by J. Henry Stewart

Created on: December 07, 2008   Last Updated: December 08, 2008

Sandra signed her name on the performance appraisal for her employee John. He was an excellent worker and his evaluation was done for another six months. When she was first promoted to this manager position, she had dreaded the twice yearly appraisals that she was required to write. However, since then she had learned several important lessons that helped make this exercise much more valuable for both her and her subordinates.

Have Clear Criteria

Without clear criteria it is impossible to write effective performance appraisals. Company values are the main driver of each criterion on an appraisal, and these criteria may range from punctuality, creativity, technical expertise, teamwork and many other issues that the managers of the firm feel is important.

The direct supervisor of front line employees must be able to understand why each particular criterion is important, and understand the weighting system based on the role that her employee occupies.

Often in large companies, corporate human resources policies can overemphasize the wrong criteria for a particular job, and it is the manager's job to inform the employees how he is actually going to implement the system. For example, many managers of engineers ignore appraisal questions that ask the timeliness of the workers. The wise manager understands that long term technical projects may often be done late at night.

What is the Goal

Once again, the values of the company are important to understand the goal of the particular position that a real person occupies whom the manager must evaluate. At a company like Google, creativity must be a large part of the corporate goal and essential to the success of many small units in the company. Accordingly, the manager should focus her appraisal on the various ways that the employee adds to the creativity of the department, whether he adds individual brilliance or general support to a team which is then creative.

Conversely, a government agency or large legacy employer may value order, efficiency and following the rules that have set up by well meaning human resources departments. In this case, the manager ought to explain to her employees the activities that are beneficial to meeting these values of the company. At a large defense contractor for example, it may be necessary for the workers to dress in suits and ties when meeting with government officials, as the pageantry is an integral part of winning government contracts.

A Time for Feedback and Understanding

Performance appraisals offer a hands off manager an excellent time to listen to an employee. Perhaps the best managers use this time to give the employee a chance to explain her views of the job, coworkers, and any other problems or insights.

A manager ought to listen closely to the employees and take whatever action she can to help her employees succeed, rather than simply giving a one page multiple choice appraisal of "met expectations". Additionally, a manager can give genuine advice to the employees at the appraisal period, of how the employee can meet the particular criteria and goals of the department and company.

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