How To Write A Performance Review

How to improve your performance review process

Performance reviews get a bad rap these days. Employees do dread them for they view them as a tool used by their superiors in pointing out their negatives. On the other hand managers see them as an obligation to plough through before they can mark one more task off their endless to-do lists. However, performance reviews themselves aren’t the problem but it’s the way organisations handle the review process that’s flawed. Performance reviews are necessary. When they are done properly, employees actually like them for they definitely want to know how they’re doing. They are very keen to connect with their managers. Thus, reviews give leaders an opportunity to measure performance results, reward great employees and assist those that have problems the best way they can. Leaders should lay groundwork for performance reviews all year long. Leaders should practice having weekly or even daily rounding for outcomes. In the same way that a doctor makes rounds to check on patients, a leader makes rounds to check on subordinates. The technique allows for being in touch regularly with subordinates, making personal connections, recognising success, finding out what’s going well and determining where improvements are needed. This approach is not about a casual “How are you?” and then walking off without waiting for an answer. It means asking specific questions in the right sequence. This could be in the form of questions such as: “Do you have the tools and equipment you need to do the job? What is going well? What isn’t going well? Is there anyone who’s been particularly helpful to you that I should recognise?” It is important to be a good listener and write down your answers and then follow up. And what does it say that manager A gives Rebecca a two in “Communication” while manager B, who supervised her last year, gave her a four? Clearly, it says that perceptions — of the criteria measured, of employee behaviour, and maybe of both — vary wildly. This means that the review criteria should be based on variables that can be objectively measured and not merely awarding a score that has bee plucked from the moon.

How To Write A Performance Appraisal: A Guide For Supervisors ...

Employee appraisals are regularly viewed as a wearisome part of supervising workers.

Although performance evaluations are often seen as being as thrilling as having a tooth pulled without medication, I know that many mangers would agree that the employee evaluation process is an important employee supervision tool.

As a manager, you realize that it’s critical to be able to grasp the tasks that your employees execute throughout the year and to be able to gauge your employee’s success.

So how do you develop a relevant performance evaluation that succinctly and completely highlights your employees’ performance and yet is not too time draining; especially if you do not have a performance appraisal template to use as a guide?

An ideal performance appraisal form has several elements:

Job Responsibilities, Job Success Factors, Company or Organizational Success Factors, Goals, and Achievements.

Job Responsibilities

This section of the performance appraisal is very simple.

Since job responsibilities change slightly over time; especially if your employee is taking on more job responsibility, it is important to summarize the work that your employee does on each evaluation form.

The best part of incorporating a job responsibilities section is that it allows you to update your employee’s job description on an annual basis.

Job Success Factors

This is where you will highlight the competencies or attributes needed for your employee to be successful in their role.

Some competencies that should be considered core skills no matter the position are::

Communication Skills

And this is just a short list of core skills or success factors.

The Job Success Factors section can definitely be as lengthy or brief as it needs to be based on the skills that are vital to you as a manager, or primarily based on the goals and mission of your organization.

When creating a performance appraisal, it’s crucial to be able to incorporate position specific skills along with key attributes or success factors.

Using the role of “Customer Service Representative as an example, it would be meaningful to be able to add a few core competencies that are particular to this type of a function such as “Knows the service or product and is in a position to fully identify the rewards to customers”. Or, “Answers at least 70 calls a month”.