book a private space
With many modern workspaces nowadays foregoing walls or partitions between offices and cubicles, it may be difficult to find a private corner to hold the appraisal.
However, as chances are you will be discussing some private topics during the meeting, take care to book a private space, such as a conference room to give you and your employee space to discuss what’s on both of your minds.
3) Gather materials
An appraisal is not a fly by the seat of your pants event, where you should come without preparation.
Especially if you only do so once a year, your employee expects some detailed feedback about their performance.
As such, you should plan for it and gather data about their performance, their wins and failures, projects they worked on and other information that will give you a clear picture about how they did this year.
4) Ask for feedback
Don’t just rely on your personal feedback about your employee’s performance and attitude at work.
Ask their colleagues, those reporting to them, or those they report to to give you their feedback as well.
This 360-degree appraisal will give you a comprehensive look at how your worker performs in a team setting.
5) Ask your employee to fill out a self assessment
You may be surprised by how different your views of your workers and their views of themselves can be.
To help get you on the same page, ask your employee to fill out a self assessment prior to the meeting.
This can point out areas where the employee knows they need help in without you pointing it out first.
6) Create an agenda
A thorough appraisal should last at least one hour, and shouldn’t consist of just your feedback to the employee.
It should also give them a chance to voice their thoughts on their role in the organisation, areas they are interested in, what they need help in and where they plan to be in three to five years.
As such, you should create an agenda that outlines what you plan to talk about and in what order to give structure to the appraisal.
Thanks again
Mark Williams
Senior Management Trainer and Consultant
Updated on: 11 September, 2018
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