'Praise and the Appraisal'

112 tips and techniques to make appraisals work

Yours for only £3.87 – simple, practical advice on how to do appraisals

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‘This should be compulsory for all managers and anybody running their own business’

Darren Morgan-Radford, Computer Sleuths

My first Appraisal

Many years ago when I had my first appraisal I was very nervous. I had no idea what was going to happen or what the whole thing was for.

My manager took these things very seriously. He seemed to be convinced that the appraisal was about letting you know, in no uncertain terms, where you had gone wrong all through the year. But, and it was a big but, ‘nothing in an appraisal should ever come as a surprise’.

All my faults

So he laboriously went through all my many faults (it took a while). He told me I had ‘poor judgement’. I asked him what he meant by that. He wasn’t really able to explain. So I asked him for an example. ‘I never give examples in appraisals.’ He responded (almost as though he’d been asked before). So that was no help either.

To this day I don’t really know what he meant. So I haven’t been able to take any action.

'Nothing should come as a surprise'

His main measuring stick, as far as appraisals were concerned, was that ‘nothing had come as a surprise’. If it hadn’t, then, as a manager, you’d done a good job.

Nothing coming as a surprise was the main message of any appraisals training I had and they key thing people would always tell you when they were talking about how to do appraisals.

What no one did, though, was tell you what they were for.

Why do we do them?

If nothing is supposed to come as a surprise, it seems to me that you probably know it all already so why are you bothering?

Then people would say that it was a ‘summary’ of what had happened during the year. That seemed OK on the face of it. But again, what was the point?

The quickest appraisal I’ve ever had took about two minutes. My manager said: ‘If you carry on like this you’ll be fine.’ I didn’t even get a cup of tea.

The Forms

Then there are the forms. Do you like filling out forms? I don’t. In my view, the shorter the better. And I like them to be simple and easy to use. When I look at the forms some organisations have, my heart sinks. On one of our courses I mentioned a form I had seen that was nine pages long. A man on the course responded by telling us that theirs were 12 pages long!

When I looked at them some of the questions were unbelievably stupid and very difficult to answer.

The Questions

It reminded me of the early days in my career. We had quite a simple form, but the questions were very hard: ‘What are your three greatest achievements in the last year?’ And ‘What have been your three worst failures during the last year?’

People described this as giving your manager the bullets to shoot you with.

The Perfect Answer

Then, one day, one of my colleagues, Josh, came up with the perfect answer to the second question:

‘I have failed to persuade my manager of the importance of these three issues….’

The Real Problem

None of us took this process seriously and instead we spent our time thinking of clever answers to a question that wasn’t very useful.

Why do we do appraisals?

You may be surprised to learn that most people don’t actually know the purpose of appraisals.
Some people think their purpose is around measuring performance, pointing out mistakes and working out who should have a bonus.
Appraisals are really there so that you can put the individual in the best position to achieve next year’s objectives. Otherwise, what’s the point?

Do you think appraisals are a waste of time? In many organisations it’s worse than that.
Appraisals or performance reviews can actually REDUCE the performance of their people. Managers do them badly and as a consequence individuals are de-motivated, leave without the information and feedback that is crucial to their development and improved performance. The consequence is poor performance and low achievement.

How does this happen?

Many managers use appraisals to point out people’s mistakes and personal weakness. Has that happened to you? Even worse other managers skate over difficult issues and agree levels of performance and achievement that cannot be justified. Often employees see the performance review as a complete waste of time.
When this happens the cost to you is huge.

Are you a busy manager who is trying to do more with less? Do you feel you just don’t have enough time to do appraisals properly?

By getting appraisals and performance reviews right you can drastically improve the performance of the people in your team year on year.

Picture of Nancy I’m Nancy Slessenger. I have over 20 years experience in helping people to do more with less and improve the performance of their teams. I have worked with companies and organizations of all sizes, from large multinationals to small owner-managed companies. This booklet contains the secrets from my work with hundreds of clients just like you on how to carry out appraisals in a way that is less effort and produces better results.

I’ve worked with many people struggling with these issues over the years; are these the same things that worry you?

