A list of criticisms and suggestions for improvement aren’t worth much without a plan for accomplishing them TRUE – later this afternoon we’ll discuss the concept of SMART goals and the importance of having goals/plans when using a performance appraisal.
Individuals must have both the ability and the desire if they are to change their behaviors. TRUE – many managers assume that people have both the desire and ability to perform. Don’t assume! Always find out through face to face communication. When do people often find out that they’re not doing what’s expected of them? At the performance appraisal meeting. This is NOT the time to find this out. Communication should be ongoing, continuous in both directions.
Strong performers have no desire to change False – these individual often have a greater desire to change than your average performers. They want greater challenges to motivate them. Many strong performers, when NOT challenged, will leave to find a job where they will find challenges.
Goals of session To review the performance appraisal document and process -- We’ll review not only the current document used at AU, but also review some of the common errors that influence your ability to evaluate correctly and accurately. To prepare fair and accurate evaluations – we’ll briefly discuss some of the legal implications to evaluations, and we’ll have an exercise to see how you handle certain HR decisions. To learn to use the performance appraisal meeting as a mentoring opportunity – we’ll review just what the concept of “mentoring” means and how you can use “positive reinforcement” to motivate those who report to you To learn how to create performance plans and monitor results – we’ll review the methods and ideas for generating plans and then monitoring throughout the appraisal timeframe whether these plans are being achieved or not
Hand out a blank form to each
We all know the University mission…if Loraine Scott were here, I’d ask her to lead us in unison. Your department may or may not have a written mission. If you don’t, you may want to think about spending a department meeting creating one, it does help everyone in staying on the same page.
Overall, the performance evaluation has 4 parts… The achievements and behaviors related to indiv, dep[t and institutional performance. This section contains consistent statements for all employees, to give some measurements based on similar benchmarks. We’ll talk more about the annual performance goals, this is where the process becomes individualized. And Are the scoring summary, signatures, and comments sections
… .. This is the job specific section, look to your job descriptions, you and the employee need to have a clear understanding of what the job entails Service and respect – we all are responsible to provide good service to our coworkers, students, etc.
This section deals with the overall role within the University. Collaboration is working together across departments, Adaptability is the willingness to change to accommodate changing needs, flexibility Representative – we are ALL representing the University. We may do it in different ways at different levels. This is everything from helping direct a parent and prospective student in how to get from Eckhart to Dunham, to community involvement, to interacting with students during the day.
The form is sent to you as a blank document. You’ll want to refer to last year’s to see the goals that were set at that point. Last year we learned that the setup here was awkward. We haven’t redesigned the form at this point, we want to use the form ‘as is’ for 2 years so that we can better assess what works and what doesn’t. Don’t worry, though, about fitting goals into categories, it is the setting and monitoring that is important.
I like this saying, its easy to remember and makes sense. Specificity is important in clarifying what’s expected. What good is a goal if it cannot be measured? Action orientation helps both you and the employee understand who will do what to accomplish the goal. Realistic – “ending world hunger” is a lofty, challenging goal. But realistic? Time oriented – a goal with no finish line isn’t a goal.
If you know the plan, you can work together. I’ve never seen a year go by where my goals at the end of a 12 month period were the same as when the year started. Flexibility and collaboration are essential. When one goal goes out the window, another one will probably take its place all too quickly!
Note that these are all measurable. On the firs tone, if they had a 10% increase, they were close but didn’t meet the goal. If they had a 15% increase, they exceeded it.
No matter how much you understand your current PA document, you need to realize its very easy to unconsciously commit serious errors when filling out the form – especially when there’s any type of rating involved, like our 1-5 scale. Let’s review some of the most common errors managers commit when completing an evaluation form. Most people do this w/o even recognizing these errors are occurring. The most common include: Halo effect: when you have an overall ‘global’ impression of the indiv and this impression influences your evaluation of the key criteria. For example, I think Fred’s a great guy, so I’ll rate him positively on all criteria—ignoring the specific criteria and rating on how well you like him. Leniency/severity: these are 2 extremes of the same type error. Lenience occurs when you rate the employee as “+” on all criteria—not due to general liking. It often occurs when a sup doesn’t like to give neg feedback, they’d rather avoid dealing with consequences. It also occurs when the manager feels if all ee’s in her area are ‘above avg’, then it will reflect +ly on her mgt ability Severity is just the opposite – indiv is rated below avg on all criteria. This often happens if a manager has received a poor eval – a type of retaliation.
Before we get into the legal aspects of appraisals, we thought we’d share with you some actual quotes found in fedaral performance evaluation documents (these may explain a LOT...) and then do an exercise. * Donated his brain to science before he was done using it. * The wheel is moving but the hamster is dead ...my favorite... * This young lady suffers from delusions of adequacy * Since my last report this employee has reached rock bottem and has started to dig. Obviously, these comments are NOT recommended on the appraisal document!
