APPRAISAL SYSTEMS

Most organizations now incorporate a formal appraisal system in their plan. The inclusion of such schemes reflects an increasing awareness of quality control, which developed through the '80s.

It also reflects growing consciousness of a need to manage the human resource level well in any business. More appraisal systems now have the following objectives:

To enable the individual to:

• Know how well he or she has performed in the past
• Understand what he or she has to do to progress
• Make plans for development

To enable the organization to:

• Identify individual capabilities
• Make maximum use of individuals' capabilities
• Communicate its views to an individual

To work well to improve staff performance and motivation, an appraisal system has to be congruent with the organizational culture in which it is embedded. Current thinking is that it is useful to keep ideographic appraisal—that is, retrospective performance review and prospective objective setting—separate from nomothetic appraisal, which is salary review. If the two happen together, the staff member does not hear the ideographic information clearly because he or she finds it hard not to worry abut the nomothetic information.

Before concentrating on giving feedback in an appraisal interview, we need to be aware of two provisos: the timing of formative feedback and the amount of "air time" the interviewer has.

Timing

Behaviorists would say that formative feedback—feedback that actually changes the way people behave next time—should be time-targeted:

Negative or critical feedback should be given just prior to the next occurrence of the criticized activity, so that the person has maximum information and opportunity to do it in a different way.

Positive feedback or praise should be given immediately after the praised activity so that the staff member makes maximum linkage between the way he or she performed and the pleasant feeling of being praised.

Although much exchange of feedback takes place within appraisal systems, reinforce it well on a day-to-day basis by using time-targeted reminders.

Who gets the "air time"?

Many managers giving staff appraisal interviews feel that they ought to have about 80% of the speaking time, but this behavior does not pass feedback on in the most effective way. If the staff members have time to interact with responses and discuss the feedback, they "hear" it, register it, and understand it far more clearly; so it has a better chance of being formative. Do not be afraid of pauses and silences while the interviewee digests what is being said. One survey suggests that an effective interviewer should try not to take more than 25% of the speaking time.

When you have worked on receiving criticism well, it is easier to make criticism constructively.

Giving critical feedback assertively

In the assertive model of giving critical feedback, body language, as always, should be in the relaxed/alert range, rather than the tense/fight or flight spectrum, and an assertive rather than an aggressive or passive tone and choice of words is more effective.

Useful critical feedback must be information that a subordinate can:

• Accept
• Understand
• Do something about

Be ready to field panic reactions and/or aggression from the receiver of critical feedback by using core phrases that refocus on the specific issues.

In particular, be ready to agree jointly on a manageable and specific number of future objectives that give staff members an opportunity to change the criticized behavior. They then form a hopeful rather than a hopeless mind-set about the issue at hand.

Giving positive feedback assertively

Positive feedback also needs to be given in an assertive way. Body language, again, needs to be in the relaxed/alert range and not the tense/fight or flight zone. The voice quality should be even and steady, and praise must be given without envy or a sense of being patronizing. A study of praise and blame in appraisal interviews found that praise was usually vague and general and had little effect.

Useful positive feedback is:

• Specific—pick particular tasks, achievements, or qualities to praise.
• Focused—choose the words you use as precisely and carefully as you can: this focus tells your staff members that you thought carefully and perceived exactly what it was about their work that you wanted to pick out for positive feedback
• Immediate and rewarding feedback is a strong stimulus for improvement. If you are fairly senior in your field, you may have forgotten what a crucial part of sustaining the learning process it is—but check it out against your need for praise and encouragement in any new sport, skill, or activity you are trying to learn (note that the literal derivation of encouragement is "giving heart to").

Senior staff members may not need quite so much praise and encouragement over learning new skills, but they emphatically do need praise and encouragement for their effort and commitment.

Most employees, and indeed most bosses, feel that they do not get enough meaningful positive feedback. Everyone would benefit greatly from more thoughtful and clear interactions of this kind.

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