This document discusses appraisal schemes and provides 7 features that should be incorporated to avoid bureaucratic pitfalls and ensure appraisals are effective. The key points are: 1) Keep appraisal schemes simple, focused on improved performance, and easy to understand. 2) Use a two-way process that gives equal weight to the views of the appraiser and appraisee. 3) Design schemes to gather objective facts about performance from multiple stakeholders, rather than making unfair judgments. 4) Focus on what employees do well and enjoy doing to bring out their strengths.

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MTL: The Professional Development Programme
Appraisal Schemes
APPRAISAL SCHEMES
People first, paperwork second
Slide Topics: The Professional Development Programme

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Appraisal Schemes
Attribution: All images are from sources where a Creative Commons license exists for commercial use. All icons are on subscription
from thenounproject. All clipart is from free sources. The MTL Professional Development Programme is copyright of Manage Train
Learn.
Appraisal
Schemes
Introduction: One To carry out appraisals for each person in your team, you'll need to operate
some kind of scheme. Often, however, the mechanics of the scheme get in the way of the
purpose of appraisal, which is always the development of your staff. To avoid the bureaucratic
pitfalls of appraisal, incorporate the 7 features in this topic into your appraisal schemes.

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Appraisal Schemes
1. KEEP
APPRAISALS
SIMPLE
Aim for your appraisal scheme to support the
appraisal process. That means keeping it as
simple and focused as possible. Don't make it too
detailed and hard to understand. Don't make it
too rigid. And don't use it for purposes that have
nothing to do with improved personal
performance, such as succession planning. Aim
for schemes that you and your appraisees
understand and can use easily.
Oh, right, it’s easier than I thought
Flickr attribution: /53584291@N03/6882958489/

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Appraisal Schemes
2. USE A 2-
WAY
PROCESS
Appraisal works best when it is a 2-way process,
with you helping the appraisee to have the
greater input. Your appraisal scheme should,
therefore, be designed to give at least as much
weight to the views of your appraisee as your's
or anyone else's.
Work together for better performance
Flickr attribution: /playamongfriends/9088956960/

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Appraisal is a Two-Way Process and Responsibility
To be truly effective, appraisals need to be a
meeting of minds between the appraiser and the
appraisee. A good appraisal scheme is likely to
have an equal amount of input from both sides.
This could be a review by the employee followed
by a review by the manager; a self-assessment by
the employee followed by a self-assessment by
the manager; or an exchange of views about
future plans based on an equal amount of
listening and talking.
A meeting of minds is essential if appraisal is
going to work. Robert Maddux in his book
"Effective Performance Appraisals" argues that up
to 50% of performance problems are due to
managers not making things clear and employees
not understanding what's needed.
"Oh, I see, if I'd known you wanted that, instead of this, I'd have done it
differently."

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3. GATHER
INFORMATION
Nothing turns people off appraisal as much as
unfair or inaccurate judgments. Judging implies
condemnation. Don't use your scheme to
condemn people or you will get exactly what you
don't want: people who are demoralised and
demotivated. Instead, design your scheme to
look at the objective facts of someone's
performance.
Get facts and opinions from all stakeholders
Flickr attribution: /jamesjordan/3340555023/

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4. FOCUS ON
WHAT
PEOPLE DO
WELL
The secret to improved performance is to find
out what people do well and enjoy doing. That
means using the appraisal scheme to find out
what people are good at, love doing, and will do
again and again without prompting. If your
scheme helps you do this, it is halfway to
success. Working on people's strengths is the key
to the future. When your appraisal scheme is
one that is focused on bringing out the best in
people, and conducted in a spirit of helping them
do this, then nobody dreads the scheme.
Instead, they positively contribute to it.
Focus on good work and you’ll get more of it
Flickr attribution: /familymwr/4395811888/

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5. LOOK
AHEAD NOT
BACK
Although the starting point for all appraisal is
looking back at past performance, the ending
point is looking ahead. Research has found that
the most successful appraisers are those who
spend only a relatively short time going over the
past and much more time discussing the future.
You can even use appraisal to talk through a
future work project and suggest how the
appraisee can incorporate their good points to
make it a success.
Good appraisers concentrate on the future not the past
Flickr attribution: /mateusd/10675126044/

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How to be an ExpertAppraiser
A team of industrial psychologists led by Neil Rackham recorded on tape a wide range of appraisal interviews
carried out by various managers. They then grouped the managers according to whether their staff had made
changes of a higher quality in the way they did their jobs as a result of the appraisals. Those managers whose staff
made significantly more changes were classed as "expert appraisers" while those whose staff made fewer changes
were classed as "average appraisers". Two distinct differences emerged between the expert appraisers and the
average appraisers...
1. Expert Appraisers
Expert appraisers spend more time focusing on
the employee’s good performance and on the
future.
2. Average Appraisers
Average appraisers spend more time focusing on
the employee’s poor performance and on the past.

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6. DO
APPRAISAL
REGULARLY
Appraisal schemes should not appear out of the
blue as an interruption to the work of your team.
They should be part and parcel of your overall
performance management strategy. This means
that they should tie in with other ingredients of
performance, such as daily feedback, training
plans, and personal counselling.
Tie in formal appraisal with informal feedback
Flickr attribution: /bergie/984720710/

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7. PUT THE
SCHEME
TOGETHER
Now that you have the groundrules for an
effective appraisal scheme, you can put your
scheme together, (or revise it if you are already
operating a scheme). One way to do this is to
design the scheme around the 5 W's and 1 H.
The 5 W's are: Why?, What?, Who?, Where?,
and When?. The 1 H is How?
Make your appraisal scheme a valued exercise
Flickr attribution: /dvanhorn/3955280347/

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This has been a Slide Topic from Manage Train Learn
AFinal
Word
People often dread appraisal schemes, perhaps because they don't understand or trust them. If
you follow these 7 principles, you'll be able to replace that dread with a willingness to see the
scheme for what it is, a chance for your team to excel.