Article published in Business Success

How to get the most out of people who work for you

By Christina Osborne, Chief Executive of Business Solutions

Initial Concerns
Benefits of appraisal
Skills and techniques of appraisal
The sequence for an appraisal
Setting targets
Encouraging Initiative

Introducing a system of regularly appraising employees' performance builds better teams, explains Christina Osborne of Business Solutions.

If the people that work for you are not performing in the way you would like, what can you do about it? The answer is relatively straightforward: be clear about what you expect from them and give them honest feedback on how they are doing. Imagine you are blindfolded and trying to throw a dart into the bullseye. If no one told you where the dartboard was, the odds of a miss would be high. If someone gave you feedback about how near or far each throw was from the target, the chances are you would eventually gain a winning score.

By being clear on the contribution you expect from every member of your team and giving feedback on how near or far they are from the target, you can grow a team of high performers. The problem in business is that this type of feedback is not given enough. Getting things done takes priority over discussions on people’s performance and roles. If this describes the situation in your business, the time is right to introduce a system of regular appraisals.

Appraisal is a more formal way of discussing with an employee their role, their performance to date and objectives for the future. A specific time is set aside for a two-way discussion that reviews the employee’s specific role in the business, their performance in fulfilling that role and their aims and objectives for the coming months. Between appraisal meetings, you can also review progress on these objectives informally.

Initial Concerns

Letting someone you work with know what you think of their performance takes courage. You might have concerns about whether the working relationship will be the same after the appraisal session and whether the feedback will achieve the desired result. As the appraisal is a two-way process, it may occur to you that opening yourself up to feedback is a brave move. Giving honest feedback will include discussion of what is going well and what is not going so well. The good news is easier to give but the challenge is to give both sorts of feedback constructively.

As managers we get the employees we deserve. Being good at giving both sorts of feedback is the only basis for an honest and open working relationship. The main aim of appraisal is to motivate your employees to perform well and develop their potential to develop your business.

Benefits of appraisal

Continuously improved performance
Increased willingness to change
Greater customer satisfaction
Individual targets in line with organisational goals
Sustained motivation and commitment
Getting more out of people
Raised standards and higher quality
People feel involved in what they are doing
More ideas generated
The organisation learns from disappointments and successes

The feedback you will get from staff on motivational appraisals and the results gained from greater clarity on expectations will motivate you to repeat the experience. The ‘formal’ appraisal session may take between 1 and 1½ hours once or twice a year. You will need to prepare beforehand for perhaps an hour. You may want to review informally the action points agreed at appraisal more frequently than that.

Skills and techniques of appraisal

The key skill is listening – without interrupting or missing the point as you think about your next meeting. Appraisal is designated time for a team member and an opportunity for you to understand their perspective. The best way to find out what someone is thinking or feeling is to ask them.

Questioning skills – especially using ‘open’ questions that allow the other person to do most of the talking – are important.

Open questions begin with What? Who? How? When? Which? Why? The best way to start a sentence is with What….? – asking rather than telling the other person what to think. Open questions, such as What went well? and What have we learned? encourage your team member to think about the answer. You can achieve the ideal ratio for appraisals of 80% (your team member talks) to 20% (you talk) if you have planned a few open questions beforehand.

Giving feedback is most successful if it is specific. Praise will be much more effective if you specify exactly what you appreciate most. For example: Our client found the report you produced with diagrams and graphs very helpful in explaining the market. At an appraisal you are always looking to praise what you want your employees to repeat.

When you praise someone for something they have done well ask them How did you do that? This gives them an opportunity to tell how they overcame a difficult challenge or achieved a good result. In effect, they have then praised themselves again for a job well done. You might also gather some ideas together for how to replicate this in other areas.

Body language is important too. Attentive posture and eye contact with encouraging nods from time to time will help to build the working relationship between you. Make sure that the chairs and desks are conducive to a constructive and open meeting and that the appraisal will not be interrupted.

Self-assessment is a good principle as it helps an individual to see where there might be a gap between their own and someone else’s perception. A few self-assessment questions suggested to an appraisee in advance of the appraisal will help to prepare their thoughts beforehand, It also helps ownership of the results of appraisal because many of the suggestions will have come from the appraisee’s self-assessment.

The sequence for an appraisal

Brief introduction on the purpose of appraisal and benefits
Agree an agenda which takes into account the most important points you have both prepared
Discuss and agree the situation and any actions on each objective in turn
Ask the appraisee to write down actions and agreements
Ask the appraisee to summarise what you have agreed
Follow-up afterwards to ensure what was agreed actually happens

Setting targets

A key purpose of appraisals it to communicate clearly what is expected from an employee. Encourage them to come up with their own ideas as to what they should accept as a challenge, They will be more committed to the outcome that way Surprisingly, rather than taking the easy option your team member is more likely to set themselves a bigger challenge than you had in mind. Make sure that performance is measurable to give your team member a sense of achievement when the objective is met or exceeded. Set objectives that are SMART:

Specific (within the control of the appraisee and clearly written)
Measurable (in terms of quantity/percentage/£)
Agreed
Realistic (stretching but achievable)
Timely (specify when)

Encouraging Initiative

Concentrate on the what rather than the how. Make it clear that you expect your team member to use his or her own initiative. If you focus your discussion on what you would like your team member to achieve rather than how he or she should go about it, this indicates that you have faith in your appraisee’s ability to decide how to tackle the task. By setting agreed milestones to review progress, you avoid the need to continually ask for updates. In the meantime, your team member is having to think how best to approach the task or project and is learning for next time. Your challenge as their manager is not to interfere in the meantime. At the next review meeting, praise your team member for visible signs of progress in the right direction. Thank you and well done are highly motivational!

Christina Osborne is author of Appraising Staff, published by Dorling Kindersley ISBN 0-7513-2084-6. You can buy the book through Business Solutions’ website, or email christinaosborne@bsol.co.uk