Evaluating Performance - Free eBook in PDF Format
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Book Description - ISBN 978-1-62620-991-6 (35 Pages)
The success of the appraisal process depends on the quality of the performance data you collect throughout the appraisal period. This free eBook describes how to collect, evaluate and record this information.
Chapter 1 - Evaluating Performance Appraisal
You need to allocate frequent slots within your monthly work schedule where you collate and record performance data. An effective way to collect the required data is to ask your team to structure their monthly progress reports in a way that maps to their personal goals.
Chapter 2 - Appraisal Data Collection
You should collect data based on: progress towards goals, third party feedback, and observed competencies, as well as generic data like attendance.
Chapter 3 - Evaluating Competencies
To gain a true appreciation of how well someone is performing and contributing to the organization, you need to gather data about the individual's relationship with third parties. Performance is not solely about attaining targets; how they are achieved also matters.
Chapter 4 - Performance Appraisal Rating Bias
Industrial psychologists have identified ten common causes of bias that affect managers when appraising their team. As you read through this list ask yourself if you have a tendency to act in this way. If you answer 'Yes' then you need to make a conscious effort to avoid the behavior.
Chapter 5 - Performance Appraisal Rating Scales
Most organizations use a 3, 4, 5 or 7-point scale with the most common being a 5-point scale. You will need to communicate to your team members how the 'midpoint' of the scale is defined, so that their expectations are clearly set.
Chapter 6 - Performance Appraisal Reviews
Regular scheduled performance reviews give you the opportunity to identify potential problems before they become serious. These reviews also strengthen the working relationship you have with each member of your team.
Chapter 7 - Writing an Annual Performance Summary
The primary purpose of the annual performance summary is to give the team member constructive feedback on how well they have performed over the period. Ideally, a performance summary should consist of four sections covering goals, competencies, overall performance, and areas of improvement indicating potential training needs.
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Good Information on How to Collect Performance Data
As a manager, I have always understood that the only way to improve performance over time is to track performance as it develops for each individual. While I have understood the importance of that task, I don't think I have always been successful in achieving the goal of quantifying the work of my employees. With that in mind, I took the time to read the Evaluating Performance eBook and see what it had to offer me in the way of tools and plan for appraising the performance on my staff. I was pleasantly surprised with how much I learned, and how much of the information I intend on putting into practice.
In my opinion, the absolute hardest part of evaluating an employee's performance over time is the collecting of data that reflects that performance. To me, holding meetings to discuss what the employee has been doing and how they can improve is rather simple and straightforward. Having concrete numbers to back up your opinions, however, is a trickier proposition. This eBook goes into good detail regarding the process of collecting performance data for a variety of different positions within your business.
I realized while reading that I need to do more work on figuring out what numbers will best reflect the work of different team members. This sort of analysis cannot be done with a 'one size fits all' approach, but rather needs to be customized from person to person. By taking the time out to do this, you will have more accurate information that better represents the actual efforts of that individual which you are attempting to evaluate.
Third party feedback is something that this book highlights which I have admittedly done a poor job of using in the past. By taking into account the testimonies of related individuals within the business, a clearer picture can be gained in terms of evaluation. While this kind of data is naturally subjective, it is still useful in assembling a more complete picture of the performance of the employee. Doing this kind of information gathering on a regular basis will allow for better information when the year-end report comes around. Trying to gather data retroactively will result in inaccuracies and lost details along the way. Staying ahead of the curve in data collecting is something that I have taken from this eBook and will hope to put into action in my position.
My favorite section of this book was by far the section that speaks to rating bias. With any exercise where subjectivity is in play, there are also large margins of error. To help correct that, it is useful to understand where the mistakes can come from and how to sidestep them. The rating bias section includes ten points that are common causes of bias during an evaluation. In order to get use from this section, however, you need to be brutally honest with yourself and try to recognize some of these mistake in your own actions. None of us like to think that we are biased, but I bet if you look hard at your history you will find at least some of these points to ring true.
I believe that all managers know they need to be constantly evaluating their staff, but they just might not know how to go about it in an efficient manner. For me, it is usually one of those tasks that gets pushed back 'until tomorrow'. This eBook has helped me think of some ways that I can make the process more efficient, and hopefully stay ahead of the game going forward so my evaluations can be more accurate and less time consuming.
Lee Hopkins
I Learned a Fair Amount from This Book
As someone who is studying human resources, it is really important for me to understand all aspects of this career, including how to properly evaluate performance. Someone from class recommended this site to me and this particular e-book. I have learned so much from just reading this one e-book and have to recommend it to anyone who wants to understand how to give a performance evaluation correctly. Although I found a few concepts difficult to grasp, I learned a fair amount from this book.
