Appraising

Having frequent discussions to agree how best to improve someone's performance.

Appraisals are invariably unpopular mainly because they are a device for forcing reluctant managers to sit down and discuss a subordinate's performance at least once a year. No-one likes to be coerced into doing something they'd rather not do and appraisals often fall into this category, especially where they are seen as part of a bureaucratic system. The answer, of course, is to adopt the practice of having frequent mini-appraisals so that the annual appraisal just becomes a formality.

Appraisals, done properly, are an honest attempt to review someone's current performance and help them identify how best to improve. The accent is on current performance not speculations about someone's potential. Learning and development is always about the 'here and now' as the best investment for the future.

There may be a number of reasons why reluctance to appraisal is so widespread:

• fear of upsetting the appraisee
• fear of sounding condescending
• feeling once removed and unsure of the 'facts'
• appraisees who are defensive or touchy
• appraisees who seem self-sufficient
• appraisees who never solicit feedback
• lack of skill on the part of the appraiser and/or appraisee.

Undoubtedly the easiest way to overcome any reluctance on your part is to arrange things so that subordinates take the initiative and ask their manager for an appraisal. Proactive subordinates, determined to extract every bit of help from managers, wouldn't hesitate to assert their right to feedback. Less assertive subordinates need the active encouragement of their manager to take this bold step. An excellent way to bring this about is for the manager to solicit feedback about his/her performance (Upward appraisal/feedback), thus making it more likely that they will ask you to reciprocate.

If, after suitable encouragement, people fail to solicit appraisals then you must take the initiative, override your doubts, and offer feedback. The soundest way to do this is to give feedback against some agreed standards of performance; praise when the performance matches or exceeds the standards and criticism when it does not (see Praising and Criticising). The agreed standards make the whole process less invidious and less dependent on personal whims and perceptions. Often an appraisal discussion will result in the clarification of an existing standard or the creation of a new one and in this way perceptions of what is expected of the subordinate will gradually coincide. Top priority, however, is that each appraisal discussion results in an action plan to improve some aspect of the person's performance and, preferably, that you too come away from the encounter having committed yourself to further actions that will support the subordinate in his/her quest for continuous improvement.

If you are serious about helping people to learn and develop you will be a regular and frequent appraiser.