Running a Smooth Performance Evaluation
The time has officially come to perform employee evaluations. If you are making a habit of open communication with your employees throughout the year, then this is just an official meeting to cover items that have probably already been discussed at other times. If you don’t communicate regularly with your employees during the year, evaluations can still run smoothly. Following the four steps below can mean the difference between smooth and useful evaluations or rather useless ones.
Have employees perform self-audits. These will allow you to see what the employee is thinking about how he or she is performing on the job and what he or she sees as his or her weaknesses and strengths. This inside information takes a lot of guesswork out of your evaluation and helps you to connect with your employee.
Customize your evaluation to each employee. All employees are not identical, so every evaluation should not be identical. Make your evaluation fit the needs and responses of the individual.
Set attainable goals. Be sure to set your employees up for success. Give them the map on how to correct problems or meet the expectations you have. Be sure that the goals set are reasonable and attainable and give the employees deadlines for reaching them. This gives them the extra push to try to do what has been asked of them and clearly communicates your expectations.
Request feedback from evaluations. Make giving feedback easy and be certain to actually follow-up and read the feedback. This lets the employees know that you value what they have to say and makes them more inclined to share their thoughts. Open communication between management and staff will be the difference between a happy, healthy workplace and a stressful, tension-filled environment.
Since evaluations are a necessary evil in business, finding ways to make the most of them should be your primary goal. Taking the sting out of the evaluation and getting it to run smoothly means that you are well on your way to have effective performance evaluations.
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For more information, email or call Rob at 410.827.0180, rmilner@nesgroup.net.
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