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Giving employees effective feedback on their performance may seem like a tough job, but it does not have to be. By focusing on the delivery of the right information in the right setting, you can make the process more relaxed and effective for both you and your employees.
Come
April …. And it’s the season of performance appraisal and the inevitable
debate and controversy of a “just and transparent” Performance Management
System. Then in a few weeks there will
be a still louder arguments on “increments” and even a spate of resignations
for being shortchanged by the employer…! Seems familiar
The
core of the problem is fairness … a myth because bias-free appraisals are bigger
myth….One of the primary reasons for this controversy, is that current thinking about performance appraisals are increasing
hovering around quantitative metrics
and perhaps the worst advice that appraisers are urged to swallow is
to be OBJECTIVE, to keep their judgments and personal feelings out of the
assessment process.
The
flaw is the bogus notion that objective means quantifiable; that if something
can't be counted then it isn't objective and therefore shouldn't be used.
That's nonsense. The talent of a cricketer cannot always be measured by the
number of runs he did score in the World Cup Final on
When
I was designing the performance appraisal system of our client companies ,we have confronted
the issue of "objectivity" directly… for example …A book publishing
company is one of the country's largest employers of linguists and
translators. Now look at their situation…How do you evaluate the performance
of a language translator? Do you measure the number of words translated? Of
course not. What the book publisher really wants from its translators is the
ability to capture nuance, and no quantifiable measure of that capability
exists. But it certainly can be described and evaluated: A skilled native
speaker can easily sort translations into those that read like
machine-generated transliterations and those that capture the soul of an
author's words. .
A
more difficult issue come out of the sales force because everthing centres on “target” & “quotas” and does
not reveal the selling techniques of the sales professional or the difficulty
of the key customer accounts ( specially handed over to him ….because they
are tough nuts to crack) or the nature of the a new uncharted territory he
has been combing the year long…. Many of these sweat-stained work is never really noticed
until after a star salesman resigns as
demanded for lack of fulfillment of the quota!
A
glance in the dictionary reveals what objective really means:
"uninfluenced by emotions or personal prejudices" and "based
on observable phenomena; presented factually." Writing a person's
performance appraisal requires the manager to be fair, objective, and
unprejudiced. But the fair-and-objective requirement does not mean that the
manager is restricted to quantitative resources in completing the assessment.
THE MANAGER'S FEELINGS, OPINIONS, AND J
Actually,
people don't want "objective" information. What they want is their
boss's opinion, plain and true. Managers need training less in how to create
and deliver an objective appraisal and more in how to summon the courage to
tell it like it is-to talk straight from the heart. Performance appraisals
are the “World Cup Finals” of HRM .This is not day-to-day stuff. Very few
people ever get to do it; fewer still do it well.
Giving
employees honest feedback on their performance can be one of the toughest jobs
a manager can do. Leaders often shy away from delivering the honest feedback
their employees need because it is uncomfortable and can seem overwhelming to
deal with. Yet without good feedback, your operation cannot improve
productivity, and your employees cannot grow and learn.
Before
you walk into this year 2011
performance review, here are seven tips to help take the "sting"
out of giving feedback.
1.
CREATE THE RIGHT SETTING.
All
performance feedback should be conducted in a private, one-on-one setting,
behind a closed door, without interruptions. Never give feedback to an
employee in a setting where other employees may overhear you, such as in the
break room or the hallway. Feedback on the employee's performance should be
private between you and the employee whom it concerns. This is a simple rule,
but many leaders underestimate the value of privacy in dealing with their
employees, and risk damaging the trust of the employee-manager relationship.
Interruptions
can be as threatening as a lack of privacy to an employee in a one-on-one
feedback session. If you do not give your employee your complete and
undivided attention, you are sending a clear signal to him or her the
conversation is not all that important to you. Turn off your cellphone, and
put up a sign outside the door instructing people not to interrupt.
2.
UTILIZE SELF-FEEDBACK.
One
of the most effective and oft-neglected - tools of feedback is self-feedback.
This is when the employee is given a chance to comment on his or her own
behavior and productivity. This technique is highly effective for a number of
reasons: employees are likely to be tougher on themselves than you are on
them, and they will also work harder to improve in areas they disclose
personally.
The
best way for the appraising manager to incorporate self-feedback is to create
a two-way conversation centered on each of the performance topics. In this
situation, a Manager will ask the employee for her opinion, then the Manager
will give his own opinion. Managers should always give their opinions last,
to avoid influencing the comments of the employee.
For
example, if the topic of conversation is production units, and the required
metric is 300 units/day, the Production Manager might ask the employee,
"How well do you feel you are meeting your daily performance target?"
