Business Solutions Blog

Apart from the strengths and weaknesses inherent in the nature of a given performance appraisal system, there are errors of implementation that can be made no matter what techniques you use. In fact, the way that a performance appraisal system is administered and the training given to the managers using it, probably has more to do with the effectiveness of the appraisal than any other factor. Some performance appraisal systems prevent or even encourage these errors more than others.

 The most common appraisal errors are:
1. Inadequately defined standards of performance
2. Over-emphasis on recent performance
3. Reliance on gut feelings
4. Miscomprehension of performance standards by the employee
5. Too much talking by the manager/supervisor
6. Lack of follow-up planning/action

Solutions to overcome errors:
1. Create clear job descriptions with defined deliverables
2. Keep a file in your office where you can put brief notes on performance thought-out the year
3. Use 360 degree performance review where you get co-worker and customer feedback as well as feedback from the employee about their performance
4. Where there is a difference in performance expectations, ask the employee how they feel the gap should bridged
5.  Use the 80/20 Rule. During review let the employee talk 80% of the time while you talk 20% of the time
6. Ensure there are Action Plans agreed upon after the review and a mid-year check to ensure Plans are on track.

Employee involvement is creating an environment in which people have an impact on decisions and actions that affect their jobs. Employee involvement is not the goal nor is it a tool, as practiced in many organizations. Rather, it is a management and leadership philosophy about how people are most enabled to contribute to continuous improvement and the ongoing success of their work organization.

Employee Involvement Model

For people and organizations that desire a model to apply, there is a simple one developed from work by Tannenbaum and Schmidt (1958) and Sadler (1970). They provide a continuum for leadership and involvement that includes an increasing role for employees and a decreasing role for leaders in the decision process. The continuum includes this progression.

Tell: the leader makes the decision and announces it to staff. The leader provides complete direction. Tell is useful when communicating about safety issues, government regulations and for decisions that neither require nor ask for employee input.

Sell: the leader makes the decision and then attempts to gain commitment from staff by “selling” the positive aspects of the decision. Sell is useful when employee commitment is needed, but the decision is not open to employee influence.

Consult: the leader invites input into a decision while retaining authority to make the final decision themselves. The key to a successful consultation is to inform employees on the front end of the discussion that their input is needed, but the leader is retaining the authority to make the final decision. This is the level of involvement that can create employee dissatisfaction most readily when this is not clear to the people providing input.

Join: the leader invites employees to make the decision with the leader. The leader considers his/her voice equal in the decision process. The key to a successful Join is when the leader truly builds consensus around a decision and is willing to keep her/his influence equal to that of the others providing input.

Delegate: the leader turns the decision over to another party. The key to successful delegation is to always build a feedback loop and a timeline into the process. The leader must also share any “preconceived picture” or vision he has of the anticipated outcome of the process.

The benefits of employee involvement typically far outweigh the potential pit falls. Advantages of a collaborative environment include an increased employee buy-in, a better understanding of the overall goals, an increase in the both the quantity and quality of generated ideas, as well as clarification of the message.  It does require a larger amount of time which can be seen as a potential pit fall, but in most situations this is far outweighed by the attributed benefits. In situations structured by a short time span, or when only one message needs to be communicated with no further discussion, the Tell or Sell approach will be more effective.

This is a very quick tip for those of you who are setting Goals – useful for performance reviews department goals and general setting of personal goals.

SMART Goals: A useful way of making goals more powerful is to use the SMART approach. While there are plenty of variants, SMART typically stands for:

Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant
Time-bound

For example, instead of having “to sail around the world” as a goal, it is more powerful to say “To have completed my trip around the world by December 31, 2015.” Obviously, this will only be attainable if a lot of preparation has been completed beforehand!