What Is Appraisal?

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MTL: The Professional Development Programme
What Is Appraisal?
WHAT IS APPRAISAL?
Helping others achieve their best

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What Is Appraisal?
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.
What Is
Appraisal?
Introduction: If you are a manager, one of your primary objectives is to get the best
performance you can out of your staff. To do that, you will manage your staff on a
day to day basis using the policies and procedures of your organisation. You will also
have to manage their performance through a process of individual review and
planning, in other words, appraisal.

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What Is Appraisal?
What Exactly IsAppraisal?
Definition 01:
Appraisal means measuring
performance against expectations
over time. The dictionary definition
of "appraisal" is "to estimate the
amount or worth of".
Definition 03:
"...an opportunity to take an overall
view of work content, loads and
volume, to look back on what has
been achieved during the reporting
period and agree objectives for the
next." (ACAS)
Definition 02:
"...an opportunity for
communication between the person
who assigns work and the person
who performs it, to discuss what
they expect from each other and
how well these expectations are
being met." (Robert Maddux)

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What Is Appraisal?
1. RE-STATE
THE KEY
AREAS
The appraisal is a chance to meet with your
appraisee and re-confirm what their job is all
about. Do this by re-stating the key areas where
the job contributes to the aims of the business.
That way, your appraisee sees the link between
what they do and the success of the enterprise.
Example: For a manager, Key Result Areas might
be: Production; Quality; Costs; Safety; Staff. For
an engineer, they might be Repair; Maintenance;
Installation; Improvements.
Appraisal is like a job interview update
Flickr attribution: /76657755@N04/8125987596/

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What Is Appraisal?
Key ResultAreas
Appraisals give managers and employees the
chance to re-state the key result areas of their
job. These are, quite simply, what people are paid
for. For a manager, they might be: Production;
Quality; Costs; Safety; Staff. For an engineer, they
might be Repair; Maintenance; Installation;
Improvements.
In times of change, key result areas may change.
The appraisal is a way to discuss and re-negotiate
what the key areas should be and could lead to
changes in the contract of employment itself.
An appraisal is like the follow-up to a recruitment
interview. Just as the recruitment interview at
the start of employment looks at the key areas of
a job and the person's skills in these areas, so the
appraisal at regular intervals throughout
employment looks at how key areas have
changed and whether the employee's skills need
to change with them.

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What Is Appraisal?
2. REVIEW
WORK DONE
Use your meeting with your appraisee to look
back on how the appraisee performed in the
recent past. Don't do this to criticise or find fault,
but to explore what areas are blocking optimum
performance. Use the past to improve the future.
The management author, Professor Theodore
"Hal" Leavitt, of Chicago University, says that
performance improves in relation to the amount
and accuracy of feedback received, whether
good or bad. When you don't know how well
you're doing, you often assume the worst, your
confidence drops and down goes your
performance.
Review is a key step in any improvement plan
Flickr attribution: /oerafrica/8102255295/

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What Is Appraisal?
AReview of Work Done
Review is an essential, though often overlooked,
step in the management process.
If, at stage one in the management process, we
set goals and expectations, at stage two we
organise and plan and at stage three, we take
action, then at stage four, after action, we need
to review, assess, think, take stock, see what
happened, look at results, learn, consider, weigh
up, appraise.
Taking time out to review past performance is a
necessary step in making plans for the future.
Instead of continuing as before, review enables
us to stop, think and re-assess. It should be part
of any management process.
1. Set goals
and
expectations
2. Organise
and
plan
3. Act
and complete
4.Take stock
and
review
An Overview of the Management
Process

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What Is Appraisal?
3. SHARE
INFORMATION
In the appraisal, find opportunities to share
information that you think will help your
appraisee work better. You are likely to have a
different view of things from your appraisee.
Sharing your perspective with theirs may help
them understand things better and help them
make important changes to the way they work.
Appraisals that are timed to fit in with the
organisation's business cycle can use the
appraisal to tell employees about the big picture
of where the organisation is, upcoming changes,
opportunities for growth, and plans that affect
the employee.
You can use appraisal to share new information
Flickr attribution: /itupictures/16272568265/

