Tips & Guidelines for Giving Effective Employee Feedback

Giving feedback to others in your workplace may seem like a tricky task, but becoming adept at offering both praise and constructive criticism doesn’t have to remain a pain point for you and your employees. Delivering constructive criticism isn’t always comfortable, but it is part of the responsibilities involved in people management, meaning it is unavoidable no matter how difficult it may seem. 

One of the key objectives for any business leader is to yield the most productivity as possible from employees, and this can only be done when those employees are receiving feedback on their work efforts in a timely and helpful manner. The problem is, many leaders today have never received the proper training necessary in giving constructive and helpful feedback, and are thus much more reluctant to deliver any sort of feedback. The key is to recognize feedback not as a negative, but rather an opportunity to provide your employees with the necessary information they need to adjust their performance and improve wherever necessary. 

In a hurry? Take our Tips & Guidelines for Giving Feedback infographic to go!

Tips for Giving Feedback 

Feedback should be designed to be constructive, not corrosive. In order to provide feedback to your employees in a constructive manner that encourages them to improve, consider the following tips and guidelines:

Use a Professional Tone 

Not all employee slip ups will keep you calm and collected, and while a team member’s carelessness or poor judgment may cause you to get upset, delivering that feedback when angry will do nothing to remedy the situation. Before giving feedback, ensure your temper is in check and that you are calm enough to deliver it in a careful and measured way. Employees are much less likely to be open to criticism if the meeting opens with blaming or shouting. 

Focus on the Facts 

While your own frustrations should be acknowledged, the point of feedback is to focus on addressing the problem itself.  

For example, if an employee is consistently missing their deadlines, rather than telling them about how you’re sick of their behaviour, spell out calmly how their actions are negatively impacting the team as a whole. 

Remain critical, but emphasize the facts with specific examples rather than your own feelings. Then, offer action-oriented suggestions to help the employee solve the issue. 

Watch Your Words 

More often than not, your employees are going to know when they have made a major mistake. When communicating about how to best address it, ensure you are not using demoralizing statements that call the employee’s intelligence or capabilities into question. They don’t need any help feeling embarrassed about their error, so the language you use when addressing it needs to be carefully thought out.  

Aim to avoid subjective statements and assessments (e.g. “You’re not showing enough passion about your work”), or sweeping generalizations (e.g. “You never contribute creatively during team brainstorming sessions”). 

Be Direct 

Ignoring or avoiding serious situations or minimizing the impact are easy outs for having difficult conversations with your employees. But, withholding constructive criticism actually harms your underperforming employees even further, since it is depriving them of the key information they could be using to improve in their work.  

When delivering negative feedback, aim to be professional and factual but still candid in what you are saying, stating the specifics in a tactful yet straightforward way. Just as you should avoid being overly harsh and demoralizing, you cannot afford to sugar-coat the harsher truths. 

Make it a Two-Way Conversation 

Feedback sessions do not have to be a lecture-style discussion of an employee’s behaviour. Regardless of the type of feedback you are giving, ensure you are receptive to what the employee has to say as well. Give them the opportunity to explain their perspective of their own actions and behaviours. 

When an employee feels comfortable to openly converse with their leader, they are much more likely to own up to shortcomings and ask for help. In addition, a two-way discussion presents the opportunity for an employee to bring your attention to any legitimate extenuating circumstances you otherwise might not have been aware of. 

Focus on Solutions 

Talking through the issue at hand is important, but the ultimate objective of giving feedback is to ensure that if an issue exists, it is rectified as swiftly as possible. 

Have possible solutions worked out for assisting the individual in their efforts to improve, and discuss them with the employee openly. Whether you need to provide them with additional training, offer more frequent check-ins on their progress and direction, or work out the kinks in a flawed system, do whatever you can to best help the employee get back on track and remedy their issue. 

Balance Criticism with Praise 

A skill any and all leaders need to have is knowing how and when to provide criticism. But this can be a slippery slope for inexperienced or untrained managers, with many running the risk of transforming into leaders who only comment when employees slip up. 

Ensure you are offering kudos for good work consistently, and recognizing both publicly and privately the accomplishments of your employees. This is an excellent way to boost their morale, reinforce positive behavior, and develop a good rapport with your team members that will make the difficult conversations easier to manage. 

At its core, employee feedback is about past behavior, delivered in the present, which has the potential to influence an employee’s future performance. Surprisingly, very little managers have actually received the proper training in giving feedback the right way, though the majority state that they want to improve in how they give feedback. 

