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Performance Reviews Help Create Great Employees
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Article 4:
Focus On Specifics
How are your employees doing? Maybe you’re tempted to answer in a general term such as “great!” or “just OK.”
Profitable businesses, though, rate employees against performance parameters which are measurable.
“If performance can be measured, performance can be improved,” advises Jerry Nelson, president of HRN Management Group in Salt Lake City. “Employee evaluations with specific parameters can be tremendously effective in improving workplace performance.”
Effective, measurable parameters identify the critical competencies specific to each position.
“You value a secretary for reasons different from those of your debt collector or your office manager,” points out Nelson. “So for each position, ask ‘what behavior is most important to the job?’”
Small businesses face a special challenge because people tend to wear many hats.
“When employees are doing a variety of tasks, they need to be reminded to focus on the important aspects of their jobs,” says Nelson. “People tend to think just because they are working hard they are doing well. That’s not always the case. They need to concentrate most on the things that keep the company moving forward.”
But how can you assess employee performance against critical competencies in a way that convinces the employee of the need for improvement? Give specific examples of workplace behavior.
“A performance appraisal is a formal record of a supervisor’s opinion about the quality of an employee’s work,” points out Dick Grote, a Dallas-based performance management consultant. “The opinion, though, has to be objective and based on facts. Examples will make the assessment objective.”
The magic phrase, adds Grote, is “For example . . .”
Your assessment that Joe needs to improve customer communication skills will be effective if you can go on to say something like this: “I am concerned about how you spoke with Mrs. Johnson when you handled the installation at her site . . .”
Critical competencies can change over time and your performance appraisals need to change with them.
“Maybe today customer communication is the No. 1 contributor to your organization’s success,” notes Lisa Bianco, president of EchoSpan, an Atlanta-based consulting firm. “But in five years your company will grow, and maybe the critical competency becomes customer service or coaching skills. Your evaluations need to change to see how people are performing in the new areas.”
Effective performance appraisals improve profitability by inspiring employees to improve in their essential competencies.
“If you don’t measure performance and report back, it is easy for things to slide,” says Nelson. “Then mediocrity takes over.”
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Performance Reviews Help Create Great Employees
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