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Do you know the performance of each employee in your company?
Many managers and business owners think so, because performance evaluations are increasingly applied in companies of all sizes and segments.
However, this important instrument is not used and exploited to its maximum potential. To change for good and start benefiting from what performance evaluations can really provide, follow this content until the end.
What is a performance appraisal?
Not only those who already apply performance evaluations, but those who are considering doing so, tend to think of it as a tool to measure and determine grades or classifications for how people and teams behave in their professional activities.
The definitions can vary and there are those who talk about performance, or the results presented and things like that.
In principle, there are no major problems or mistakes in looking at it that way. However, this is a limited and restrictive view that still contributes to certain paradigms and consequences that do not contribute to the effective management of people.
Contrary to what some companies still practice, performance evaluations need to consider a series of aspects.
Factors for an effective performance appraisal
All of the following factors have weight and need to be considered in choosing and applying any performance measurement so that its benefits are observable:
- Psychological weight – starting with the association people make with the word “assessment”. In general, people do not like to be evaluated and the few who are neutral or even favorable to them can be negatively influenced if the result of the evaluation is not positive;
- Objective – those who are being submitted to the evaluation do not always have a complete notion of the objective of the evaluation and even when there is an awareness phase and that it is necessary, there will always be those who imagine that it has a supervisory and punitive purpose. This idea is reinforced when exchanges of people are promoted whose results were not good;
- Managers – there are many managers who do not see the full scope of the instrument, which is not just looking at the results that each one delivers, but diagnostic support of what needs to be worked on in the human capital at their disposal;
- Methods – it is also not rare that one is not aware of the diversity of existing methodologies and that each lends itself to different scenarios;
- Leadership – certain evaluation methodologies do not consider the influence of leadership in obtaining results, which is closely related to performance. Therefore, managers must also be evaluated and their performance considered in the performance of their team;
- Subjectivity – when the same employee can, in the same scenario, present different performances for two or more different managers, it means that the evaluation criteria are subjective and, therefore, not safe, unreliable;
- Holistic view – the results need to be interpreted under a vision of the whole or of the whole (holistic) and not in isolation. Thus, the performance of Sales personnel can – and sometimes is – be impacted by a flawed or poorly designed product project, which in turn affects Post-Sales, Technical Support and even Finance;
- Environmental variables – the performance of each employee and the group of employees (team) is not a result of what they do and does not depend solely on their behavior, knowledge and experience. There are environmental variables or factors that influence it;
- Human Resources – it is usually seen as a tool and responsibility of the Human Resources department, however, its role is to assist those who are the main beneficiaries of effective evaluations – the immediate managers and the company;
- Dynamic – performance can and does vary over time, so it is dynamic. Looking and evaluating only a restricted period is myopia and produces distortions;
- Symptom – among the most important findings regarding performance is that it should be seen as a symptom and not a cause.
What should be the objectives of the Performance Appraisal?
In short, an effective performance evaluation must provide an arsenal of information that allows the manager responsible for the team and for each employee who is part of it, to see everything that can and should be improved, not only in terms of people, but of the processes, the environment, the infrastructure, the tools, in short everything that participates in the construction of a result.
It is not possible to expect the best performance or something great, if, for example, the processes and standard operating procedures (SOPs) are outdated and too bureaucratic, as well as the tools used are technologically outdated and to complete the scenario, employees do not have the autonomy to innovate or make decisions.
In individualized terms, assessments should also allow:
- The mapping of competences/skills;
- What are the strengths and qualities that can be leveraged and that contribute to talent management;
- Show the aspects that need to be worked on through training, recycling, courses, lectures, corporate education, coaching / mentoring and other actions deemed necessary, composing the Individual Development Plan (PDI);
- With the periodic application of performance evaluations, a history is built up and one can see the evolution and, therefore, the level of efficiency of the adopted measures;
- Identify the need for managers to develop leadership over their team, as a premise and one of the environmental conditions for achieving better performance;
What not to do in a Performance Appraisal?
In the same way that we saw its role, it is important to highlight which situations performance evaluations are not suitable for.
Unfortunately, some managers do not have this comprehensive view of performance evaluations and their wide usefulness and end up just using the results to determine those who “deserve” to be on their team and those who do not.