Guidelines for Giving Feedback 

We have already discussed several key tips to delivering feedback, both positive and negative. Now, let’s have a look at some more general guidelines that you should keep in mind when planning out your feedback strategy moving forward: 

• Positive feedback can be offered in public and/or private. It is recommended however, that if planning to provide even positive feedback in public, that the employee doesn’t feel uncomfortable – know your audience.  Negative feedback, however, should only be given in private.  
• Feedback needs to be delivered in a timely manner. A best practice is to give it as close as possible to the occurrence, behavior, or issue that you intend to address. 
• Remain clear, thoughtful, and respectful regardless of the nature of the feedback or your personal sentiments about the employee. Ensure everything you say is accurate, specific, and limited only to the behavior you are intending to address and remedy. 
• Limit your feedback to areas that the employee has the ability to change. Providing feedback that is irrelevant or unchangeable will be rejected, and can be detrimental. 
• Use the word “I”, rather than “we”. Say “I observed you…”, rather than “we observed you…”. 
• Remain non-judgmental, and never personalize your feedback. Focus only on the behavior you want to address, and not on the qualities of the person you are giving feedback to. 
• Avoid “over-dumping”. Oftentimes, a receptive employee only needs one behavioral example to recognize the issue and understand where they need to improve. 
• Always identify next steps. A feedback session with no clear action plan is demoralizing, and erodes the opportunity for improvement into a discouraging lecture.  

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40 Meaningful & Effective Self-Appraisal Comments

With the arrival of your company’s performance appraisal season, there also comes an increased focus on self-evaluation and reflection on your own work. Self-appraisals can be tricky but are a critical component to the overall appraisal process as they communicate directly to managers and supervisors how their employees are perceiving their own performance within the organization.  

The ultimate objective of the self-appraisal process is to ensure that the employee and the management team are on the same page regarding the employee’s performance. However, many employees fall into the trap of thinking of the self-appraisal process as an opportunity to widen the scope of evaluations and go overboard when citing their own accomplishments. A good, thorough self-appraisal is one in which you are able to highlight your positives, but also honestly mention your points of weaknesses too. The areas in which you need to improve upon should be accompanied with a clear sense of your own willingness to proactively work on improving them. Simply put, your self-appraisal comments need to be open, honest, and believable. 

Recognizing the appropriate phrases to use when drafting your self-appraisal comments is critical to ensuring they are as effective as you wish them to be. When your self-appraisal comments are strong, your supervisor can better evaluate your performance, opening the door for the coveted promotion you’re after or the raise in your salary you’ve been working towards. 

In order to help you project yourself well in your self-appraisal process, and set yourself up for success down the line, here are some examples of key self-appraisal phrases you can incorporate during the next evaluation season. 

In a hurry? Take these self-appraisal comments to go!

Communication Self-Appraisal Comments 

1. I clearly communicate my expectations and goals to my team members. 

2. I effectively communicate with all levels of our organization by maintaining contact with department heads and corporate meetings consistently. 

3. I tactfully provide difficult feedback and approach sensitive situations with skill and compassion. 

4. I present my ideas to groups of all sizes in a skillful, effective, and professional manner. 

5. I frequently share relevant information and updates with my peers and supervisors so that our team as a whole can benefit and stay on track and informed.  

6. I proactively communicate changes that consider the stakeholders, coworkers, and customers they will affect. 

7. I frequently acknowledge the successes of my peers both publicly and privately and commend them for a job well done. 

Job Performance Self-Appraisal Comments 

8. I take pride in my work and value doing my job to the best of my ability. 

9. I frequently volunteer to participate in projects that extend beyond by job responsibilities. 

10. I have exceeded my performance goal this year/quarter/etc. by [insert specific number]%. 

11. I have decreased my job costs and customer churn rates by [insert specific number]%. 

12. I frequently challenge myself to perform better. 

13. I am happy to answer any questions my peers may have, and often provide guidance on the subject areas I am most skilled in. 

14. I promote a team-oriented work environment by remaining collaborative and seeking out opportunities to work with my peers on projects I need assistance on. 

Customer Experience Self-Appraisal Comments 

15. I effectively handle difficult or hostile customers by communicating with them respectfully and trying my best to accommodate their needs and wishes. 

16. I actively listen to the customer to better understand their point of view. 

17. I go beyond what is required to ensure that are customers are educated and informed on the topics that may concern them. 

18. I have received [insert specific number]% on my customer satisfaction survey this year/quarter/etc. 

19. I am continuously working towards improving the customer experience by strengthening my outreach with key clients and ensuring my follow up strategy is consistent and effective. 

20. I am mindful of my own interactions as a customer outside of my work so I can better understand our customers’ perspective. 

Innovation and Creativity Self-Appraisal Comments 

21. I regularly look to streamline and improve our work processes in new and innovative ways. 

22. I am committed to my professional growth and have taken training courses specific to the skills in which I recognize a need for improvement. 

23. I regularly seek out opportunities to connect and learn from others in my field. 

24. I stay current on developments in our industry and regularly read up on any new innovations or disruptive projects or companies that may be a source of inspiration for our own. 

25. I have a long-term vision for the future of my career and continually take steps toward achieving it. 

26. I learn quickly and am able to adapt to change in an efficient manner. 

27. I value learning and regularly seek out opportunities to learn something new and of value to my work efforts. 

Performance Improvement Self-Appraisal Comments 

28. I understand that because I remain intensely focused on the task at hand, I may appear to be blunt at times towards my colleagues. I am working towards strengthening my interpersonal skills and easing tensions between me and my peers. 

