Appraisals - are yours delivering results?
Large firms Accenture and Deloitte have recently been in the headlines for scrapping their traditional appraisal processes because they were time-consuming and cumbersome. If you indentify with this, it may be time to review whether your appraisal process is meeting your business needs, and delivering clear results to justify the time they take.
Here are some questions to get you thinking:
What are you trying to achieve from your appraisal process? – is it integral to your pay, reward and promotion system, does it validate required CPD e.g. medical professionals, or is it purely an opportunity for formal feedback and to discuss future objectives and development?
Is your current process adding value to, and meeting the needs of your business e.g. increased performance, productivity, engagement?
Would it be useful to include other stakeholders in your appraisal process? Clients, colleagues, a manager’s staff?
What process would work for managers and employees and deliver the outcomes you want? Both parties need to engage with it to make it worthwhile – why not ask them...
If you know what appraisal process you want/ need – what is already out there that you can use/ adopt?
If you use a scoring system for appraisals – are you sure it doesn’t discriminate unlawfully?
Is instant/real-time feedback encouraged – so that employees can apply lessons learnt (good or bad) to any future work? (This is also key to effective performance management).
Do your managers have the soft skills to give feedback confidently and constructively?
Do your employees understand that feedback and coaching are part of the job, key to developing, and are not a negative thing?
There is no one-size-fits-all solution for appraisals – the key is to ensure it is not just a time and paper wasting exercise, which everyone dreads, but one that works for you and delivers clear improvements to performance and productivity for your business.
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