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What Is Appraisal?
Sharing Ideas is a Way
of Being “In” On
Things
In a survey on effective motivation published by
1000 Ventures, one of the top items that individuals
want in the workplace is the ability to be ‘in’ on
things. This was rated 9 on a scale of 1 to 10, with
10 being the highest.
Managers ranked this item as 1!
This is a large chasm in understanding.
The quickest way to satisfy the need to be “in” on
things is to share information. In organisations
which still believe that knowledge is power, anyone
with information that can help others do their job
better are likely to hoard that information out of
fear that others will then be as powerful as them.
In organisations which believe in helping others
perform out of their socks, any information that will
help them is freely and generously given. In return,
employees feel they are thought-about, respected,
and an essential part of the inner circle. Freely and
generously sharing know-how, expertise, and ideas
is not only beneficial for employees; it’s a smart way
of doing business.

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What Is Appraisal?
4. RECOGNISE
GOOD WORK
Let your appraisees know that you appreciate
good work, particularly where it has not been
formally recognised before. This includes work
done to meet deadlines, work done at short
notice, work done to help others out. Remember
that what you appreciate, you get more of. Use
appraisal to praise, thank, and encourage.
Appraisals are a good time to recognize the
“quiet heroes” on your team. These are the
people you don’t usually notice because they
just get on with the job without complaint or
boasting.
Always appreciate it when people do a good job
Flickr attribution: /dvids/3662912609/

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What Is Appraisal?
In "Business as a Game", Albert Carr relates one
way in which a chief executive discovered the
quiet heroes on her team.
"I sent out a memo to all twelve of our team
about our stock participation plan only for my
secretary Martha to inform me an hour later that
there was a printing error on the memo showing
the stock value at £100,000 instead of £10,000.
I was about to send out a correction when one of
my senior people came to see me on another
matter and didn't even mention the error even
though he had received the note. That gave me
an idea. I decided to leave it for a while and see
what happened.
Well, you know, only three people responded.
One wrote a rude memo blaming Martha; one
sent me a formal note making a big deal of it;
and the other was the lady who quietly had a
word in Martha's ear. By the way, that lady's now
my personal assistant."
NoFuss

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What Is Appraisal?
5. GET
FEEDBACK
Feedback is a view on how well the appraisee is
doing. You can give feedback on someone's
performance if you know the job well enough.
You can also get feedback from others, such as
customers, trainers, and teammates. But the
most important kind of feedback is the
appraisee's own views about how they are doing.
The best appraisers are those who can give
positive feedback without embarrassing people
and negative feedback without making people
feel bad.
Build the skills databank by giving feedback
Flickr attribution: /islandgyrl/6976499974/

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What Is Appraisal?
UseAppraisal to Gain Greater Self-Awareness
Greater self-awareness on the part of
employees can be a valuable side-
product of the appraisal process. It has
the value of developing self-esteem,
confidence and enhanced self-belief.
These in turn mean that employees are
willing to do more, become responsible
for what they do, and move into areas of
higher risk.
Use appraisal to re-assess what you want to do with your life
Put together, the two factors of feedback and insight are the
foundations of powerful development work.
Self-awareness depends on two factors
which are present at appraisal:
feedback from someone who can
assess our work in a constructive non-
critical way
insight by ourselves into what we
enjoy doing, what we think we are
good at and not so good at, what we
are better at than others.

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What Is Appraisal?
Performance Depends on Knowing the Score
The management author, Professor
Theodore "Hal" Leavitt, of Chicago
University, says that performance
improves in relation to the amount
and accuracy of feedback received,
whether good or bad. When you
don't know how well you're doing,
you often assume the worst, your
confidence drops and down goes
your performance.
In one renowned experiment into
the effect of feedback on
performance, Gage asked 3600
school-children to assess their
teachers on a 12-point rating scale.
When the teachers saw the results,
they improved on 10 of the 12
scales.
"The golfer who doesn't count his shots is only there for the
walk."

