Three keys to super-effective job performance appraisals

By Tom Wagner

Most managers dread carrying out job performance appraisals of their subordinates. The reasons vary and include lack of knowledge or training, a belief that this is an unnecessary formality or an aversion to confrontation.

Whatever the reason, the result is either no systematic performance appraisals or an appraisal that causes too much heartburn and yields too little benefit. This is a tragic situation because it's so simple to relieve the pain and get a lot more gain.

As with most things in life, attitude is (almost) everything. Envision a birthday party held in your honor. Gifts to you are part of the social protocol. Most people put careful thought into the present they bring you and they usually enjoy your reaction to their offering as much as you appreciate the gift. So it's a happy occasion for both the giver and recipient.

Think of job performance feedback as a gift. It is, you know. Almost everyone wants to know how he or she measures up to both individual expectations and norms of behavior for the group. Answering a subordinate's "How am I doing?" question fulfills basic human needs and demonstrates your concern for them. Sincere feedback helps the recipient and makes the organization better, too. Things become remarkably easier once you get your arms around - and truly embrace - the "gift" concept.

Job performance appraisals can quickly become supercharged performance enhancers when you think of them within the gift framework. Imagine appraisals on steroids and you have what I call Super-Effective Job Performance Appraisals. The three most important concepts for supercharged appraisals include:

1. How often? Be flexible, because the answer is, "As often as the subordinate would find helpful." Also, regular feedback discussions help establish the boss as a partner in the subordinate's success. This transforms the atmosphere of appraisal sessions to more of a coaching session. With regular feedback, the performance review part of the annual (or semi-annual for you over-achievers out there) appraisal then becomes mostly a summary of feedback already given.

2. No grades. Yep, that's right. Some of you may be unable to accept this heresy. I understand. As a degreed engineer who has worked within big companies, it was hard for me initially. But I have seen the transformative magic in this approach. Without grades, you eliminate the major stress factor in job appraisals for both boss and subordinate. Emotionally, everyone wants to be a straight "A" employee and there's a letdown with anything short of that. No grades, no emotional letdown. Also, no grade-inflation problems. Now you can concentrate on the really important stuff.

3. Focus on achieving goals. A laser-like focus on a few critical goals is the key to supercharging employee development. Don't equate the absence of grades with wimpy management or inattention to results. Quite the contrary! Leveraging strengths, identifying key goals and mileposts, and correcting critical shortcomings make this appraisal approach effective.

The admonition "You get out of something what you put in it" certainly applies in job performance appraisals. Periodic feedback, recording key events throughout the appraisal period, and monitoring and managing goal achievement are essential.

One final word about this no grading approach and salary administration: Use goal achievement performance to guide raises and bonuses. Grade-based appraisals involve judgment to establish scores that in turn guide pay increases, so it's disingenuous to criticize a no-grade appraisal system because it lacks discreet grades. Using goal achievement is more transparent, more effective, and perceived by the employees to be fairer. Visit www.wagnercg.com to download a sample no-grade job performance template.