Top Four New Year’s Resolutions to Breathe Life into Performance Appraisal Systems

Take a deep breath because it’s our favorite time of the year…. annual employee performance appraisals!  I think HR professionals would agree that unless you have implemented some innovative ways to connect with employees, this is not the time when HR is the most popular.  Unfortunately, this practice has negative connotations like, “it doesn’t mean anything”, “it’s a waste of time” and “HR made me do it”!  If these are common phrases that your leadership teams share, it is time to get your performance appraisal system off life support!

As HR leaders, we must believe in the performance evaluation value in order to connect this process to company success. If you haven’t made changes to your employee performance evaluation process in over three years, you are long overdue.  So how can HR get a new perspective to this critical, talent management process?

1.      Ask For Employee Feedback

Don’t be afraid to hear things that need to be fixed.  Much like product development, we must keep in touch with our consumers in order to continue the relationship.  Ask your leadership team and employees what they like and want for improvements.  Conduct a couple of focus groups and facilitate an open discussion of the perceptions and challenges.  Don’t defend the process, listen for areas of improvement.

 2.      Lead the Commitment to Talent Management vs. Appraisal Process

Performance Management initiatives must be incorporated into the overall “Talent Management” values of the organization.  HR can lead discussions with top management to replace the “old” perceptions with new language. Begin to describe your process with similar phrases like:

 “Evaluating our internal talent pool; Recognizing our “go to” players who get things done; Identifying employees who exhibit behaviors that support our company value; Know our employees who create company success through the daily execution of their accountabilities.” 

Imagine the anticipation managers would have to formally identifying their game changing employees.

 3.      Define Talent Management as a Competitive Advantage

Companies have prioritized their hiring and on-boarding processes.  They are very proud of the candidate and new hire experience.  It is time to continue those best practices to include the entire career cycle of an employee.  After the orientation process is complete, companies are at the mercy of the employee experience to determine if the resources dedicated to new hires are invested well or are the employees disengaged and preparing to walk out the door to a competitor?  What gives talent management strategies a competitive edge?  Personal development plans, Career development plans, succession planning and rotation programs.  These valuable approaches to talent management give talented employees exposure to multiple areas of the company.

 4.      Evaluate the Take-Aways from the Past Two Years of Performance Evaluations

How has your company used the performance appraisal system feedback to develop your employees?  Do you know who your top performers are and do they have a plan with their managers to take on more challenging projects?  Do you know which supervisors develop the most productive and successful employees? Last of all, do you sit down with your leadership team to evaluate how the organizational talent is performing and contributing to the success of the organization?  Are you rewarding the employees who demonstrate the behavior that drives the success of your company?

Performance appraisals host a wealth of information about the status of company employees.  Overall employee performance, strengths and development areas help the organization to know if employees are ready to take the company to the next level.  HR must be free up from primarily being a “Transactional” department to a “Strategic” leader.  Once HR processes are completed, it’s not over until you have identified training, resources and development plans to keep your internal talent.

Make the commitment for 2012 to be different.  Strike a couple of traditional HR program descriptions and use some innovative approaches to identify, develop and keep your best talent.

Performance management includes the ability to quickly identify key individuals in an organization to understand your bench strength.  Business initiatives change daily and you must know who can execute, reliably, based upon their past performance.

Looking for a system to make Performance Management a strategic advantage?  BullseyeEvaluation offers a web based solution to help shift the culture of expectations for your company. 

At Bullseye Performance Management Systems, we believe HR Professionals are operational and strategic partners when managing an organization. 

What Are Your Employees Doing, or Not?

Our last post tied together how Employee Engagement is impacted by an effective performance management process. I ended with the question, “How do you engage your employees”? As I continue to do research on best practices for creating ideal performance management cultures, I couldn’t help but share this wonderful InfoGraphic from the National Business Research Institute, Inc. (NBRI) located in Dallas, Texas.

The power of visuals can underscore the importance of Employee Engagement and this InfoGraphic displays just that. NBRI highlights a couple of key areas that all company leadership needs to understand about their employees:

1.      Only 1 in 3 employees are engaged at work. Does your organization have a structured way to measure the contribution of employees and provide valuable performance feedback?

2.      The #1 reason employees leave a company is the lack of career advancement. How does your organization document career plans and identify employee resources for skill development?

3.      How do un-engaged employees spend their time? As your leadership team walks through the company building and participates in conference calls with employees, do they notice how many employees are giving 100%?

