We dutifully do our performance appraisals, but the information they generate doesn’t seem to be very meaningful. We want to feel more confident about our appraisal system because we rely on it for our compensation program. Do you have any suggestions?
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Here’s what you had to say:
- We find that the most important part of the appraisal system is the setting of goals at the beginning of the process. If we set meaningful goals that are challenging, yet reachable, we’re in good shape. We also make sure we establish a measurement system and standards that apply to each goal. For example, “improve sales” isn’t specific enough to help us out at appraisal time–or to help the employee meet meaningful goals, for that matter. However, “Make 25 more sales calls and 10 more sales of product X” is easy to measure.
- We set goals and then at the end of the period, we have the employees rate themselves. At a meeting, the manager first discusses areas in which the two agreed, then areas in which they disagreed. This seems to work out well in most cases.
- Don’t do them just once a year–have interim meetings so there are no surprises at the end of the appraisal period. We find it’s helpful to give feedback, both positive and negative, soon after the behavior occurs.