Performance appraisals phrases

Performance appraisals phrases
In this file, you can ref free useful materials about performance appraisals phrases and other materials
for employee performance review.
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Performance review guides
The ability to give feedback and use effective phrases for performance appraisals is essential for shaping
your team's performance and keeping them engaged. Businesses that encourage feedback and learning
tend to have a more innovative culture.
The most basic goal of feedback is to change how someone is performing.
It's easy to tell someone that they're doing a good job but the real challenge is passing on constructive
criticism in a way that causes the recipient to take on board what you're saying and then change how
they're behaving.
Tips for creating effective phrases for performance appraisals:
1. Be open and positive
Phrases for performance appraisals need to be given as a gift rather than used as a weapon.
It is impossible to give effective feedback to someone if you're feeling hardened towards them and
you're only seeing their weaknesses. When a person feels like they're under attack their natural
response is to defend and protect themselves, rather than really listen.
When you're in the head space of feeling genuinely open and caring towards the other person, they are
much more likely to accept responsibility for the areas you'd like them to improve.
Being open also means being prepared to acknowledge that you may not know or understand the whole
picture. Ask questions to find out if there is more to this problem than you know.
2. Use a balanced and ‘charge-neutral’ tone of voice.
Performance review phrases comments/ free download examples Page 1

Whatever you’re thinking and feeling is communicated subliminally through tone of voice and body
language.
So this is related to the first point. The more open and positive you are as you're using performance
appraisal phrases, the more likely it is that the recipient will accept what you're saying and take
responsibility for making changes.
3. Make it actionable
When you're giving feedback your goal is obviously to get your employee to change the way they're
doing something. The more precise your instructions and feedback the more likely they are to perform
the way you expect.
As an example: "That's not good enough" is a criticism but it doesn't explain how or why it's not good
enough.
This kind of vague criticism usually creates confusion so within your effective phrases for performance
appraisals give very specific pointers about what needs changing.
4. Give feedback as soon as possible
Generally, in order to be effective, feedback should be delivered just after the behaviour has occurred.
Leaving feedback for several months until an employee’s next appraisal will not result in any behaviour
change, because they've forgotten about it by then.
Performance appraisals are important but on-the-job feedback along the way is the best way to shape
performance.
5. Don't delegate
Many people try and avoid giving negative feedback but even if you have a manager running your
business for you, the feedback is best coming from the person who wants to see the change.
6. Use “I” based language
Feedback is much more powerful when you say it in the first person, it makes it much more direct and
personal.
For example, “I would like you to stop interrupting in meetings” will have more impact than a general
statement like “It’s rude to interrupt in meetings.”
7. Make sure the feedback is understood

Sometimes when people feel uncomfortable about giving feedback they may not articulate it very well
which could cause your employee to miss the point altogether.
Miscommunication can be a real problem in these situations at times so, it's important to check how
effective you are being with your phrasing. Keep your effective phrases for performance appraisals
direct and simple. Avoid jargon, complicated words and phrases and stop yourself if you start trying to
'sugar-coat' any difficult points.
8. State the benefits of changing
Your feedback will be more effective if you give it some context and explain why changing is important.
For example, telling an employee that "you must start working on a task earlier" really has little impact
unless you take the time to make sure they understand the consequences of how it impacts the rest of
the team and business.
9. Make sure it falls on “listening” ears
When you're giving feedback ask your employee to paraphrase what you're asking them to do so you
can be sure they listened and understood what you told them.
10. Focus on strengths
Every employee has strengths, even those that are causing you problems. So rather than only focusing
on picking apart their weaknesses, acknowledge what they are good at and help them overcome their
challenges by using these talents.
When you genuinely care enough to help people grow and develop you not only encourage better
performance. Effective phrases for performance appraisals and feedback keeps employees engaged
since it shows that you value their contribution.
II. Performance review tips

1. The employee should never hear about
positive performance or performance in
need of improvement for the first time at
your formal performance discussion meeting,
unless it is new information or insight.
Effective managers discuss both positive
performance and areas for improvement
regularly, even daily or weekly. Aim to make
the contents of the performance review
discussion a re-emphasis of critical points.
2. No matter the components of your performance review process, the first step is goal
setting.
It is imperative that the employee knows exactly what is expected of his or her performance.
Your periodic discussions about performance need to focus on these significant portions of the
employee’s job. You need to document this job plan: goals and expectations in a job plan or job
expectations format, or in your employer's format. Without a written agreement and a shared
picture of the employee’s goals, success for the employee is unlikely.
3. During preparation and goal setting, you need to make how you will evaluate the
employee’s performance clear.
Describe exactly what you’re looking for from the employee and exactly how you will evaluate
the performance. Discuss with the employee her role in the evaluation process. If your
organization’s performance review process includes an employee self-evaluation, share the form
and talk about what self-evaluation entails.
4. Avoid the horns and halo effect in which everything discussed in the meeting involves
positive and negative recent events.
Recent events color your judgment of the employee’s performance. Instead, you are responsible
to document positive occurrences such as completed projects, and negative occurrences such as a
missed deadline, during the entire period of time that the performance review covers. (In some
organizations, these are called critical incident reports.) Ask the employee to do the same so that

together you develop a comprehensive look at the employee’s performance during the time
period that your discussion covers.
5. Solicit feedback from colleagues who have worked closely with the employee.
Sometimes called 360 degree feedback because you are obtaining feedback for the employee
from his boss, coworkers, and any reporting staff, you use the feedback to broaden the
performance information that you provide for the employee. Start with informal discussions to
obtain feedback information. Consider developing a format so that the feedback is easy to digest
and share by the manager.
6. If your company uses a form that you fill out in advance of the meeting, give the
performance review to the employee in advance of the meeting.
This allows the employee to digest the contents prior to her discussion of the details with you.
This simple gesture can remove a lot of the emotion and drama from the performance review
meeting.
7. Prepare for the discussion with the employee.
Never go into a performance review without preparation. If you wing it, performance reviews
fail. You will miss key opportunities for feedback and improvement and the employee will not
feel encouraged about his successes. The documentation that you maintained during the
performance review period serves you well as you prepare for an employee's performance
review.
8. When you meet with the employee, spend time on the positive aspects of his or her
performance.
In most cases, the discussion of the positive components of the employee’s performance should
take up more time than that of the negative components. For your above average performing
employees and your performing employees, positive feedback and discussion about how the
employee can continue to grow her performance should comprise the majority of the discussion.
The employee will find this rewarding and motivating.
9. The spirit in which you approach this conversation will make a difference in whether it is
effective.

If your intention is genuinely to help the employee improve, and you have a positive relationship
with the employee, the conversation is easier and more effective. The employee has to trust that
you want to help him improve his performance. He needs to hear you say that you have
confidence in his ability to improve. This helps him believe that he has the ability and the
support necessary to improve.

Performance appraisals phrases

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