Employee engagement is an indication of “how “an employee approaches their work every day. Their individual mission can be ignited by the consistent communication with the supervisors, both formal and informal, to discuss how they are performing towards the goals and how to address any shortcomings.

Responsibilities for engagement are at all levels: Top Management, Supervisors and Employees. Everyone must have a sense of ownership to make certain the process to address questions and concerns is utilized. More importantly, a clear communication of the company goals, tasks and accomplishments provide the energy needed for the employee engine at work well each day.

Think about your interactions with your employees.  Do they want to keep pushing towards company goals or get away as soon as they can?  The leadership team makes the difference in shaping the culture.  Are you reinforcing, during your coaching sessions throughout the year, that your employees matter?  Do you look for ways to delegate responsibility to employees who expressed, during their performance evaluation, the desire to grow and move up in the company?  Most importantly, are YOU having that experience with your manager?  Many times we duplicate what we experience.

Need a great idea for your next supervisor meeting? Bring this InfoGraphic on Employee Engagement and begin the important dialogue on spending quality coaching time with employees. Imagine how meaningful the employee performance management process would be if each manager began their discussions with a review of this InfoGraphic http://ow.ly/85pep. It’s all a matter of perspective for us to understand why providing feedback makes such a difference to the engagement level of employees.

Can Employee Engagement really make a difference in the quality of your performance discussions? Leave a comment and let us know what you think.

Does it make a difference to you?

About Bullseye Evaluation: Looking for a system to make Performance Management a strategic advantage?  BullseyeEvaulation offers a web based solution to help shift the culture of expectations for your company. At Bullseye Performance Management Systems, we believe HR Professionals are operational and strategic partners when managing an organization. 

Performance Management – “What’s Engagement Got To Do With It?”

If you haven’t heard the two words, “Employee Engagement” lately, you have got to get out more.  As managers and HR professionals, we need to understand how our traditional systems can reflect one of the top management concerns today, Keeping and Engaging Talented Employees.  Check the multitude of workplace surveys today and analyze the results as it compares a non-engaged to an engaged workforce.  Simply put, engaged employees know how to make a difference every day they come to work.

So what does being engaged have to do with Performance Management……Talent Management? Everything.  The pendulum is swinging towards meaningful conversations characterized by coaching and mentoring employees.  When employees leave their performance evaluation with their manager, there are three ways to tell that “engagement” was a priority of the overall conversation.

1. The employee understands how their contribution fits in the big picture and how they add value.
   When a manager takes the time to give genuine feedback about employee performance, what they did well and how they can improve, it paints a visual goal of company connection.  Silo management is not an option.  Employees must know they are connected to each and every department, that each email they send or customer call they answer makes a difference in the boardroom.  No insignificant efforts.

2. Successfully completed development goals discussed with the employee are rewarded.
   If the previous conversation requested ways for the employee to gain additional skills and they had those experiences, new feedback and constructive comments, to get better, will be well received.  Employees will know that their personal investment in their skills and knowledge will allow them to be placed on special project teams or assume interim positions of leadership as a reward for completing their developmental goals.  They have confidence that management has kept their word.  Trust is invaluable.

3. The employee seems truly vested in company success by assuming personal ownership.
   Most employees want to do a good job and are willing to live up to the expectations managers set for them.  When employees take their roles seriously and demonstrate their drive to “Exceed Expectations”, you have a key player that will drive your company in the right direction. Employees want clarity so they can take smart risks to execute their jobs successfully.  More than my career, it’s my organization.

Think about your interactions with your employees.  Do they want to keep pushing towards company goals or get away as soon as they can?  The leadership team makes the difference in shaping the culture.  Are you reinforcing, during your coaching sessions throughout the year, that your employees matter?  Do you look for ways to delegate responsibility to employees who expressed, during their performance evaluation, the desire to grow and move up in the company?  Most importantly, are YOU having that experience with your manager?  Many times we duplicate what we experience.

As you complete your performance evaluations of your team, think about what you are reinforcing.  Remain on the effective end of “Engagement”.  Don’t sugar coat feedback, that doesn’t help.  Be meaningful, be respectful and be sincere.

After all, engaged employees are much easier to manage and that makes a happily engaged, You!

Do you have some tips on how you Engage Your Employees? – share some thoughts with our readers.

About Bullseye Evaluation: Looking for a system to make Performance Management a strategic advantage?  Bullseye Evaluation offers a web based solution to help shift the culture of expectations for your company. At Bullseye Performance Management Systems, we believe HR Professionals are operational and strategic partners when managing an organization. 

