Successfully Conducting Employee Performance Appraisals
Wendy L. McCoyDirector HR & BenefitsFlorida Conference of The United Methodist Church
Agenda
Expectations of supervisors and coaches
Performance management process
Preparation for meeting with employee
Conducting the appraisal & setting goals
Addressing poor or ineffective performance
Follow-up feedback and coaching
Defining acceptable and unacceptable performance
Q & A
Performance Expectations
Setting performance expectations is the foundation and first step in performance management.
By setting performance expectations first, the employee knows what is expected and the supervisor has specific performance criteria to measure quality and productivity.
Expectations of Supervisors
Conduct (at least) an annual performance evaluation
Create an environment for ongoing dialogue
Have the basics before you begin such as, current job description, performance expectations and goals for success
Connect the dots….to the Mission and Vision of the local church
Performance Management Process
Step 1The Basics
Job DescriptionGoal Setting
Performance Expectations
Step 2Preparing for &
conductingthe employee
meeting
Step 3Follow-up coaching
& regular
performancecheck-ups
Preparation for Employee Meeting
Schedule meeting with employee
Ask employee to conduct a self-assessment prior to the meeting
Collect data on employee’s performance (work records, attendance, work product, input from peers and others)
Supervisor should complete draft evaluation form prior to meeting
Preparation for Employee Meeting(Continued)
Record major accomplishments and document examples of both strengths and areas for improvement
Use behavioral examples where you can to avoid “hearsay”
Be prepared to discuss performance of routine tasks and long term goals
Provide specific feedback on how tasks are accomplished (behaviors)
Be prepared to discuss current and future goals for employee
Conducting the Appraisal (Continued)
During the meeting, both supervisor and employee review their responses to the assessment
Start with areas of agreement and reinforce the positive
Identify areas for improvement and ask for recommendations to build a plan for improvement
Conducting the Appraisal(Continued)
Ask the employee to take the lead in reviewing their own performance.
Saying things such as, "I see from your self-evaluation, we pretty much agree with this (positive) point."
"What did you find most rewarding this year?"
"What would you do differently if you could do it over again?"
Conducting the Appraisal (Continued)
Make sure you have plenty of specific examples to make your observations clear.
Concentrate exclusively on factors directly related to job performance and use language that paints a picture for the employee.
For example:
"You usually don’t speak in department meetings and you don’t ask questions when you’re stuck on an assignment, which contributes to a higher rate of errors and missed deadlines" - is better than,
"You’re a poor communicator."
Conducting the Appraisal (Continued)
More examples:
Instead of saying,
"you're doing a great job," say -
"your planning and preparation for this meeting was really great. That helped to make the meeting more productive."
Or instead of saying,
"you need to improve your time management skills," say,-
"I noticed you missed the deadline to send information to accounting department; let's discuss what happened and talk about ways to avoid this in the future.
Conducting the Appraisal (Continued)
Attempt to avoid defensiveness
Discuss behaviors not “personalities”
Avoid terms such as “always” and “never”
Encourage participation and be supportative
Try to end the meeting on a positive note
Goal Setting
Use your mission and vision to align individual goals
Make sure the goals are “SMART” Specific - with enough detail to be clear Measurable - use quantitative goals when available,
use milestones, use thoughtful judgments Attainable - realistic in terms of employee's control,
timeframe, and resources available Reasonable - realistic in terms of what can really be
achieved Time-based - with dates set for achieving milestones,
results and completion
Goal Setting
Performance objectives are written to describe the measurable results an employee needs to achieve within each key responsibility area.
Goals and objectives are nearly synonymous and are often used interchangeably. To differentiate between the two remember this:
“The goal is where we want to be. The objectives are the steps needed to get there.”
Goal Setting (Continued)
Three components create a clear objective:
Performance – what the individual is tasked to do.
Criteria – the quality or level of performance that will be considered acceptable, often described in terms of timeframe, accuracy and/or quality.
Conditions – conditions under which the performance is expected to occur.
Goal Setting (Continued)
Three components creating a clear objective are Performance, Criteria and Conditions.
Example:
The employee will scan accounts payable invoices into electronic filing system weekly taking care to make sure invoices are correctly categorized by vendor name and date of payment.
Addressing ineffective (poor) performance
Most performance problems can be resolved through effective communication between supervisors and their employees.
A counseling session is an opportunity to clarify expectations and discuss performance problems.
Have some specific examples of poor performance so that you can respond to the inevitable, "What do you mean?"
Addressing ineffective (poor) performance (continued)
Do not emphasize past poor performance, instead, seek to clarify future good performance.
To prepare for a counseling session with an employee, write out and then practice saying what acceptable performance in the job would mean. Listen to yourself. If it doesn't make any sense to you, it won't make any sense to the employee. Be as specific as possible.
Follow-up Feedback and Coaching
Be specific about what you observed (focus on behavior, action, results, etc)
Explain the impact their actions had on the department / organization
Be equally rigorous with positive feedback
Seek to understand their perspective or point of view
Ratings Defining acceptable and unacceptable performance
Make this your “baseline” year. You are not required to designate a numeric rating
Provide clear written statements indicating the level of performance using the performance factors
Set goals and objectives as a basis for future evaluations