“all done...?” (performance appraisals)

(part of the Total Quality Leadership (TQL) series)

How an organization achieves world class quality excellence depends on its leaders within the organization, at all levels of the organization.  Whether your organization has just started its quality journey with ISO certification or are ready to apply for the world renowned Deming award, the critical success factor to world class quality excellence…it’s all in the leadership!

Leadership skills that make an environment successful are the same skills that we learned when we were little.  Today, performance appraisals.

When we ask children to do something, we tell them what to do and what the expectations are.  "I want you to sweep the kitchen floor and make sure you clean behind the table.  Thank you."  If it's the first time they've done it, we show them how.  We then turn the task over to them, we watch them for a while, and answer questions when asked.  When it appears the child understands the what, the how and the why, we leave them to finish the task. When they are done, they will come in and tell you to "come and look".  You walk into the kitchen, look at the floor and give your comments.  They may range from "good job" to "it looks good but you forgot to clean under the table".

"Good job" means the task is over and expectations have been met.  Depending on the age of the child, if he/she also mopped the floor, expectations were "exceeded".  If the first review means the task was not complete, the child will try again. When finished, the child will come in, and the review process, this time, should net the "good job" appraisal.  If not, the process of sharing with the child what was missed and having the child try again will continue until expectations are met and the "good job" appraisal is achieved.  Not all children learn at the same pace.  It may take only once for one child and several times for another.  One child may just need to understand exactly what you mean ("you didn't tell me to pick it up, you just said 'sweep' ".)  et touché!

Performance appraisals should be used as a way to increase employee achievement.  Back in the day performance evaluations were used as a "gotcha" tool.  To evaluate means to examine and judge something, not a person.  To appraise: HR – to make a formal assessment of an employee or an employee’s performance following an agreed set of criteria.

In our team based environment, both employee and team leader (or manager and director; director and vice president...) sit down and discuss achievements and needed (continuous) improvements of the year past.  This should not be a surprise to either involved.  In a team based environment, we share performance every day.  When a correction needs to be made, we share immediately.  The goal is to continuously coach our team for their success and ours.  The introduction of SMART goals in the '90s was the tool to assist in the professional development of all employees regardless of level.  SMART goals articulate the expectations and eliminate the nebulousness of evaluations (what does "you're a good leader" mean?). 

• Specific  (what is the task or objective?  Attach details if appropriate)
• Measures  (standards and parameters)
• Achievable  (is it?)                         
• Realistic  (is it?)
• Time-bound  (start / finish dates)

When questions are asked, they need to be answered to the satisfaction of the one who asked.  The old "that's why I hired you" comment does nothing to inspire or teach or answer a question.  Today that comment translates to "I don't know but I don't want to tell you I don't know".  It's ok if you don't know, just say that rather than putting the onus on the questioner.

Remember the "one size does not fit all" mantra.  Employees (all humans) learn at a different pace.  Specificity removes ambiguousness in expectations - the "you didn't say x, all you said was....".  The time taken up-front to insure goals are understood, and agreed to, by both the team leader and the associate saves time in behavior and task performance.  It allows for an easy "yes" or "no" when responding to the "all done?" questions in the performance appraisal process.  The goal for both you and the employee is to achieve the "good job" grade.

Are you employing SMART in your business? 

 



BENCHMARKING YOUR PERFORMANCE - 360 degree Performance Appraisals

Some topics come to me automatically and some come about because of a trigger.  The topic for this column, employee performance appraisals, was triggered by a recent UPN comedy Cuts episode.  This Generation-X comedy is about two hair salon co-managers.  They are young and this is their first foray into business.  Her dad owns the salon franchise Cuts and he lets her be a co-manager along with the original young owner of the salon.  To say they “feel their positions of power” would be an understatement. 

This particular episode began when a package was hand-delivered to the salon co-managers from headquarters (dad).  Their first “power” thought:  it’s time for us bosses to rate you workers.  The co-managers’ high-fiving, snickering and laughing came to an abrupt stop when they pulled the papers out of the envelope to discover:  the appraisal forms were for the employees to give their opinion of the co-managers.  The form asked about “all things management”.  It covered questions and asked for opinions about the manager’s work performance and how well they felt the mangers were dealing with them.  As soon as the two realized the “power was in the workers hands” their attitude and behavior changed.  It’s amazing how the “respect for the Individual” and “people are our greatest assets” vision statements really kicks in to a manager’s behavior attitude as soon as it is determined the workers would rate them on their performance as a boss.

Performance appraisals involve observing workers’ behavior and measuring that behavior in accordance with certain standards.  It is central to the staffing function.  It provides feedback needed to evaluate the effectiveness of recruitment and selection.  Lastly, it identifies individuals who are trainable and those who already have the skills to meet current and future job requirements.

Performance appraisal goals should be constructive and motivating.  They should inform employees of the performance rating for review period.  It sets targets for improvements, recognizes accomplishments, and informs employee of what is expected in the future.

An innovative approach at one of my clients was to establish a 3-D model of competency identification.  In seeking to identify the competencies required in a particular role or throughout the organization, the following 3 questions identified the process.

(1)  What activities or functions must the employee perform?

(2)  What strengths, attributes, and qualities does the effective performer

       display?    

(3)  What capabilities are important to develop?

Translating this 3-D model to a simple form and process, my client, an automotive company, uses a process asking all staff members to focus their efforts and feedback in three areas:

(1)  4 to 6 most important responsibilities and demands of the employee’s

      role

(2)  6 organizational competencies that make or break performance and

      enable focused feedback

(3)  specific actions and timing for job and professional growth.

This straightforward outline provides candid information about what is important to discuss, track and assess together (managers and employees)

As the company moves towards a best-in-practice environment (team based management and coaching), multi-source feedback, named 360 degree feedback, is a critical link in the performance management process as employees engage more and more in team, cross-functional and process-based activities, making their work largely invisible to any single source.  Three hundred sixty (360) degree performance provides a balanced, holistic view of contributions and competencies, while reducing the “my view, your view” tension often present when only team leaders and employee perspectives are involved. 

Feedback from everyone you work with provides the optimal tool for enhancing leadership and management capabilities, particularly when a company is trying to develop a more open, communicative culture.  When people receive honest, specific feedback from their bosses, colleagues, and associates, they often come to understand how their behaviors affect others – the need for change in some of those behaviors.

Organizations are taking varied approaches to transform the performance management process from an administrative burden to a business interaction that is inseparable from the work being done.  There is no magic formula for success in performance management.  The key is to harness the energy around what is important to the organization and apply it toward establishing an effective process deserving a top rating – one that “meets or exceeds expectations.”

http://educationnonpareil.webnode.com/home