5 Responses

1. Appraisal training

   Hi Nathalie

   I have recently run an appraisal training session for a client where we helped design the form. The session was designed to give employees the understanding of the fact that it is THEIR appraisal.

   Although the session was a couple of hours, you’re welcome to the notes and there maybe something in there that you can use for your short session.

2. Appraisals

   Nathalie has a good point – one way of improving appraisal forms is to let the users design them.  Of course this all depends on the appraisal ethos of the organisation and how it links into perfromance management and the organisational culture as a whole.  Sometimes appriasal systems seem to almost run separately to PM and have no relation to the way a company really works.  

   However, if you have 15 minutes why not get everyone to have a go at appraising and/or being appriased and get them to reflect on what went well, what they hoped to achieve, what they did acheive and how the form ‘works’.  If numbers are high they can feed back in groups.  This can lead into a discussion on the purpose of appraisals, how ‘fit for purpose’ the form is, how it can be improved and barriers and drivers of the process.  You could even capture this through post it notes etc to feed back to the organisation.  If time is really tight they could be prepped before the event with the form and info and guidance on appriasing someone for the simulation, and then discussion and feedback could be by post event questionnaire or email.

   On a final note I am not sure performance reviewing or appraisals can ever be simple, and I wonder why only 15 minutes is being given to a process that can when used effectively can engage and motivate people and identify best practice and improved ways of working, but when used ineffectively can lead to fear, disengagement and even open conflict.

3. skill or will?

   Hi Nathalie

   You may have already gone past this point, (since your question is brief I’m not sure) but…..

   In my experience the single biggest real problem with performance review is not a matter of the complexity of the forms or the understanding of the detail, it is the failure to recognise the potential value (to all) of actually having an honest review of performance.  All too often managers see the review as being a "once-a-year, pain-in-the-butt" administrative exercise for the HR department, that gets in the way of doing "real" work.  This is coupled with a staff perception that the reveiw is a "once-a-year, pain-in-the-butt" opportunity for their manager to winge about everything they haven’t done right in the past 12 months and give excuses as to why any training/developement opportunities previously identified haven’t been followed up.

   In consequence managers tend to defer or minimise the reveiw activity to the great releif of their staff, ergo it doesn’t work.  Where reviews generate development plans they are often forgotten about until the forms are dragged out 11 months later; plan not executed~credibility of manager and process destroyed*.

   It may be better to spend the time (BTW I agree that 15 minutes may indicate a lack of belief in the value of the review!) getting the staff to recognise the value of having a meaningful performance review that then remains alive all year…..I have done this by the simple expedient of getting groups of staff to brainstorm the "benefits of effective performance management" to the client/the organisation/a manager and me.  I then get them to brainstorm all the barriers (the reasons you hear to explain why it hasn’t been done effectively)….then get them to assess each of the barriers against the criteria "Could I change that if I gave a hoot?"…..90% of the barriers then show up as excuses.

   I hope this helps

   Rus

   http://www.coach-and-courses.com

   http://www.forheavenscake.co.uk (for when you want a reward for the performance!)

   * for example one person told me that they had had the same training requirement on their PDR for 7 years in a row…it was never addressed! Credibility of manager and PDR process; zero!

4. Performance Assessment

   — QED Training qedworks.com

    

   Colleagues have given you excellent advice. 15 minutes in isolation is just too short. I assume there will be some on going activity thereafter?

   You might like to build on the "design your own" system or framework suggested by carrying out a performance assessment of the performance assessment scheme.This consultative quality assurance mechanism if acted upon promptly can often engender a real sense of ownership

   Regards

    

   Dominic

5. 15 mins?

   If you are serious about this then you would need a lot longer than 15 mins.

   I recently ran a series of PM training in a large company, training first of all their managers, 90 of them.  Then another series of workshops for the staff, 400 of them.  This was done in half day workshops but then backed up with some e-learning that I wrote.  The e-learning and the training materials I have written for them as now gone global.

   You will never get buy in with just 15 mins.  People need to know what’s in it for them before they can start to accept how, what is largely considered extra work to do, is going to be the best for them and the company.

   15 mins says the company is not serious about this and that they truly do not understand the PM process at all.