The situation gets worse when, in addition to not trying to see the causes of unsatisfactory performance and the respective solutions, an environment of isolation is created in the team, which can produce a series of consequences, such as quiet firing or quiet quitting.
Nor should it serve as a tool to “search for those responsible” or “culprits”. Nobody deliberately sabotages themselves or produces bad results because they want to.
As the list of factors for effective assessments should have made clear, it is necessary to develop a holistic view, consider environmental variables and treat as a symptom and not the cause of problems.
Another point that needs to be taken care of is that the application of assessments, as well as the presentation of their results, do not interfere with the organizational climate, directly or indirectly.
Last but not least, to achieve its purpose, the methodologies adopted must, as much as possible, be free of biases that influence the perception of performance. If this is not the case, those who need to improve do not improve and the good ones are not valued, because it seems like a personal matter.
In such situations, things like “So-and-so is the boss’s darling, that’s why he had that result” or “I will never be evaluated well, because the boss has a tantrum with me”, become commonplace. In other words, impartiality and impartiality are required, otherwise, instead of benefit, the evaluation produces problems.
We all have a high degree of subjectivity in everything we evaluate and that depends on our perceptions, emotions (different times, different emotions), interests and motivations, which make this necessary and desired impartiality difficult.
This phenomenon is known as the idiosyncratic rater effect.
When we are assessing someone on a “desired competence” or “expected behavior” and we give a grade from 1 to 5 (or any other scale), such a grade is more a result of who we are, than the person evaluated. In addition, defining everything an employee is for the company, by a hypothetical score of 2.9 and which is an average of several criteria, can be very practical, but it can also be very unfair and simplistic!
What is the best performance evaluation?
This is one of the most frequently asked questions when talking about it and for that reason alone it is part of our chat. However, few people accept the adequate answer, which is: it depends!
Asking that question is analogous to asking what are the best pants out there?
It depends. The best pants to go to work may be one if your job is to assemble custom furniture, but it will be quite another if you work in a law firm. It changes if it’s a sport pants, such as golf and that is radically different from those used by those who do high mountain mountaineering. If you’re wearing pajamas, it’s one, but if you’re going to go hiking on a motorcycle, it’s useless.
It should already be clear that the circumstances involved greatly change the answer.
Even the different generations that make up your group of collaborators can determine how to conduct the process. For Generation Y or Millennials, waiting a year to receive a review of your work can be considered too long. Some of them are possibly no longer part of the staff.
More and more feedback processes, informal assessments and performance gamification are being put into practice. Fortunately, the range of existing methodologies is continually growing so that which and how to apply it is more accessible today than it once was.
The choice of the evaluation model requires a series of precautions:
- It needs to be prepared and conducted by professionals with expertise in the area;
- It requires deep knowledge of the organizational culture;
- It is extremely advisable to carry out an organizational climate survey, as it is one of the many influencing factors;
- The more environmental factors known, such as quality of life at work, intra-company communication, tools and resources, etc., the fairer the assessment will be;
- Complete definition of the profile of each employee, based on hard and soft skills, it contributes a lot to assess whether their performance is consistent with what was presented, as well as to the preparation of the PDI and talent management;
- The definition of goals – when they exist or are applicable – and which is one of the performance indicators, must be consistent and feasible. It is necessary to see the difference between a desirable and/or necessary goal and an achievable one. It has to be both.
Thus, there is not a model that is always the best, but the most adequate. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the moment of the company, its needs, its reality, its momentary conditions and its objectives.
The evaluation period must also be considered. Imagine someone who had a great performance throughout an entire semester, but who in the last fortnight had a drop, just in the period in which the evaluation process was conducted. Is the observed result fair?
Caution is needed, because as we have seen, many decisions are made based on the grades assigned by the assessments, which can range from defining employee promotions to awarding prizes and bonuses.
Thus, evaluations that are not carried out with the seriousness they deserve, produce numbers that do not reflect reality and that somehow contaminate the decisions based on them.
Conclusion
Performance evaluations, if well used, are important diagnostic instruments and serve as compasses for managers in conducting their teams.
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