performance appraisal Archives

Posted on September 6, 2019 by Wifi Attendance Super Admin

Management – the term in itself speaks of a tremendous burden of responsibilities that may not be suitable for a normal professional.

This phenomenon requires one to assemble a successful team and regulate their operations for higher productivity.

Management applies to all businesses, no matter if it is small or big. That is why, it is of high significance.

But, here’s the catch:

A business cannot flourish without the role of an effective manager to guide the team. If you are responsible for managing a team of your own at your company, then this post will help you with the right strategies for effective business management.

1. Be An Effective Delegate

Management is all about administering various responsibilities upon your team members, progressively. This is the first rule that you need to keep in mind while managing your team.

Delegation opens new ways of polishing the skills of your employees. If you keep on doing every member’s job yourself at your company, then it would not be productive. Eventually, you will exhaust yourself.

Learn to manage the team by assigning the tasks properly based on their skills. Try to provide each team professional with a task that he or she can complete with confidence and passion.

If two or more members have the same skills for a project, then you can team them up to complete the task at a much faster rate. That is how you should strategize your management decisions.

2. Be A Team Leader

A leader acts as the fuel to ignite flames within the team members. With a leader-cum-manager’s inspiration, the subordinates will be motivated to complete assigned tasks with a new sense of responsibility.

Try to understand and know each of your subordinates individually. You do not have to be too personal while conversing with them, but do maintain a healthy relationship to show them that you are interested in speaking to them.

Your team members will understand how you are making effort to create a connection with them. They will feel motivated to follow your plans.

3. Show Productivity

As a manager at your firm, you are bound to show results, right? But, without an effort, you may never achieve the level of an effective business manager. So, to deal with the situation:

Focus on managing your tasks.
Get out of your comfort zone to understand how you can benefit your company in a better way.
Plan your moves for assigning projects skillfully so that you know how the output should turn out.
Be aware of the pros and cons related to the tasks as well. You may never know what issue hits you while a project is in progress, such as team members on sick leave, reduction in project deadlines, etc.

Your commitment to achieve excellence in your work will reward you as an effective business manager.

4. Don’t Be Reckless With Your Decisions

A manager also needs to be aware of making careful decisions. Time comes when there is a need to decide whether you are taking up a responsibility or not. If you can handle it, say YES. But, if you cannot do it, and are already packed with work, then just say NO.

Here’s why it is important:

Imagine a situation where you have 3-4 projects under you. Your senior asks a team of managers, including you, to volunteer taking another project. Just to stay in your senior’s good books, you volunteer to take another project.

You got the project but at the cost of loading another layer of pressure upon you and your team. And, later you may realize that you do not even have a relevant team to accomplish the new project.

This will make your team feel frustrated. So, be careful what you decide about various situations while answering as an effective manager.

5. Consider The Opinions Of Your Team Members

Asking for suggestions and opinions from your team members can help to show them that you care for their views too. Surely, there are multiple ways to complete a task.

You may have your own way to do it. But, it is possible that some of your team members are also having their own suggestions to speed up the work efficiently. Thus:

Freely ask them what are their suggestions related to a specific task.
Involve them in the project at a similar level as you.
Act as a colleague working together, instead of just being a stubborn boss.
Generate their interest in the project by caring to know what they have to say about it.

This strategies for Effective Performance Management will help you raise awareness for the project and help your team perform better under your guidance and leadership.

6. Personalize Training Methods To Improve Your Team’s Performance

A good level of professional exercise can improve the skills of your team. For this, you need to first understand what level of skills each of your team members have in them.

Learn about their ideas, fears, weaknesses, and strengths. Based on your collected data, create various training methods that can improve their productivity at the office.

You may need to show some efforts here, as each of your team members may not be fit for the same training method. Learn to personalize the training programs so that they can feel motivated to perform in the training at their own pace.

7. Be Transparent With Your Team

You will undoubtedly look for honesty and a submissive nature from your employees. But, maintaining a prudent level of transparency will also ask of you to do the same for them first. Being transparent to your team will ensure a strong relationship of trust between you and your team.

Remember that you are at a higher position than them, so your management should be fair for all members. Plus, you should never lie to them about any professional situation. Your employees may fail to respect you if you are not indulging in an honest conversation with them.

With your efforts of transparency and corporate companionship, your team will learn to be true to you as well. So, learn to be transparent with them and win their hearts.

