Copper

January 2007

HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT

Six Steps to Successful Performance Appraisals

IQPC SixSigmaHR

Managers often dread performance appraisals like the plague, but – done correctly – they can actually be enjoyable and productive. Performance appraisals are one of the least liked and most dreaded responsibilities that any manager has to endure. They're worse than terminations. After you fire someone, they're gone; but after a performance review, they're still around. Staring at you. Resenting you. Challenging you and sometimes even subverting your ability to manage the group. Some managers will go to great lengths to avoid doing reviews. I'm of a different opinion. I believe that performance management can be an enjoyable and rewarding process. Yes, I said enjoyable. I'll go so far as to say that I think performance management can be as enjoyable as the Thanksgiving Day Parade. Keep that thought in mind as I describe a six-step approach (use the acronym PARADE to remember it) that can alleviate much of the worry and dread associated with performance management. Step one: Preparation. The key to success in any endeavor is preparation. In this case, preparation means sitting down and creating objectives for the performance period. We've got to ensure that people know what's expected of them if we ever expect them to achieve it. Think of setting objectives as a road map with a set of directions. The road map is your organization, or your industry, and the directions lead employees to their goal. If people don't know where they're going, how can we ever expect them to get there? How will they know when they've arrived? It's also critical to get employees' input on their own objectives if we want to increase their commitment to achieving those goals. If people feel that they have a voice in their assignments, they will frequently work harder toward the success of those assignments.

All rights reserved. IQPC Worldwide Pte. Ltd.

January 2007

Step...