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What Is Appraisal?
6. YOU AND
YOUR BOSS
The boss-subordinate relationship is one of the
most important relationships at work. It is the
key relationship in improving performance.
Unfortunately, most people don't meet with
their boss on a one-to-one basis very often. The
appraisal process is a good chance to improve
the relationship and share views, suggestions,
hopes, and dreams. The boss relationship has
sometimes been compared to that of parent and
offspring. Sometimes we look on the boss as a
maternal figure, there to look after us.
Sometimes we look on the boss as a father
figure, to be admired, challenged and defied.
Sometimes we look on the boss as an equal, with
whom there is mutual respect and partnership.
Enhance your relationship with your boss
Flickr attribution: /akumar/3180900835/

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What Is Appraisal?
WhoAre Your Quiet Heroes?
Appraisals are not just about dealing with people problems; they should also be about recognising,
thanking and celebrating the "quiet heroes". To find your quiet heroes, ask yourself...
1
Who is rarely absent?
2
Who always says “Yes"?
3
Who enjoys pressure?
4
Who delivers on time?
5
Who takes up the slack?
6
Who is always cheerful?
7
Who is so unassuming
you forget they're there?
8
Who quietly lends others
a hand?
9
Who smooths conflicts
and builds morale?
10
Who carries on when the
boss is not around?
11
Who shuns the limelight?
12
Who never takes the
credit?

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What Is Appraisal?
Dumbeldore’sAppraisal at the End of Harry’s FirstYear
At the end of the first book in the Harry Potter series,
"The Philosopher's Stone", by J K Rowling, Harry and his
friends have battled the evil Voldemort and saved the day
despite the intervention of Neville Longbottom to prevent
them harming themselves.
At the last school assembly, headmaster Albus
Dumbledore, announces the scores for the House Cup
with Gryffindor on 312 and Slytherin on 472.
However, in view of Harry, Ron, and Hermione's triumph,
he announces some late scores:
1. 50 points for Ron for "the best-played game of chess
in many years“
2. 50 points for Hermione for cool logic
3. 60 points for Harry for pure nerve and courage.
And, "because it takes a great deal of courage to stand up
to our enemies but a great deal more to stand up to our
friends", 10 points to Neville Longbottom.
Which means that, with those 10 points, Gryffindor wins
the House Cup!

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What Is Appraisal?
WhyAppraisal IsYour
Chance to Thank the Quiet
Heroes
Former US President Bill Clinton once ended a
speech to a 6,000-member audience with an
exhortation to “see more people.” This preceded
his reference to all the people who do the clean-
up work behind the scenes after the audience
leaves. Do we give a thought to the people who
are unnoticed in our organizations, those who
quietly work in the background?
“See more
people."

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What Is Appraisal?
7. AGREE
FUTURE
PLANS
All appraisals involve a process aimed at
improved performance. The outcome of all
appraisals is therefore a future action plan which
you and your appraisees can both agree. A plan
is, however, not enough. What you also want at
the end of appraisal are employees who are
excited about the future and fully committed to
the future direction of their work.
The stepping stones for future performance
Flickr attribution: /foilman/5987232977/

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What Is Appraisal?
Future Plans If review follows action in the management cycle, then new plans should follow
review. The plans made at the end of a performance appraisal can include...
Future Plans
Career plans
based on
matching
employee
development
and
organisational
opportunities
Project plans
based on
areas the
employee
wants to
develop
Plans for
immediate
action by
either the
manager or
employee
New skills
based on
changes in the
job and
industry
Development
plans based
on identified
potential
Lifetime plans
Problem-
solving plans
to deal with
blocks to
progress
1 2 3 4 6 7
5

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What Is Appraisal?
This has been a Slide Topic from Manage Train Learn
AFinal
Word
As a team leader, carrying out appraisal with your team members is one of the most important
tasks you can perform. It has the potential to be the most motivating and the most de-motivating
event in that person's working year. Get it right, and you, your employee, and the organisation will
reap the rewards. Get it wrong, and you'll all be the losers.

What Is Appraisal?

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