‘I don’t know how to tackle poor performance’
‘Appraisals seem to take up all my time and don’t achieve very much’
‘I end up writing bland comments on appraisal forms instead of something meaningful’

If any of this sounds familiar to you, then Praise and the Appraisal will help you.

It’s written specially for people carrying out appraisals and performance reviews and also for those on the receiving end.

Praise and the Appraisal - £3.87/$7.58

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By getting appraisals and performance reviews right you can drastically improve the performance of the people in your team, year on year. I’ve worked with thousands of people just like you helping them to get it right. To get started sign up for my FREE email–course on how to prepare for giving appraisals.

Every day, starting today, you will get the steps to make sure you have prepared effectively for the appraisals you need to carry out.

Very simple but excellent in every aspect

Caroline Adair, IDH

In Praise and the Appraisal you will find:

Sixteen tips on how to prepare and plan for an appraisal whether you are the manager or the person whose performance is being appraised
A check list to make sure you are clear about the organisational needs and the needs of the individual
Six tips on what to do during the year to make sure the process goes well
A simple structure for the appraisal interview
Nine tips on how to deal with scores, grades and rating systems
What to do in the appraisal including
Fourt tips on how to make sure people are relaxed
Four tips on how to introduce the appraisal
Four tips on how to review what was achieved
Eight tips on how to give feedback the easy way
Seven tips on what to do if the objective was achieved
Eight tips on what to do if the objective was not achieved
Three tips on how to phrase written feedback on a form including examples you can modify and use yourself.
Nine tips on what to do about next year's objectives
Four tips on long term development issues
Seven tips on how to handle the development plan
Two tips on feedback for the manager and organisation
Three tips on how to summarise at the end
Twelve Frequently Asked Questions, including: How do a deal with a manager who won't listen to the facts? and What do I do when I think he's done badly and he thinks he's done well? What if they think they have achieved the objective and I don't? and What do I do if the individual burst into tears?

Deceptively simple, but all good, hard-edged advice

E Morrison, Mentor Group

Immediate results you can expect when you use Praise and the Appraisal:

You will be able to improve the performance of your team
You will be clear what you need to do in the appraisal
You will know how to prepare effectively
You will be able to handle awkward moments and issues
You will know what to do during the year to make the process work well

Appraisals and performance reviews are a part of most organisations’ performance management process. Used effectively they can help to improve performance and motivate people. Used badly they can do the reverse.

Choose the best option for you

Basic Option £3.87/$7.58

Praise and the Appraisal: 112 tips and techniques to make appraisals work. The easy to use guide that helps you to use appraisals to improve performance.
Order now only £ 3.87/$7.58

Performance Management Set

Only £9.95/$19.50

Total Value £11.6/$21.87

This set gives you the basic skills you need to manage performance and improve results. It contains:

Praise and the Appraisal:
And

Feedback for the Faint-hearted How to give and get feedback that improves performance. The booklet that contains the secrets to giving feedback that really does change behaviour.

And

How to Write Objectives that Work 52 tips and techniques to help you write effective objectives The best-selling booklet that takes the effort out of writing objectives.

Order the Performance Management Set now only £ 9.95/$19.50

Premium Set

Special Price £19.95/$39.14

Total Value £35.67

Praise and the Appraisal

Feedback for the Faint-hearted: Your guide to giving feedback that really does improve performance, based on the latest research.

How to Write Objectives that Work: 52 tips and techniques to help you write effective objectives The best-selling booklet that takes the effort out of writing objectives.

The Quick Guide to Dealing with Difficult People: 101 tips and techniques for dealing with all kinds of difficult behaviours including bullying, negativity, insensitivity and indecisiveness

How to Interview Successfully: Your guide to successful recruitment and the steps to follow.

Attendance Management tips and techniques: How to deal with absence problems, what to say and what to do to reduce absence and improve your bottom line.

Bonus 37 page eBook on how to deal with bullying, covering every aspect of this behaviour, how to recognise it and how to stop it in its tracks.

Order the Premium Set now only £ 19.95/$39.14

We give discounts for orders of 20 or more.
Contact us to find out more. Or just call (+44) 01483 811418.

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How to do Appraisals