The Ideal Employee Evaluation from My Manager

I have read all the helpful hints and understand how to do my part for a successful employee evaluation session.  Be prepared, Know my goals, Have specific examples.  Seems easy enough.  We all say we want feedback, but we still get a knot in our stomachs when it is time to sit across the table.

To my surprise, the meeting with my manager was not painful.  As a matter of fact, it was a very thorough discussion and I left knowing more about how I am viewed in the company.  What made that discussion so different?  The review in my mind recalled the following observations:

1)  Be Here Now

I’m not sure who coined that phrase, but my manager blocked out all distractions and made sure he was not interrupted.  Our discussion was the only focus for that hour.  He made the choice to value the feedback appointment with  me.

2)   The Form, The Discussion, The Commitment

I completed my self appraisal and he read it.  He highlighted comments I made to review with me.  He presented his review and we discussed the differences in our opinions and gained greater understanding of each other’s perceptions.  I discovered that a couple of risks I took were for the right reasons, but didn’t yield the right results.  We talked about a new approach to gain some consensus around my suggestions.  I thought I would get in trouble for that one.  It turned out to be a great learning situation.  Finally, the commitment.  He shared his commitment to help me learn, grown and challenged me to work towards an even higher level of performance.  My weaknesses, development areas, opportunities, they were all addressed with openness and gave me a sense of direction.  There were even so kudos for some difficult projects I completed.

3)   My Ratings Made Sense

Hard work doesn’t make a performance rating, right results do.  My manager helped me see that improving the way I approach my tasks will help me to gain better results.  The ratings were not a surprise due to the ongoing communication and our company performance management system that captures the details of my measureable results.

4)   Goals and Training

The career goals I have identified with my manager have purpose.  I understand how they fit in the company’s overall goals.  There are many courses our company offers that I haven’t taken advantage of since I have been employed.  Time to quit putting off the online courses I know I need.

5)   Genuine Concern for My Success

We had a transparent conversation, not just about my performance, but some of my manager’s career goals.  I can see how my ability to step up and accomplish more will allow my manager to delegate to me.  There was a sense that he was genuinely interested in my success. 

Overall, the meeting was something I really appreciated.  Sure we had some tense moments, but when it was all said and done, I am going to be a better employee because of it.  Performance appraisal conversations done the right way can make all the difference in world between reading job boards and focusing on career development tasks.

It’s not all a walk in the park, but when two professionals approach the performance discussion with respect and openness, great things can happen. 

Alright managers, how to you stack up?  Can you step back and make a few changes to your approach to your employee coaching sessions?  It’s all a matter of choice.

About Bullseye Evaluation: Looking for a system to make Performance Management a strategic advantage? Bullseye Evaluation offers a web based solution to help shift the culture of expectations for your company process. At Bullseye Performance Management Systems, we believe HR Professionals are operational and strategic partners when managing an organization.

Pat Bell is an HR Advisor with Bullseye Evaluations. BullseyeEvaluation offers Performance Appraisal Software & Performance Appraisal System

Make Performance Appraisal Effective

Performance appraisal software offers a solution of employee review process problems that is efficient and effective. It saves HR Management’s time significantly over manually maintained records. Managers can more easily communicate business strategies, plans and produce measurable targets for their employees that will support specific and overall company objectives. Give your management the tools of individual performance measurement so they can identify and cultivate top performers for further development and establish a pay for performance compensation plan.

Pay for Performance System

Create a pay-for-performance system for retaining your valuable employees. This practice leads to an increase in corporate spending due to the recruiting and training costs associated with new hires. A high turnover rate of employees can be traced to disgruntled employees leaving due to what they feel are unfair salary practices. Alternatively, when employees perceive that the system provides fair compensation and rewards, employee engagement and retention improves.

Effective performance reviews let you establish a fair pay-for-performance system by a reward system with individual and team performance. It allows you to keep your high performing employees as a vital part of your organization.

Deploy Resources & Talent Appropriately

By using performance appraisal software you can make sure that everybody keeps their projects on track based goals that are associated with company goals. Keep an eye on the completion or non-completion of these recognized goals. Do not waste valuable human assets following goals not aligned with the company goals and strategy.

More than Performance Reviews

Developing internal talent can be a significant source of savings considering that external recruitment and training can be twice as expensive as identifying internal successors. How can managers analyze their employees' talent sets to estimate readiness for promotion and find potential successors?

The right performance appraisal software is more than a database for performance reviews. The information that is gathered can be easily analyzed and used to make informed business decisions regarding promotions, rewards, and succession planning for internal candidates while supporting difficult decisions when layoffs loom during challenging economic times. It is also beneficial in establishing training programs to assist employees who are found with gaps in required skills.