29. I am aware that not all of my peers may be comfortable with my style of communication. My intent and focus is always to get the job done in a timely manner, and with good results, so I will aim to eliminate circumstances in which my coworkers may interpret my actions as a personal attack. 

30. I have been questioned by many regarding my style of work. I believe that I have been able to successfully deliver results despite working in a manner which is different from others. 

31. I am aware that time management is not one of my core strengths, so I will consciously and consistently work towards managing my time better and prioritizing my tasks more efficiently. 

32. While I am comfortable with written communication, I recognize that there is scope for improvement in my verbal communication skills. 

33. I recognize that while I am able to complete projects within the stipulated deadline, this is not enough to contribute to my career growth. I will need to work on my soft skills to view the true progress of my job. 

34. I have realized that I am much more practical than I am creative in how I approach my work. This sometimes hinders me from offering innovating solutions during challenging situations or brainstorming sessions with the team, so I will continue to make a genuine effort to take more positive risks in my job and consider more creative, outside-of-the-box solutions as and when I can. 

35. I realize that I rely a lot on group effort to get my tasks done. However, I am working towards ensuring that I am able to participate equally, or even more, than my team members in group situations to aid my individual working efforts. 

36. I understand the value of communication with management as well as my colleagues, and I am working towards improving the same in order to avoid any instances of miscommunication with either group. 

37. While I am skilled at delivering results on time, I recognize that I sometimes fall short of following up with my key clients. I am working to improve my follow up activity with clients. 

38. I have realized that I am finding myself uncomfortable with dealing with negative feedback from clients. As time goes on, I hope to teach myself to handle such situations better. 

39. I may not be the strongest in customer relations, but I will continue to work towards reducing the instances of negative customer feedback. 

40. I typically have a very positive mindset and struggle with holding difficult conversations that need to take place, which I will aim to work on in the future. 

Get Started with Your Self-Appraisal Process Today 

The self-appraisal process may sometimes seem daunting, but with the right tools and templates, it does not have to be an intimidating process. Self-evaluations are about much more than simply how you are viewing your own performance. It is an opportunity to look at things from another point of view, reflecting on how others may be perceiving your actions and recognizing the areas that need improvement. 

A great way to collect this type of performance feedback is through the use of SpriggHR’s 360-Degree Feedback Tool, which allows you to request feedback from anyone within your company at any time. Feedback can be given and received anonymously or with full transparency, and templates and suggested action verbs are provided to help you write stronger self-evaluations, make the improvements necessary in your work efforts, and strengthen the relationships you have with your peers and superiors. 

If you’re looking for appraisal comments suited for others, check out this article!

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What is a Competency Assessment?

Assessing an employee’s capabilities is a cornerstone of any performance review process but measuring them against the specific needs and requirements of their role transforms that assessment component into a measurable practice called a competency assessment. 

What is a Competency Assessment? 

Competency is defined as the application of knowledge, skills, and behaviors used in performing specific job tasks. Usually, it is one of the key attributes being assessed when you are measuring an employee’s performance. A competency assessment, however, is the assessment of an employee’s capabilities against the requirements of their job. The goal of competency assessment is to identify any problems with an employee’s performance and to correct those issues before they affect work quality or customer care.  

The actual requirements of a role that a competency assessment relies on are outlined in what is called a competency model. A valuable competency model provides an overview of the key tasks and skills most critical to success in the role, not an outline of every activity being performed in the job. This more thorough description can be provided in a traditional job task analysis.  

In order to define an employee’s proficiency level, a competency assessment is performed on the tasks and skills identified in the competency model, for which a rating is selected based on how well the employee performs the task. Simply put, a competency assessment measures how (behaviors) an employee does the what (task or skill). When the individual’s proficiency level has been defined, it can then be compared with the target level, helping employers recognize proficiency or skill gaps for each relevant task and skill. 

The Benefits of Conducting a Competency Assessment 

While one of your top priorities should always be to keep an eye on how your employees are working and monitoring any potential skill gaps that could cause issues in the future, there are several key benefits to introducing competency assessments into your regular performance review strategy. Some of these include: 

1. Quantifying the Size of Skill Gaps.

It can be hard to miss skill gaps when they are causing extreme detriments to business, but most organizations are unaware of the actual quantity and size of all the skill gaps that can exist in their workforce. They can know they have them, but not have the means to recognize just how large or widespread they are, meaning they can’t use them to inform organizational plans, strategy, and priorities. 

As a leader, the decisions you make guide the future of your company. But when you don’t have competency assessment data or skill gap analyses to inform those key decisions, you can never confidently aim towards future successes. A competency assessment sheds light on those areas you might be missing, helping you fully understand your organizational capability and make the best decisions you can for the business. 

