ICT Supporting Organizations 19: The Appraisal Process

New technologies have had a huge impact on the way people work over the last twenty years. The rate of change has also increased hand in hand with technology. The result of this is that people need to keep their skills up to date to be effective inside their company. This can be done in a variety of ways.

Managers need to understand what training their employees need. It would be a strange world if everyone needed the same training at the same time, so certain strategies have been developed in order that managers can offer effective training opportunities.

This is known as the appraisal process. Below is one way in which this process can be conducted.

The Appraisal Interview

The whole idea of interviewing members of staff to appraise how they are doing is very common among commercial businesses. Many organizations use the traditional interview technique of one senior person asking an employee questions about their job and how they have been doing it.

Before you are appraised, your manager should make it very clear why this process is being applied to you. What will happen because of the results of the interview should be made very clear before, not after the interview begins.

There are many reasons for appraisals. It could be an annual meeting between you and your manager to see how you have performed over the year. It could be to plan and set future targets or even have a look at how well you are positioned for promotion. Also, it could be to work out what needs you have for training.

Many organizations use a single appraisal to cover all of these, but this is not best practice as it can lead to a conflict of interest between the employer and the employee. It is therefore best practice that organizations separate appraisals from a review of salary. In this way the employee is encouraged to be honest about their performance and needs.

From the perspective of the manager, they should have kept a record of your performance over the time period that the appraisal covers. This should not only be where you have failed in your professional duties but also the good stuff so that an interview with constructive results can take place.

Self-Assessment Activity: Personal Development Plan

In order for a constructive appraisal to take place it is a good idea for the employee to have some sort of self-assessment activity to complete beforehand. This is known as a Personal Development Plan. It is usually a form that is completed before the appraisal interview. As well as indicating to your manage what you think your developmental needs are it also allows you to recognize and list evidence. This can be not only what you need to learn but evidence of previous learning and how you have applied it in your job.

It also does a very important thing – it shifts you from a passive to an active position within the appraisal process. It enables you to review and plan your own learning but most of all demands that you take responsibility for it,

When you are able to review and plan your learning it will make it much easier for you to define what any future training you should undertake.

The Interview

The manager too, should have some sort of form which is filled out prior to the interview. They should highlight the good or bad things the manager wishes to discuss with you. Often they will use a technique which asks you “How do you think you did..” on a certain work task or activity – before they tell you how they think you did of course!

In this way, the Personal Development Plan is vital – many employees see it as either a way for management to discover their weaknesses or something that gets in the way of them doing their job during the time it takes to complete it. Take the time, though, it will enable you to more fully understand your function in the company and how you can enhance your role through training and development.

An appraisal interview should not be for disciplinary matters – these should be dealt with quite separately, so there shouldn’t be any nasty surprises awaiting you! The whole reason for an appraisal is to develop your role within the organization.

Training is often kept to the end of an appraisal interview which is not the best place for it at all! Your real needs must be incorporated in to any discussion about your performance so if you feel that you are being criticized about something you could not do because you did not have the training, then bring up the subject while the appraisal is going on – not at the end!

At the end of the interview, your manager should summarize what has happened at the meeting. They may have formulated some sort of plan of action already, but if not should let you know about what should happen within a few days of your meeting. This plan should have deadlines incorporated in to it – and very clear criteria against which your success or failure can be properly measured.