8. Reward The Ones Who Deserve Recognition

Every now and then, you will have to acknowledge the hard work done by your employees.

Rewarding them for their efforts will ensure that they have the motivation to work even harder for you. Their attitude towards you will also be appreciative.

You can choose from a multitude of options to acknowledge their performance, like offering a bonus or a promotion. Never do this while they are with you in your cabin privately.

Do it openly in front of other team members so that they can also witness the fruits of hard work. It can encourage them to work at a similar or better pace to complete their tasks and improve their performance.

9. Clarify The Goals Before Assigning A Project To Your Team

As a manager, your team relies on your judgment. Thus, it is your responsibility to make sure that all goals related to a project are clear to them. Note that each team member may have a different level of intellect.

You want your team members to know how you envision a goal for a project. But, it is possible that they are not on the same page as you. So, make them aware of it first. After that, assign them the project section that they need to accomplish to achieve high productivity.

10. Carry Regular Evaluations To Judge The Skills Of Your Employees

You need to evaluate their skills and see how team members are progressing with each day. Learn their strengths and weaknesses to see where they are lacking and where they are excelling.

Prepare the trainings as mentioned in one of the previous strategies for Effective Performance Management. Learning how they will indulge in the tasks is important for effective business management.

Final Notes:

Being an effective business manager involves a number of key strategies. The ones mentioned above are some of the main ones that you ought to consider for becoming a good business manager. Follow them and be successful in your career.

Posted on June 11, 2019 by Wifi Attendance Super Admin

What is performance appraisal?

A performance appraisal is the regular review of an employee’s performance in the organization.

Most companies conduct a yearly appraisal programme due to which the appraisal programme is also called as an annual appraisal; apart from the other terms such as performance review, employee appraisal, etc.,

There are few companies that conduct the performance appraisal on a half-yearly basis too.

Organizations use performance appraisal programme to analyse an employee’s performance throughout the current cycle.

Apart from feedback, they also discuss the renewed pay structure for the year, an extension of the agreement, termination of the employees are also topics of discussion during the performance appraisal.

Promotions and internal job postings are other matters that are looked into during the performance appraisal. This is the time most managers look at moving the right employee for the right job.

Employees usually improve their skills throughout the year in hopes of a promotion or moving to a different project they have eyes on. Performance appraisal is the time employees discuss their future plans with their managers at length.

What happens during a performance appraisal?

We looked at what a performance appraisal is. Let us understand what purpose a performance appraisal serves to the employer and the employee and what happens during a performance cycle.

The most basic purpose of a performance appraisal is for the organization to analyse an employee’s worth and contributions they made to the organization. Various factors such as attendance, efficiency, attitude, quality of work, amount of work, etc.,

Collecting and analysing this information is easier said than done. Numbers are easy to access. There are different teams within the organization that will keep track of an employee’s performance that can be accountable through data.

Absenteeism, quality and quantity of the work completed throughout the appraisal cycle, etc., are some of the measurable data by the Human Resource or project manager.

However, criteria such as attitude, willingness to work, etc., comes into the picture. It is, however, the project manager’s job to analyse an employee’s behaviour on the production floor to get an idea about these parameters.

Performance appraisal cannot only be about the numbers. Numbers and behaviour go hand in hand. Only then will the employee be the right choice for the organization.

There are various methods through which employers evaluate the performance of an employee. All evaluation methods fall into two categories:

1. Traditional methods

Traditional methods emphasise on the assessment of the employee’s personality traits such as Initiative, Dependability, Creativity, Integrity, Intelligence, etc.

Types of traditional methods include:

Ranking Method
Checklist
Forced Choice
Forced Distribution
Critical Incidents
Behaviourally Anchored Rating Scale
Field Review
Performance Tests and Observations
Confidential Reports
Assay Method
Cost Accounting Method
Comparative Evaluation Approaches

2. Modern methods

Modern methods emphasise on the evaluation of the work results shown by the employee.

Types of modern methods include:

Management by Objectives
Psychological Appraisals
Assessment Centres
360-Degree Feedback
720-Degree Feedback

Irrespective of the methodology used to evaluate performance appraisal, there are mandatory components that are a part of the performance appraisal. They are:

1. Define expectations

At the beginning of a performance cycle, it is essential for the reporting manager to sit with the employee and prepare a criteria chart.

This will explain what is expected off the employee for the complete performance cycle.

Doing this will ensure that the employee and manager are on terms with the expectations set, and there are no discrepancies during the performance appraisal discussion.