Similar Goal Practices

Similar job descriptions and goals can share best practices among employees. This practice is necessary to improve employee performance with expert employees. When an employee has the ability to work efficiently and is considered an "expert", less experienced employees can be trained to follow those best practices and be successful.

 

Feedback and Coaching Employee

Managers should check in with their employees on a regular basis to give feedback or coaching as necessary. They should be made aware of any problem that may keep their employees from accomplishing their goals. If there are problems or issues, the manager and employee can create a plan to overcome them. Feedback and coaching creates a separate feedback loop within the larger loop which should take place more often than an annual review, allowing for changes as necessary.

No matter whether you have 10 employees or 10,000, get Bullseye Evaluation Performance Appraisal Software and put your employees on track to increase their productivity. With increased visibility of company goals, employees will understand what is important to the company's bottom line and direct their efforts to be focused on what is necessary to make your company successful.

Bullseye Evaluation presents: Key Performance Indicators (KPI Dashboard) and Employee Performance Appraisal Software, choose anyone as per your business requirements.

Buying Tips & Guidelines for Performance Appraisal Software

With performance appraisal software you can make evaluations easily utilize you and your employee’s time more productively. Before you buy any product it is wise to compare features and prices. However, you must know what your actual needs are when comparing performance appraisal software to get the right product. Simply buying the system with lots of bells and whistles, or one that requires a lot of forms or inputs don’t necessarily give you the best solution.

 Keep in mind key goals for your business that you should see benefits in:

• Improving the current level of employee performance across your organization.
• Identifying the top performing employees across the organization that are key to corporate succession, promotion and advancement.
• Identifying the divisions/departments/groups-and specific employees- that are underperforming or average.
• Improving your historical employee retention rate and understanding if your employees consider your organization a great place to work.

 

Before You Buy Evaluation Software:

First you have to decide whether you need web-based or customizable employee evaluation system.

Web-based Software as a Service:
Web-based software (SaaS) makes the performance appraisal accessible from anywhere by Internet. All information is stored on a secure web SQL Server, Oracle Server, or Access Server database.
Custom Solution Software:
Custom software allows you to configure the employee evaluation process per your business requirements and specific needs.

The evaluation process can be difficult sometimes. Some employees may react defensively. Sometimes employees do not understand about the benefits of a positive appraisal. If your workers feel that there is unevenness in coming down hard on some while making it easy on others there will be disappointment and dissatisfaction. You can address these problems with the below guidelines:

Give Specific Instruction

Set and properly explain goals & standards for your employees and what they will have to do to achieve them. Never say "improve quality" & "work harder". Rather say exactly what you want from them like, "don’t make more than two mistakes in data entry a day" or "increase sales 10% over last month’s sales". Similarly, when you evaluate a worker, give specific instances of what the employee did to achieve the goal.

 

Make Deadlines

Set timelines to see improvement in employee performance. And make sure that the timeline is sufficient for that purpose. Don’t think that short and unachievable deadlines pressure employees to work harder. It frustrates them.

Set Realistic Goals

If you set unrealistic or impossible standards & goals, disappointment and resentment will result. Your Goals should take into account the realities of your workplace as well as an element of challenge beyond the easy reach.

 

Ignore Personality Evaluation

Just focus on the job, not on the employee’s personality. For example, don't say the employee is "emotional and angry". Focus on the workplace conduct that is the problem. You can say the employee "has been disobedient to the supervisor twice in the previous months. This behavior must stop."

Handle Honestly

If you won’t tell an employee the truth about his performance problems, the worker won't know what he or she needs to improve. Bad news is uncomfortable for everyone but everyone deserves to know where they stand and how to move forward!

Maintain Employee Evaluation Records and Data

Manage and store your evaluation data so that anyone reading it would be able to understand clearly what has happened. Remember that an evaluation might become evidence in a lawsuit. If it does, you will want the judge to see what you rated the employee.

Employees Feedback

The evaluation process should also tell you about your employees’ concerns as well as needs to be improving in areas. You should take their feedback about concerns and try to address them. You'll gain valuable information when you ask employees what they enjoy about their jobs and working with the company. Your employees will feel like real participants in the process. You might even get some insights that could improve the evaluation.

About BullsEyeEvaluation: BullsEyeEvaluation offers Web based Employee Evaluation and Talent Management Software that enable organizations to effectively evaluate their Employees Performance. Learn more at http://www.bullseyeevaluation.com/.