Preparing to Appraise Job Performance

See yourself as a leader. If you approach the appraisal process as your employees’ buddy, you’ll have difficulty being objective — and they’ll have difficulty accepting your feedback.

Set positive expectations. If you expect performance appraisals to go smoothly, effectively, and productively, it’s far more likely that they will.

Spend time with your employees. The more familiar you are with your employees and their performance, the more accurate and acceptable your feedback will be.

Know the system. Look over your company’s performance appraisal system and be sure you know exactly how it works.

Back-time the process. Set the dates of the appraisal sessions first, and then work backward to establish the benchmark actions that you need to complete before meeting with the employees.

Gather and review all the relevant data. Look through your notes and supplement them with your employees’ job descriptions, last year’s appraisal, the objectives that you established with your employees, each employee’s file, and your employees’ self-evaluations and 360-degree feedback forms (if you use them).

Complete the evaluation forms. Start with written comments and phrases, and then select numerical ratings that fit what you’ve written. Review the recommended raises, if any, and then finalize the evaluations.

Plan the agenda for the meeting. Be sure to provide extra time at the end to complete the discussions and answer all questions.