2. Informing Future Action.

If your role centers around learning, talent, and effectiveness, a competency assessment can help eliminate the data void and establish a culture of learning so that upskilling and reskilling can happen continuously. Ensuring all individuals have the necessary skills required to do their current and future jobs should be a given, but it is impossible to navigate, and then mitigate, any existing skill gaps effectively if you have no skills assessment data to inform that overview. 

Recognizing which individuals possess the required skills, and which don’t, enables individual learning and development programs to valuable employees to close those gaps. With the data accumulated from a competency assessment process, you can also pair high performers of one specific skill with others that have a skill gap in that area, closing gaps quickly by leveraging task-based mentoring as a learning strategy. In addition, a competency assessment system can also improve your talent acquisition strategy, since you can identify the areas of skills the organization lacks in and hire new employees with those skills accordingly to fill in those gaps.  

3. Driving Consistent Improvement.

A solid performance review strategy involves more than a single assessment approach. Especially today, organizational change is occurring at a faster and faster rate, to the point where sometimes the moment an employee is upskilled or reskilled, some of their newly learned skills have already become obsolete. 

The future of the business world is beginning to centre around a notion of continual skill reinvention, and consistent competency assessments gear towards that future. Driving capability within your organization begins when you create a cycle of assessment, ongoing development, and reassessment on those skills and tasks you have already worked on, providing you with a constantly updated current picture of capability at any time. By transforming your performance review process into a culture of ongoing, lifelong learning, leveraging skill-specific competency assessments, you can drive real growth within your organization.  

How to Complete a Competency Assessment 

For a competency assessment to be successful, you first need to have three key elements: 

1. A role-based competency model to assess individuals against. 
2. A competency assessment system that will facilitate the scaling, privacy, and capability analytics of the process. 
3. A personalized learning plan to create and promote individual reskill and upskill action plans for employees.  

It is possible to implement a competency assessment with only one of the first two elements but having all three in place before proceeding will produce the best results. The key takeaway, however, should be the importance of having a solid system of assessment itself. Historically, using basic tools such as spreadsheets or manual filing run a much higher risk of a breach of privacy or a lack of global control. Especially for larger companies, the volume of skill inventory data will be significant, so you need a system that can streamline the analytics for you and create data visualizations for the results.  

SpriggHR’s Performance Review Tool is a good example of a modern, streamlined approach to competency assessment. An element of the performance review tool includes a customizable Skills & Competencies section, where you can identify the specific skills and tasks required for a role and assign the relevant competencies to individuals working in that role. You can then measure the position-specific skills, knowledge, and behaviors against the employee’s actual performance, simplifying your competency assessment process and drawing out the key results for you without getting lost in the minutiae.  

The other key takeaway is, evidently, the critical nature of establishing learning plans that aim to expand the skill set of an individual through the building and execution of action plans. While the first two steps help you to capture competency data, you can’t address skill gaps without a concrete plan of action. 

In Summary 

Organizational growth depends on individual progress, but for employees to be able to do their jobs as well as they need to, they need to have self-awareness over the areas they are lacking in. By having a process in place that can systematically highlight those skill and task gaps, employees are much more likely to buy into the fact that there is action they need to take themselves should they wish to progress within the company. By leveraging a method of performance review that continuously provides the tools necessary to upskill and reskill employees in the right ways, and aligning their competencies with the needs of the business, you have a chance to set each person on a path toward continuous learning and growth.   

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Strategies for Effective One-on-One Coaching

Employee coaching is an integral part of any organization’s communication architecture. A well-designed and implemented coaching model in any business allows for an efficient flow of information and ideas. By implementing consistent one-on-one coaching sessions, you can provide all employees the opportunity to share their ideas, frustrations, and goals within a structured and safe format.  

The key to transformational one-on-one coaching sessions lies in keeping the sessions entirely employee focused. While managers can benefit from coaching by asking for feedback on their performance, and suggestions for changes or improvements, the manager’s primary role in coaching sessions is to listen and draw out the key issues and challenges that the employee may be currently facing.  As a rule of thumb, a manager should aim to do 80% of the listening, and 20% of the talking. 

Benefits of One-on-One Coaching 

Running successful one-on-one coaching sessions should always be a priority for managers. A company that places people first and who looks to implement a consistent system of employee-manager communication and employee development sets you apart from other organizations in the market. Successful coaching programs lead to engaged employees who feel supported in their organization, which then works to establish a positive reputation for the work environment of the business. 

Structuring Effective One-on-One Coaching Sessions 

Frequency & Duration 

The frequency and length of coaching sessions are usually left to the manager’s discretion. Therefore, it is advised that you aim to set up one-on-ones on a weekly basis, spending around 30 minutes with each employee. Many managers, and even some employees, tend to view one-on-one sessions as time consuming and futile. The key to changing this perception lies in shifting how you perceive the end-goal of coaching sessions themselves. Managers should view regular private meetings with employees not as an obligation, but rather as necessary check-ins that ensures the alignment of employees’ goals to those of the company. It’s also an ideal time to course-correct any performance-related issues or perhaps address an employee’s questions / concerns. 