The employee then has the opportunity to evaluate herself, as well as to
identify any problem areas up front. The Manager may then agree with the
employee's interpretation of her success, or point out times where the
employee is not meeting the daily expectation of 300 units/day.
3. ADDRESS
PERFORMANCE PROBLEMS HONESTLY AND DIRECTLY.
Performance
issues, if left unaddressed, they tend to grow worse and multiply.
Performance discussion would be better if they are given in small doses, very
informally and context specific Any
serious issue should be addressed with the employee as soon as it is noticed,
preferably the same day. Manager should take the employee aside, describe the
observed problem behavior, and then ask the employee why it happened. The Manager
will then want to re-state the performance expectations for the job.
For
example, if a Manager observes an employee arriving late three days in a row,
she should take the employee aside immediately and describe the observation,
then give the employee a chance to explain why, by saying "I have
noticed that you have arrived at 8:30 three days this week. What is going
on?" She may then need to reiterate that all employees are expected to
be at their places, working, by
It is
important Manager should only try to correct behavior they have personally
observed, not behavior they have heard about word-of-mouth from other
employees. This situation can create tension and suspicion among a work team.
If a Manager has not observed a performance problem directly, it should not
be addressed in performance feedback. It’s like bursting of a dam…. If the
issues is kept under covers for 365 days and on D-day is downloaded like a
tonne of bricks.
4. COMMUNICATE
EXPECTATIONS CLEARLY.
Many
leaders feel comfortable saying "Be on time in the morning," or
"Be sure to finish your work before you leave today," but rarely
are these statements interpreted the same way by everyone. One employee may
interpret this as "…is my contribution measured in minutes or is it
measured in results….???" Performance expectations need to be delivered
in a concise, clear manner, without questionable interpretations, especially
when there is a problem. Numbers, dates, productivity units, metrics and
standards are helpful to include when communicating performance expectations
to an employee. A Manager should clearly specify "The expectations are
that call reps will take 15 calls per day" is much more concise than
saying, "You need to take more calls." The more specific you are,
the less misinterpretation that is likely to occur.
5.
INCLUDE THE POSITIVE.
Many Manager
are so concerned about correcting their employees' mistakes they tend to
overlook their positive achievements altogether. Be sure to point out what
the employee is doing right. It is important to recognize employees for their
accomplishments to keep them motivated.
Another
common mistake is to overwhelm employees with a long laundry list of areas to
improve. A better approach is to identify two or three of the most critical
areas to improve, and allow the employee to focus on improving these. As the
employee improves in these areas, you can work together on identifying and
fixing the other, less-critical issues.
6.
MAKE FEEDBACK FREQUENT AND INFORMAL.
Most
companies do official performance reviews at least once per year, but
employees cannot go a whole year before they hear how they are perform. ing
in their jobs, especially new employees. A new employee needs to hear
feedback weekly, perhaps even daily, until she feels comfortable with her
daily tasks and responsibilities. An employee who has been around for awhile
still needs to hear performance feedback more frequently than once a year,
whether there are problems or not. Good feedback motivates employees, and
problems will get fixed sooner rather than later. Even if it is not a formal
performance review, employees should receive casual but specific one-on-one
feedback on their performance once a quarter at a minimum, monthly if
possible. Performance-related discussions between bosses and subordinates do
not require a formal, full-blown performance appraisal system. Indeed, it can
be argued that the real coaching and counseling sessions that shape and
improve employee performance occur informally, outside such systems. The same
can be said of goal setting and feedback. It is also questionable if much of
what passes for feedback in formal performance appraisal sessions is
deserving of the term. Organizational expectations of the performance-management
system have been upgraded. Where in the past the system may have been used
merely to tell his team member, how he
was doing and justify his annual increase, organizations now see
performance-management systems as having tremendous power to transform the
culture of the corporation.
7.
KEEP PERFORMANCE DISCUSSIONS DOCUMENTED.
At a
minimum, Manager should keep notes on any performance problems discussed,
including the date, the problems discussed and the performance expectations
communicated to the employee. This documentation should be kept in the
employee's file or in the human resources documentation, depending on the
policy of your company. This is both to refresh your memory in the future and
to be used as documentation in the event of legal action taken on a
disciplinary action. The human resources department should ideally prepare a
guideline or format company's policy
on employee documentation.
Giving employees effective feedback on their performance may seem
like a tough job, but it does not have to be. By focusing on the delivery of
the right information in the right setting, you can make the process more
relaxed and effective for both you and your employees.
Best wishes
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Wilfred Monteiro
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