Audit the quality of appraisals, the extent to which the system is being used, and the extent to which the original objectives have been met. Demand 100 per cent uncomplaining compliance with deadlines and requirements. Provide feedback to management, appraisers and appraisees. Train new appraisers as they are appointed to supervisory positions. Actively seek and incorporate suggestions for improvement.

If the results of the performance appraisal are not visibly used in making promotion, compensation, development, transfer, training and termination decisions, people will realize that the whole process is merely an exercise.

About the Author

Dick Grote has been a management consultant for almost thirty years, specializing exclusively in the field of employee performance appraisal and performance management. His company, Grote Consulting, provides customized services in performance appraisal, performance improvement and talent management.

The program’s purposes and procedures must be explained in advance — enthusiastically — to everyone who will be affected by it. They need to understand that the purpose of performance appraisal is to benefit them.

How does it benefit them? By giving them the answers to the two questions everyone in an organization wants the answers to: (1) What do you expect of me? and (2) How am I doing at meeting your expectations?

45 minutes to an hour is usually sufficient to orient even large groups of employees to the who, what, when, where, why and how of the new system. But if your new performance management procedure requires self-appraisal, or multi-rater feed-back, or upward appraisal, or individual development planning, better plan on providing specific skills training.

About the Author

Dick Grote has been a management consultant for almost thirty years, specializing exclusively in the field of employee performance appraisal and performance management. His company, Grote Consulting, provides customized services in performance appraisal, performance improvement and talent management.

Performance appraisal requires a multitude of skills — behavioral observation and discrimination, goal-setting, developing people, confronting unacceptable performance, persuading, problem-solving, planning. Unless appraiser training is universal and comprehensive, the program won’t produce much. And be sure to stress the most important requirement of all: the need for courage.

One of the most useful training tools is to give all appraisers a sample of a completed performance appraisal that’s a model of the way you’d like all appraisals to be written. And make sure that the performance described in the sample appraisal is that of an ordinary performer (or even a marginal one), not that of a star.

About the Author

Dick Grote has been a management consultant for almost thirty years, specializing exclusively in the field of employee performance appraisal and management. As a consultant, he has created employee performance management systems for several hundred of the world’s best known and most respected companies, including Texas Instruments, JCPenney, Miller Brewing Company, American Airlines, Macy’s, Raytheon, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad, and Herman Miller. His company, Grote Consulting, specializes in employee performance appraisal, employee performance improvement and talent management.

We all remember from our school days that some teachers were easy graders and some were tough. But allowing variable standards is unfair in an organization where a level playing field is mandatory.

The easiest way to drive the truth into the system is to require that all appraisals be reviewed and approved by the appraisal-writer’s boss. Calibration sessions, where groups of supervisors compare and adjust their planned appraisal ratings before they become official, is a process that’s increasingly being used. And providing guidelines for the distribution of appraisal ratings helps rein in particularly tough or lenient appraisers by letting them know when they’re getting out of bounds.

About the Author

Dick Grote has been a management consultant for almost thirty years, specializing exclusively in the field of employee performance appraisal and management. As a consultant, he has created employee performance management systems for several hundred of the world’s best known and most respected companies, including Texas Instruments, JCPenney, Miller Brewing Company, American Airlines, Macy’s, Raytheon, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad, and Herman Miller. His company, Grote Consulting, specializes in employee performance appraisal, employee performance improvement and talent management.

Circulate drafts and invite users to make recommendations. Keep the development process visible through announcements and house organ bulletins. Use surveys, float trial balloons, request suggestions.

Never lose sight of the cardinal principle — “People support what they help create.”

About the Author

Dick Grote has been a management consultant for almost thirty years, specializing exclusively in the field of employee performance appraisal and management. As a consultant, he has created employee performance management systems for several hundred of the world’s best known and most respected companies, including Texas Instruments, JCPenney, Miller Brewing Company, American Airlines, Macy’s, Raytheon, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad, and Herman Miller. His company, Grote Consulting, specializes in employee performance appraisal, employee performance improvement and talent management.