Appraisals are legal documents. As you’ve just seen, having well-written appraisals can be the basis for actions that will be supported if legally challenged. Here’s a few tips...
* Focus on behavior, not the individual. ...it isn’t “Sue is lazy.” It is “sue does not complete work in a timely manner.” with appropriate examples. * Be fair -- remember appraisal errors. I’ve worked with various agency Boards over the yeras, and as an HR person on the Board, end up advising the Exec Dir on HR related issues. One director had a performance problem with an employee, and was doing her eval, from which to create a performance improvement plan. The eval was a LONG one, a laundry list specific to that job. The ED had given points from 1 though 5, no problem with central tendency! She recognized the ee’s strong points and weak points equally. THAT was a good appraisal! * Consistent/continuous feedback --appraisals should NEVER be surprises! * Document -- eg “Sue’s” performance. If it isn’t documented, it didn’t happen. * Anyone can sue these days. If you had a charge from the IDHR or EEOC, what could you bring to a fact finding? Would your documentation be as clear as the ED’s I worked with? Would you be able to show that your decisions had basis in fact?
What is a Mentor? We’re not talking about formal mentoring a found in many large organizations, but instead the type of informal mentoring that you can do with your employees. Each of you is a type of mentor to your workforce. How does it work?
A mentor * Provides coaching/encouragement -- mentors are NOT pals, they’re teachers and coaches, you provide guidance to others. * Protects protege from adverse forces -- I’m guessing it doesn’t occur at AU very often, but in many firms there are individuals waiting in the wings to “get” another ee. AS a mentor, you attempt to protect or warn your ee’s of those individuals. * Encoruage positive advancements/assignments -- mentors aren’t afraid to “let good people go” -- they encourage their movement into other areas. * Role models appropriate behaviors -- this is probably the most important thing a mentor can do -- show his or her workers the proper way to perform and act within the organizaiton. Unfortunately, with some key firms today we’ve had mentors (like Ken Lay from Enron) role model inappropriate behaviors and performance. The key to mentoring is trust, it is time consuming to build that trust, but worthwhile.
As a mentor, you need tokeep in mind the following ideas... * your role is to coach and guide, not to take over, not to give the answer even if that might be faster and easier for you. * your role is to give guidance so that itne individual can develop * In every mentoring relationship I’ve participated in, I’ve learned just as much from my mentee as they’ve stated they’ve learned from me. It is a two way street. * If you have a hiden agenda going in, get rid of it. * Mutual respect and trust are absolutely key to a successful mentoring relationship. Your role as a supervisor is to mentor your employees, and also to encourage them to seek out mentors in other areas, for example, if they need confidence speaking to groups, perhaps Toastmasters would be a good source.
I’d like to spend a little time discussing the use of positive reinforcement. As I mentioned at the beginning of the session, it tends to be human nature that we focus on the ‘negatives’ that people do, and tend to downplay the posibive behaviors and performances we see them exhibit. Positive reinforcement is a technique that’s used ot increase desirable or wanted behaviors.
There are many types of ppositive reinforces, and many of them cost little or no money. They just require a bit of effort on your part.... [LIST] You’d be amazed at how much such things as respect, a “pat on the back”, gift certificates, and so on impact an employee’s behavior. We often think that money is basically the only thing that’s important to employees, but that’s really far from the truth.
When the rewards and positive reinforcement aren’t bringing about the changes you need to see in an ee’s performance, you may need to consider a Performance plan. These are formal methods of assisting the individual ee in meeting their goals. Their objective is to provide the employees with the sturecture, tools, feedback from appropriate individuals (that’s probably you) that will enable teh ee to im0prove performance and to bettercontribute to the goals of the univeristy,
Typcal components: * sometimes all it is is a missing skill. Better understanding of EXCEL may assist Mary in completing her work on a timely basis and meeting the departmental goals. * Monitoring is essential. Remember, if it isn’t documented, it didn’t happen. * Mentoring -- sometimes someone else can click into the person’s learning better than the supervisor. We all have different learning styles, and can benefit from input from other sources. * Constant feedback, informal as well as formal meeting times will be essential tothe success of a performance plan * What did I say a minute ago? If it isn’t documented, it didn’t happen. Documentation is absolutely essential.
The procedure for a formal PIP: 1. Informan documented discussions. What I usually do is go into a discussion with a preplanned agenda, but I don’t give the person something at that point. After the discussion, I summarize what we both said, what we decided, and give the ee a copy. We agree as to whether my interpretation captures what we discussed. 2. Written performance plan with a timeframe. Timeframes differ by the complexity of the issue. The goal is to get the person back on track. 3. Final warning 15-30 days prior to the end of the timeframe if the person just isn’t cutting it. You’ll have solid documentation of your attempts to assist. 4. Termination is the result if the person can’t achieve the goals stated. Questions?