Appraising for Praising

This is the time of the year when HR teams geared up for the Annual Performance Review of the employees. Quite a hustle bustle is seen in HR departments and a general buzz in Company for the upcoming review drive.

There are a lot of expectations seen in the masses and employees are anxious and excited…..forms are printed and distributed, budget for increment is set, meetings are planned etc etc.

Some thoughtful Companies also arrange for training for their staff that are going to appraised their teams, but what forgotten is the actual spirit of Appraisals.

Generally in Appraisals we forget how an individual has performed throughout the year and the annual review is done on the last three months performance. Which is rather unfair….being in HR for quite a while now this is a general practice that has been observed.

Similarly the most important thing while a person is appraised is to highlight the good things in him or her. While appraising most HODs give a lot of justification why the individual is rated low…the statement usually goes like “Since you lack here….”, “if you had done this better…..” and, “based on your low performance…..” and so the list goes on…..

Why we forget to highlight the good points in so many bad points….why we don’t say “you have excellent communication skills but you also need to focus on……………” or “I am happy the way you handled this task but you have to work hard on …………” Consider the positive impact it will have on your team, and how much it would help in increasing their morale and commitment towards their jobs.

Usually at the end of Annual Review Exercise, instead of happy faces we see a lot of discomfort and negative sentiments from employees…and the debate is should there be a forced ranking system (bell curve) or not! Well it all depends on how you handle it.

Praise them when you are appraising, give them chance to speak and explain, discuss their performance not once a year but on regular intervals throughout the year, and give them chance and opportunity to learn and grow.

Happy Reading!