By consistently checking in on the progress of employees, as well as their individual aspirations within the company, your employees will feel that their contributions to the company are regularly recognized and their motivation to continue to work efficiently will be emboldened. Ensuring employees feel that management cares about their ideas and their career advancement begins with one-on-one coaching.  A strong retention rate of high-performing and motivated employees will always be a central goal for leaders in any organization and the execution of these meetings will vastly increase the likelihood of this happening. 

Constructive Feedback Sessions 

There will always come a time when one-on-one sessions must involve the delivery of constructive feedback for the employee.  Talk about the primary issues objectively and be sure to allow them to share their own perspectives to keep the session as an open dialogue, rather than making your own assumptions. 

As a leader of the coaching session, it should be your primary goal to move forward in cases like these. Rather than dwelling on the error, spend most of the session focusing on improvements for the future of the employee. Encourage them to develop a plan to remedy the issue and offer support in developing said plan if they are struggling. Wrap up the discussion by scheduling a follow-up session to keep track of their progress and be sure to show enthusiasm with regards to the employee’s goals. Leaving a constructive feedback one-on-one coaching session on a positive note allows for the employee to continue to view the sessions as both productive and positive. 

Effective Body Language 

Clear communication is an important part of any effective one-on-one coaching session. Non-verbal cues in coaching include adapting your body language to promote the open dialogue you aim to achieve with your employees in each session. Suggestion: try not to separate yourself from the employee by sitting across from them over a conference table. Instead, aim to have an open presence, sitting facing them, keeping your arms uncrossed. This shows you are open and receptive to what they have to say. 

The importance of eye contact cannot go unmentioned. By maintaining eye contact, it shows you are actively listening and are genuinely interested in what the employee is saying. Leave your phone off and remove other distractions or interruptions. Not only is this respectful conversation etiquette, but it also promotes the employee’s sense of priority in your day. If you are expecting an important phone call sometime during the meeting, reschedule the session or communicate this expectation at the beginning of the conversation.  

Another method you can employ is to take notes throughout the meeting. Not only can this be useful in follow-up sessions when recalling the important points of the conversation, but it is also another way to show the employee you are actively listening and engaged in the discussion.  

Strategies for One-on-One Coaching Sessions 

Set Clear Goals 

The start of any effective coaching relationship lays the foundation for the middle and the end. By communicating the goals of one-on-one sessions from the beginning, it gives both you and your employee a chance to establish what you will work towards in your sessions and sets the tone for what’s to follow in upcoming sessions. To do this, ask as many questions as you can in your introductory session. 

An interesting and engaging first session keeps employees’ undivided attention from the start and helps to create a more involved coach-employee relationship. When this first session is also clearly targeting the specific goals of the employee, it allows you to better understand the strategic needs of the individual and helps you to shape your coaching style to promote the employee’s success.  

Ask the Right Questions 

For any effective coaching session, preparation is key. Before each session, aim to ask yourself key questions to prepare yourself for the session. Examples of these reflective preparatory questions can include, “what are this employee’s key responsibilities?”, “what communication strategies are appropriate for this employee?”, “what am I aiming to do in this session?”. All of these create a defined path for the session. Integrating feedback into the coaching conversation is highly recommended. 

To further assist you in preparing for the one-on-one coaching session, try utilizing the format such as “Start, Stop and Continue” – we have prepared some phrases for you: 

Start – In order to start leveraging more of your experience and what you’ve learned to date, I would suggest you focus on _____.  What do you think?” 

Stop – “I think some things that may be getting in your way from optimizing your performance are ___.  Does that sound fair or accurate to you?” 

Continue – “These are real strengths for you, keep up the great work and focus on continuing to provide this level of input.  Where else do you think you excel?” 

Other Questions to Consider… 

What suggestions do you have for me? 

Questions like these helps to keep one-on-one coaching sessions as two-way conversations. Leaders who regularly ask for feedback and focus on improving their own behaviors, as well as the behaviors of employees, are much more likely to have an increase in the effectiveness of their leadership. Employees will always be more open to the idea of being coached when their leaders are also willing to be coached by them. 

How can I help? 

By listening to and acting upon your employee‘s requests in how it is you can support them, you are building all that’s required for their success.  It is here that participation is necessary. For example, you can suggest different approaches to leadership, and ask the employee whether the approach will be helpful in becoming more effective.  

Keep Learning 

Finally, it should be a central goal for managers to constantly add to and evolve their understanding of the process of coaching and how individual employees react to it. Strong one-on-one coaching systems involve you, as a leader, learning to get your message across effectively. It also requires you to pivot to individual learning styles. 

Final Thoughts 

The result of effective coaching positively affects employers and employees alike. When a strong one-on-one coaching system is in place, employees will find greater satisfaction in their work efforts, while their ideas and career plans have a vehicle to be discussed.  

