Business

Effective Performance Appraisals Video Transcript

(0:01 – 0:59)

Do you know what managers tell me they hate most about their jobs?

It's performance appraisals. Because they don't know how to do them.

Performance appraisals should not be a once-a-year event. They should be a

continuous dialogue, because your employees, they need to know how they

are doing. They need to know where they stand all the time. The key to

effective performance appraisals is one simple phrase, no surprises. Every

day of the year, employees should know how they're doing. We call this

continuous performance appraisal. It does make better employees. And also,

it's going to protect you from liability and your organization. You know, good

managers, which I know you all want to be, you can't over communicate.

Don't limit your communication to just problems, provide continuous

coaching and training and encouragement.

(1:00 – 1:58)

Different methods, you know, face-to-face, emails, voicemails,

memos, I like to say, communicate multiple times in multiple ways. Don't let

employees hear important messages from the grapevine, I mean, make sure

your employees know what is expected of them all the time. When we do

surveys about employees; here is their biggest complaint: I didn't know

what was expected of me. So what do your employees need to know? They

need to know what to do. They need to know how to do it. They need to

know when it's due. And they need to have standards. What is considered

acceptable performance? Multiple times, multiple ways, be clear. It helps if

you can see the task through their eyes. You know, don't be like that person

who gives you directions and says, you can't miss it. Well, you know if they

say that, you're going to miss it, right?

(1:59 – 2:48)

Document, document, document because if it wasn't documented, it

didn't happen. Don't trust your memory. Keep notes on your employees'

successes and failures. You want to have notes on their positive

performance, on their coaching, training, investigations, any kind of

disciplinary action. And when you make your documentation, you keep it

short, factual and behavior-based. I like to call it the dragnet approach, just

the facts, ma'am. Always discuss and document work performance as

behaviors, not attitudes. Give employees the concrete feedback they need to

be measured and defined. Now, let's take a look at some examples of this

effective feedback.