2. Measure and evaluate

Now that we know what a manager expects from the employee, it is the manager’s task to periodically measure the employee’s performance on the basis of the criteria set.

Once there is actual data, it is easier for the manager to evaluate the employee’s progress.

3. Provide feedback

Provide feedback based on the evaluation made throughout the year. Positive and Negative items need to be discussed at length during these sessions.

It is necessary for managers to provide constant feedback throughout the year so that the employee has a chance to make amends to their working method.

The feedback will hit as a surprise to the employee if it comes to them only once a year.

It is necessary for managers to provide constant feedback throughout the year so that the employee has a chance to make amends to their working method.

The feedback will hit as a surprise to the employee if it comes to them only once a year.

4. Record performance

No companies do manual performance appraisal now. Those were the cavemen times. All appraisal proceedings are done in a strategic, automated method.

Once the feedback session is successfully completed, managers need to record the employee performance on the internal portal to complete the automated performance appraisal procedure.

Once the 4^th step is completed, the process returns to the next performance appraisal cycle by initiating the 1^st step again, and then flow continues.

Advantages of a Performance Appraisal

Allow us to take you through some of the significant benefits of having a systematic and fair performance appraisal procedure in place.

1. Having a systematic performance appraisal procedure in place helps the manager to evaluate the employee’s performance throughout the year. This will clearly show the strengths and weakness of the employee and their areas of interests.

2. Gathering employee information will also help managers in understanding the progression possibilities of the employee.The Right employee for the right job can be identified through this process.

3. Managers can also create training plans for the employees to help them enhance the skills they lack.

4. By sharing feedback based on the data gathered, managers will enable employees to understand their strengths and shortcomings. Manager’s constructive criticism will encourage employees to work harder to improve their performance.

5. Employees with potential are promoted or moved to a programme that best suits their profile. This works as an excellent motivator for the employees and will boostthem towards maintaining their current performance, if not improve it.

6. The appraisal is also where managers analyse if the training programmes and feedbacks shared with the employee have been put to effect. It shows if the employee has actually improved post training or feedback or let them fly in the air.

7. There are also chances that the training and feedback programmes are not as effective as they need to be. Managers and initiate changes in the training programmes and feedback style to make them more acceptable by employees.

8. Appraisal creates healthy competition among employees and this will, in turn, work as a motivator for the employees.

9. Managers are also known to use appraisal programmes to understand employee’s mental health and personal grievances. Manager can act on the grievances and make possible changes to accommodate the employee’s well-being.

10. The records maintained for performance appraisal will also show the managers which employee has had a steady or improving performance rate and which employee has a continuously deteriorating performance rate. This will help managers in preparing an appropriate further course of action for all employees.

11. Performance appraisal data will also work to provide insight into the hiring process of the organization. Managers understand if the existing hiring process is capable of recruiting candidates with the skill set the programme requires and make amends to the process if needed.

Things that could lead to a negative impact on performance review discussion

1. Nobody likes it when someone shouts at them when something goes wrong. So, when managers share feedback, it is crucial for them to keep this in mind. Feedback should be shared in the form of constructive criticism; only then will employees want to work on the inputs shared.

2. There are chances of employees losing their jobs after an appraisal review meeting. If an employee shows no improvement or shows no intent to work on the feedback shared, the organization has the authority to terminate the employee. Employees could also be transferred to a different programme or demoted too.

3. Managers need to ensure that the numbers recorded in the employee’s performance data are accurate. Employees will find out if the numbers are forged or not recorded appropriately, and this would lead to major legal consequences to the manager and the organization.

4. The criteria set for an employee’s performance appraisal need to be relevant to their work profile. It is not possible for employees to work towards criteria that areirrelevant or not useful. This will lead to employee dissatisfaction and escalations.

5. Managers need to ensure that weightage is equally distributed among the vital factors. Giving more weightage to factors that are not crucial to the programme does not make any sense.

6. There is no scientific method to gauge factors such as Attitude, Willingness to learn, Initiative taken, etc. Managers find it difficult to provide justification to employees about the reason they provided the scoring.

7. There are instances where the managers are not adequately qualified to evaluate the employees and their capabilities. This leads to them making mistakes in the evaluation process. Such mistakes could gravely affect the successful growth of the employee.

So, here is a brief introduction to Performance Appraisal. Hope you have received a clear perspective of what it is.