For employers, one-on-ones provide a clear structure for guidance and focus within your organization, which will overall lead to higher probability to achieving key strategic initiatives and objectives. 

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7 Modern & Actionable Performance Appraisal Methods 

The employee performance appraisal process is crucial for organizations trying to boost employee productivity and improve overall success. Over the years, a wide variety of performance appraisal methods have been utilized, some of which are more suited than others to meet modern demands. Let’s take a look at the definition of performance appraisal before we start to explore modern methods.

What is Performance Appraisal? 

Performance appraisal refers to the process of evaluating the performance of an employee over a certain time period with the intention of assessing ways to improve their success. It usually manifests in a workplace as the annual or quarterly process that involves evaluating each employee’s performance and productivity against the established set of objectives for that year or quarter. By evaluating an employee’s skills, strengths, and gaps alike, the performance appraisal process can help in determining wage raises and promotions (assuming a pay-for-performance process exists). 

Traditional methods of employee engagement are no longer yielding effective results. They focus more on measuring an employee’s past performance, rather than improving future work, which is why many organizations view the entire process as futile. However, by adapting their performance appraisal methods to be more accommodating to modern demands, the performance appraisal process can be extremely beneficial in: 

• Defining company goals clearly 
• Providing real-time and effective feedback to all team members 
• Enhancing employee performance and productivity 
• Spotting training and development needs 
• Offering insights into counter-productive and ineffective tasks 
• Improving employee engagement and employee retention 
• Aligning individual performance with organizational goals 
• Transforming the workforce into a strategic advantage 

7 Modern & Actionable Performance Appraisal Methods 

You can download our infographic containing all 7 performance appraisal methods to go by clicking the button below! Here’s a quick preview:

1. Management by Objective (MBO) 

In this method, managers and employees work together to identify, plan, organize, and communicate goals for success. The manager identifies the desired objectives to be achieved, giving the employee a major area of responsibility in terms of the results that are expected from him or her. Over regular touchpoint meetings, the manager and employee discuss the progress made. The employer can then use these measures of progress as a guide to measuring the contribution level of the employee. 

While useful in determining rates of productivity, this process usually emphasizes career-oriented and tangible goals. Therefore, intangible aspects of an employee’s performance such as their interpersonal skills or job commitment often go ignored. 

2. Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scale (BARS) 

This method is often thought of as being the most effective, as it succeeds in bringing out both the qualitative and quantitative benefits of the performance appraisal process. In the Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scale (BARS) system, the employer compares employee performance with specific behavioral examples that are anchored to numerical ratings. 

Because this method accesses both quantitative and qualitative forms of measurement, while also incorporating intangible qualities of employees into the rating system, BARS succeeds in providing clear standards, improving feedback, and providing accurate performance analysis and consistent evaluation. Its primary drawback is, like most other performance review methodologies, when done manually it poses the risk of being skewed by distortions caused by bias. 

3. Critical Incident Method 

In this method, an employer evaluates an employee based on certain events, known as “critical incidents”, in which the employee either succeeded tremendously or failed in any given task. Throughout the process, the evaluator maintains a digital or physical journal in which they store the information from the different incidents. 

This process, though manually demanding, is useful for the individual growth of employees. By keeping detailed records of both the positive and opportunity area milestones of an employee’s career trajectory, employers can give detailed information in their feedback, improving the chances of development in the future. These metrics can be readily reviewed during the scheduled progress / 1:1 meeting. 

4. Assessment Centre Method 

This performance appraisal method assesses employee performance in social-related situations. Employees are asked to take part in situational exercises (in-basket exercises, workgroups, simulations, role-playing exercises, etc.) that aim to highlight their potential success in various roles and bearing various responsibilities. 

While this process is useful in giving insight into the employee’s personal characteristics that can influence their success (i.e. ethics, tolerance, problem-solving skills, judgement, introversion or extroversion, adaptability, collaboration, etc.), it can also result in unhealthy competition between workers. Also, it has the potential to bear adverse effects on low performers due to the social nature of the testing. 

5. Psychological Appraisals 

This method is particularly useful when determining the hidden potential of employees because it focuses on evaluating an employee’s future performance rather than the results of their past work. In this performance appraisal method, qualified psychologists conduct a variety of tests on employees, including in-depth interviews, psychological tests, and private discussions. These tests aim to identify an employee’s emotion, intellect, and other related traits that could affect their future performance in an organization.  

Although this method is thorough and insightful, it can evidently be a slow, complex, and costly process. Further, the quality of the results hinges upon the psychologist who administers the procedure and a variety of external influencers that may affect the employee during testing (e.g.; personal stress related events), so results can sometimes be inconsistent.  

6. Human-Resource (Cost) Accounting Method 

The cost accounting method involves the analysis of an employee’s performance through the monetary benefits they yield to the company. This measurement is usually obtained by comparing the cost of retaining an employee to the monetary benefits (contributions) the organization has ascertained from that specific employee. 