This e-book will teach you how to collect data, what scales to use to rate performance, and how to record the evaluation so that it is helpful to you in the future. As the book states, your performance evaluation is only as successful as the performance data you collect.
One of the first things I learned about evaluating performance is that it's not just about getting a pay increase at the end of the year. There is so much more involved when it comes to evaluating performance. For one, the appraisal term is a full year, so the evaluation process happens throughout the year. When it comes time to evaluate, then the meeting has to be conducted properly. You have to set goals and agree to them, your boss has to lay out what he or she may want from you, you can lay out what you want to do in the next year, meet throughout the year to review performance and make sure you are on track, etc.
Organization and assessment throughout the year is key for effective evaluations. A manager needs to watch his or her staff and must collect performance data. The book outlines specific ways a manager can gather information, whether it be his or her own observation or by gathering information on a particular individual through other team members. Another way is to note down goals that a manager wants an individual to reach at the beginning of the year. The book points out that there is generic data you can collect on an individual such as attendance, attitude, creativity, reliability, etc.
Competencies are also of importance as they can tell a lot about an individual. Even if the individual reaches their intended goal, a manager has to observe how they got there. It is easy to make a pros and cons list of all the things the individual has done during projects to evaluate better. Another important point is to ensure that a manager does not let their biases get in the way of evaluating a person.
Regular reviews are the actual key to performance evaluation. Consistently reviewing staff members is another way to ensure that individuals keep up their performance and try to exceed their past performances. It keeps everyone on their toes and helps keep an effective and efficient environment at the workplace.
Lastly, an annual performance summary is important so that you can give staff members constructive criticism to improve their performance the next year. I found this e-book to be helpful, especially to a student like me, and recommend it to anyone who wants to learn how to properly evaluate their staff. They may find some parts difficult to understand, but the majority of the book can help.
Tony Kim
Exactly What I Was Looking For
Giving a performance evaluation is something that has always caused me some anxiety. I want to be fair and honest, but yet I do not want to discourage anyone if I gave them a poor review. I could never get through the appraisal meeting without being nervous and feeling on edge. I came across this book about a week before a scheduled appraisal meeting. I figured if it was something that caused me significant stress then it is something that I need to research and become better at. I did not want to spend my days off researching this and reading for hours. I noticed that this book was short and that I could read it on my break instead of on my weekend. I have read several of the other books on this website and found that they were all exactly what I was looking for.
So, when I needed help with evaluating performance I knew exactly where to come. The beginning of this e-book spends some time discussing the stages of the appraisal meeting. This to me was not helpful because I have already read the other books form the appraisal meeting series. If you are new to appraisal meeting or need to brush up then I highly suggest reading all of the other books from the series as well. "Collecting Performance Data" is where I needed to start. I had always paid attention and tried to make a mental note of my team member's performance. What I lacked was organization and the plan to get me started. I needed to do more than take a mental note. I needed to take physical notes and make files for each individual and keep my notes and their goals in that folder. At each appraisal meeting I need to write down goals for my team member and put that in their folder so that when it is time to evaluate their performance, I will have something to go off of.
Prior to this book, I struggled with figuring out exactly what data I needed to collect. This e-book has a section on just that. This book uses four categories to break down the types of data to collect. Those categories are: generic data, competency, goal progress, and third party feedback. This book uses a graphic that is perfect for describing what is covered in each of the categories. "Competencies" is the only category that I felt I need to learn more about, rather than just studying the graphic. Luckily the book also breaks down each category. Collecting competencies data is recording a significant incident.
A significant incident is when something happens that is extremely different then what you pictured would happen. This can be a positive or negative reaction. Another section I that I believe everyone should pay special attention to is the "Understanding Rating Bias" section. This section is in some of the other books as well, but I am glad it was included in this book as well. This section should be important to anyone in a leadership position. I took the information I learned from this book and put it to action. I am coming up on another appraisal meeting and I feel relaxed and confident about it.
Before, I was nervous about these meetings because I wasn't prepared enough. From this book I learned what type of data and how to collect the data that I need to make my appraisal meetings more effective. This is a book that I would recommend to anyone that is new to management. It really helped me become more organized as to my data collection and my data collection strategies.
Dean Harper
Does Your Organization Provide Enough Management Training - A lot of managers begin their careers feeling like they were not prepared for their job. In fact, it is a problem that is becoming increasingly familiar, especially in larger corporations where first-level managers tend not to stick around for very long.
How to Overcome a Blame Culture - Quickly and effectively getting rid of a blame culture is one of the best things that a manager can do in order to keep a staff on track and productive. No one gains when the members of an organization are find fault in each other instead of working hard toward a common goal. It is the job of the manager to steer the ship in the right direction, and the above tips are a good start toward that end.
