The Metiss Group's Blog

 

It’s the time of the year for many organizations to schedule annual performance appraisals for all employees.

There are many reasons we suggest having your direct reports complete a self-appraisal, but perhaps the most important is to allow sufficient time for you both to discuss the truly important items.  If you both complete the appraisal, and exchange copies a day or two in advance, you can both digest the comments and identify the areas in which your perceptions differ the most. 

After general conversation about the overall performance, you can then lead the discussion into those areas.  Example: “Jim, I believe your overall performance for the last quarter/year was strong, generally meeting all the success factors of your accountabilities and meeting your commitments on quarterly goals. After reviewing your self-appraisal, I realized there were a couple of areas we seemed to have a difference of opinion, let’s talk about those.”

If you begin at the top of a form, you may not have sufficient time to discuss the areas of greatest value, or end up splitting hairs over insignificant issues for which there is a general consensus; this allows sufficient time for the truly important items.

Empower your direct reports by allowing sufficient time to discuss performance review discrepancies.