This performance appraisal method considers many factors, including unit-wise average service value, quality, overhead cost, interpersonal relationships, and so on. However, its high dependency on the quality of cost and benefit analysis, as well as the memory power of the reviewer, is its primary drawback. 

7. 360-Degree Feedback 

A common industry discussion is that the annual performance appraisal method is outdated and no longer useful. Workers need ongoing communication with team leaders and managers, and continuous feedback processes like 360-degree feedback, to stay motivated and interested in learning from the results of their performance appraisals.  

In the 360-degree feedback method, multiple raters are involved in evaluating the performance of an individual. The feedback of the employee is collected by all agents within the organization who interact with him or her, including superiors, peers, subordinates, and even customers. Usually, this feedback is collected by an online questionnaire designed specifically for this purpose. When every employee in an organization appraises their managers, peers, customers, suppliers, and takes part in regular self-evaluation, it ensures effective performance analysis with diverse levels of transparency. 

Feel free to take this list to go by downloading the infographic!

The Future of Employee Performance Appraisal Methods 

Usually, the HR department of an organization supports leaders who typically conduct employee appraisal processes to assess how well employees are engaged with their work, and what can better the chances of their success. However, with the rapid advancement of HR technology available, the outdated appraisal methods in place are not offering the quality of results that are needed for an organization to optimize its success. Consider the following findings: 

When traditional performance appraisal methods are used: 

• 45% of HR leaders do not think annual performance reviews are an accurate appraisal for employee’s work
• 24% of workers would consider leaving their jobs if they have managers that provide inadequate performance feedback
• Up to 210 hours are spent by HR managers on manual performance reviews every year

However, when modern performance appraisal methods are used: 

• Managers who received feedback on their strengths showed 8.9% greater profitability
• Companies who implement regular employee feedback have turnover rates that are 14.9% lower than companies for which employees receive ineffective or no feedback
• 94% of employees would prefer their manager to address mistakes and opportunities in real-time
• 68% of employees who receive accurate and consistent feedback feel fulfilled in their jobs 

The technological power of performance tracking in recent years has skyrocketed. Automated HR software now allows HR leaders to produce performance appraisal methods in just a few minutes. Even more impressive is that all-in-one HR tools, like Sprigg, have been developed to enable businesses to ensure global consistency in performance reviews, while still offering room for role-specific variations that traditional methods benefit from.  

Modern Performance Appraisal in Practice

As a simple, intuitive, flexible and cost–effective Performance Management platform, Sprigg offers modern and effective performance appraisal tools, including: 

• Continuous & 360 Feedback: Real-time, ongoing feedback, seamless check-in meetings software and meeting tool templates, and intuitive multi-rater/360-degree feedback tools. Sprigg makes giving and receiving feedback within an organization easier and more actionable. 

• Performance Reviews & 1-on-1s: Sprigg helps HR professionals assign the metrics that matter to their performance appraisals, encourages continuous appraisal discussions, and aids in managing the frequency of reviews conducted. 

With modern performance appraisal HR software like Sprigg, businesses can eliminate critical performance gaps and effectively prepare their organization for the future of work. 

To learn more about SpriggHR’s modern performance appraisal software, request a free demo. We’ll customize a demo just for you, lead by one of our senior HR professionals.

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Rationale and Tips For Effective Reviews

By: Tony Kerekes

*Stats: HR Online in 2015, a Trinet/Wakefield Research survey of more than 1,000 US Millennials (full-time employees born after 1980).

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Why Eliminating Performance Reviews is Not the Answer

By: David Creelman

One of the most confusing debates in performance management is the talk about abolishing performance reviews. We hear that the once-a-year appraisal is too unpleasant and takes too much time, so it should be abolished. But wait, the proposed solution is multiple reviews over the course of a year; won’t that take even more time? We also hear that employees don’t like the appraisals that lead to pay decisions. Do they like it better if there is no appraisal meeting and raises are seemingly at the whim of their manager?

Trust me, there are some good ideas to be found in this debate if we cut through the hype. First, let’s be clear that this is all better understood as a reform or even an expansion of the performance review system. Not the abolition of it.

The how and why of multiple reviews

There is widespread agreement that performance management should be a series of conversations over the course of the year, not a single over-packed discussion. Josh Bersin estimates that 70% of multinationals are moving towards a model of frequent informal check-ins.[1]

The trick is deciding how those check-ins are structured.  There are four major elements to consider when designing your check-ins:

1.  Which performance reviews are required? Which are optional check-ins?

Good management (not just good performance management) requires many good conversations and check-ins over the course of the year. The performance management process should encourage as many optional meetings or informal discussions as appropriate for the individual. The process needs to include multiple check-ins (usually mid-year or quarterly) that are a little more formal.

2.  What is covered in the required reviews?

Required reviews can cover whatever the manager and employee have on their minds, but they work best if there is a clear purpose for each one. One large organization uses the following topics: goal setting, feedback on performance, personal development, and the compensation decision. They also have required quarterly recognition meetings. At this organization, unsatisfactory performance is handled as a different HR process that is separate from regular performance management.

3.  What additional features do we need?

If the work is project-oriented then the timing of the required reviews may be driven by the project cycle, not the calendar year. If the individual works on different teams then a best practice is to gather 360from the project team leaders and peers (ideally as a check-in at project milestones or sunset) in addition to their formal manager. In all cases, capturing information on an ongoing basis is helpful to ensure a better compensation decision.

4.  How do we manage the compensation decision? Do we use ratings?

There is no process for making decisions about compensation that doesn’t have some pain points—which is why most of the press on performance management reform tends to ignore the topic. More on it later in this article.

Abolishing appraisals and other compensation decisions

There are three main options for making compensation decisions:

1. Pay everyone the same.

Unions typically have standard pay raises, so an appraisal meeting is not needed. Keep in mind that there may be other reasons to appraise performance, such as gathering data for HR analytics, however, the dreaded appraisal meeting is avoided.

2. Pay for future performance/market value.

Sports teams typically pay for future performance not past performance (we don’t care how good you once were, we care how good you will be). This can be applied to a business setting where you look at the market rate/potential of an individual and make a salary offer based on that. You will still need an appraisal of past performance to estimate their future performance, but you don’t need to share it with the employee. Instead of an appraisal meeting, you have something very much like a contract negotiation.

3. Pay for past performance.

Most organizations want to pay for past performance, and this means there needs to be an appraisal. You could do the appraisal in secret and skip the unloved appraisal meeting however that is probably a step in the wrong direction. When the manager and employee set clear goals that identify what “meets” and “exceeds” expectations, with periodic check-ins, then the review is much easier and results in improved employee engagement and more positive outcomes for the organization.

There is one intriguing possibility discussed in the research from the Center of Effective Organizations: you can do an appraisal without putting a specific rating on it (i.e. a ratingless review).[2] For example, a manager can discuss the year’s performance and say something like “Overall you hit expectations and this is the raise you get”; that may be exactly equivalent to scoring a 3 out of 5 however the vagueness might (or might not) be more palatable. Ledford’s research found that having more frequent reviews led to positive employee reactions and while the evidence on ratingless reviews was not conclusive, they did not seem to do any harm.

The role of technology

It would be remiss not to mention that one of the reasons that reform of the performance management system is possible is because of performance management technology. Performance management technology is more efficient and secure than emailing spreadsheets around.  This enables HR organizations to have the time and energy to consider alternatives and to complete valuable analysis. It also makes it easy to prompt managers when they need to do reviews, remind them what the review should focus on, and record anything relevant. The prompts can appear in Outlook calendars as a check-in meeting, making it more likely to be actioned. Additionally, the technology creates a place to capture what the manager or employee feels is relevant to performance on an ongoing basis.

Poor performance and terminations

The issue of poor performance and terminations is a whole other topic. I like the idea of keeping this process separate from the main performance management cycle,

Wrapping up

It makes sense to move towards a performance management process that has multiple meetings. This should not be positioned as abolishing the review meeting. It’s also the case that it’s not simply a matter of saying “managers should have lots of conversations”; the system needs structure and HR has a number of design decisions they need to make.

It is also a good idea to emphasize feedback and development but if you pay for past performance then you cannot escape the need to make and communicate tough decisions about performance.

The reform of performance management won’t take all the pain out of the system, but it can make things better, especially if supported by appropriate technology.

[1] Peter Cappelli and Anna Tavis, The Performance Management Revolution, Harvard Business Review, October 2016 Issue HBR

[2] Gerald Ledford and George Benson, Ratingless Performance Reviews: A Quasi-Experiment CEO Working Paper Series G19-04(695) Nov 2019

https://hrdailyadvisor.blr.com/2018/10/02/what-tiger-woods-can-teach-hr-about-using-performance-improvement-plans-to-salvage-struggling-employees/

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40 Specific, Meaningful Employee Appraisal Comments

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Final Thoughts

Every workplace is different, and so is every employee. It’s important to personalize appraisal comments for each employee in order to maximize effectiveness. It’s also critical that you’re able to phrase negative appraisal comments in a constructive way. This appraisal comment bank isn’t meant to be a fix all solution, but it should help you get on the right track! Feel free to take it to go!

40 Specific, Meaningful Employee Appraisal Comments

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Performance Appraisal Software Solutions

Assisting with appraisal comments is just one of many things that we do to make performance management simple and effective. We've love to show you everything that Sprigg can do in a free demonstration!

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There's an easier way...

Do you know what’s even easier than scouring the internet for appraisal comments and thought starters? Having them built in to your performance management platform!  

Sprigg comes equipped with a variety of appraisal comment banks, thought starters, and questions that can be used to kick start a performance review. You’ll find helpful phrases not only for managers and leaders, but for employees too! 

   

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8 Key Steps to a Successful Annual Performance Review 

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The Manager’s Role in Performance Reviews

By: Jilaine Parkes

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