FREE online courses on Performance and Potential Appraisal - Appraisal Interview and Feedback

 

The post appraisal interview is an essential part of the performance appraisal system. The employee gets useful feedback information about how effectively and efficiently he is able to discharge the assigned duties. It also gives the opportunity to employee to explain his views about the ratings, standards, rating methods, internal and external causes for low level of performance. The appraiser gets a chance to explain the employee his rating, the traits and behavior he has taken into account for appraisal, etc. He can utilize this opportunity to offer constructive suggestions help, guide and coach the employee for his advancement. The post appraisal interview helps both parties to review standards, set new standards based on the experience gained. It, thus, serves to meet the following objectives:

 

1.                  to let employees know where they stand;

2.                  to help employees do a better job by clarifying what is expected of them;

3.                  to plan opportunities for development and growth;

4.                  to strengthen the superior-subordinate working relationship by developing a mutual agreement of goals;

5.                  to provide an opportunity for employees to express themselves on performance-related issues.

 

Feedback Defined

 

The term ‘workplace feedback' implies two things; (a) Job performance – whether ‘x' is capably performing specific tasks that have been assigned (b) Work-related behavior – the way ‘x' performs his tasks, whether ‘x' speaks politely to customers and works cooperatively with other team members. The appraiser and the appraiser need to follow certain things while giving and receiving feedback. These are discussed below:

(a)      Adequate preparation: The appraisal process should be a continuous one. Informal sessions could be held every now and then to put the employee on track. Formal meetings could take place on a fortnightly, monthly or quarterly basis depending on the progress shown by the employee from time to time. When ratees are rated on various jobs, the meetings could be held more frequently to clarify doubts. For holding performance-related discussions, the rater and ratee could select a location where they can relax and exchange notes with ease. Such one-to-one meetings must be conducted in an atmosphere of mutual trust, understanding and friendship. The hierarchical boundaries should be ignored and positional arrogance should be forgotten.

(b)      Describe behavior: The rater should give detailed feedback to the employee. This involves questions such as

• What happened?
• Where and when did it occur?
• Who was involved?
• How did it affect others?

 

Statements such as: “The ad copy you wrote just didn't click. Try to put a little more energy into your sales presentations”, “I just don't like the way you displayed the items”; do not help the employee because there is no information to make changes in his actions. Detailed feedback should be specific and accurate. It must give answers to the questions just mentioned above. In the presentation example, an improved way of giving feedback could be: “your presentation is full of ideas but you don't seem to be excited when you were suggesting them; (what he has been doing) your voice is very soft and rate of speaking is low. Our surveys show that your audience think you sound bored with your topic. (where and when and who – his listeners) Could you make the points more clear to the audience by giving concrete examples and interesting ancedotes (redirect energies in a right way?)”. While describing behavior certain precautions need to be observed:

(a)      Acts not attitudes

          l       Never attack personality, educational background, physique, etc. Do not comment on employee's attitudes.

          l       The right way : you were late twice last week.

          l       The wrong way : you just don't care about coming on in time.

(b)      Future-oriented

          l       Do not dwell on the past; focus on the future, review the past, observe the current performance and use both to improve employee performance in future.

(c)      Goal-oriented

          l       Each one of us walk along our own path. There may be hurdles on the way. We may overstep and go off the rails. We may obstruct others from realizing their goals. But if all of us focus on overall goals and move like teammates the effort will not go waste.

(d)      Listen to the recipient

                   l       The reactions of the feedback recipient should never be ignored. The appraiser should give feedback when the appraisee is ready to accept it. This, of course, depends on the appraiser's relationship with the recipient and the recipient's capacity to receive feedback.

(e)      Descriptive, not evaluative

                   l       The feedback should not be judgemental. It should be descriptive and allow the recipient to think and take appropriate action. consider the statements, which reflect this spirit:

                             i.        Your remark made me ‘angry'

                             ii.       In the last 10 minutes, you repeated the same statement 4 times.

                   l       On the other hand evaluative feedback in the form of statements: “your behavior is not proper, you suffer from inferiority complex, you should be bold enough to say no” will not help the recipient.

(f)      Data-based feedback

                   l       Effective feedback gives specific information about where the recipient has gone wrong and gives him data in the form of observations, feelings and other things which his behavior has evoked.

                             Wrong way : ‘Do not interrupt'

                   l       Right way : You interrupted A, B, C without allowing them to complete their points of view.

(g)      Suggestive

                   l       The supervisor may offer constructive suggestions aimed at improving the behavior of the recipient. These should however, be in the form of various alternatives open to the recipient for improving his own ways of doing things. The supervisor should not prescribe actions – what exactly the recipient should do – because that only makes the employee (i) depend on the former for advice and guidance, (ii) ineffective since he is not involved in the decision taken.

(h)      Reinforcement

                   l       Effective feedback should help a person decide about which style of behavior he should continue to use. To this end, the supervisor should identify job behaviors and performance of the employee that help achieve goals and encourage the employee to repeat such behaviors and grow gradually.

 

(i)       Continuous

                    l       Feedback should not be an annual ritual carried out in a mechanical way. It should be a continuous, on going process of reinforcing right behaviors and checking wrong ways of doing things (Poertner and Miller).

(j)      Need based and solicited

                   l       Feedback would be effective if the recipient genuinely wants to take it and mends his behaviors that are not in tune with job requirements. It should be such that the recipient could think about it and do something to improve his behavioral responses. For example, feedback given to a person on his stammering may not help because it would only reinforce his negative self-image and he cannot do anything about his stammering in the normal course.

(c)       Proper timing: Feedback should be well-timed. It should be given immediately after the event has taken place. For example the statement ‘3 weeks ago I passed you in the corridor; you didn't say hello' – does not serve the purpose as the recipient has no interest to reflect on the event unless the consequences are negative. Timing also means that the recipient of the feedback should be in a position to receive feedback and use it.

(d)      Help both parties: To be effective, feedback should satisfy the needs of the rater and the ratee. The rater may want to help, to influence and to establish a better relationship. To this end, he must move closer to the ratee, understand his problems and suggest remedial steps in a friendly tone. The ratee on his part should listen to the feedback information given by the rater carefully. There is no use overreacting to feedback. When the ratee is praised for showing promise and talent, he should not take it for granted that he does no wrong. A negative comment of the rater likewise, should not influence the ratee's behavior too badly. The ratee should keep all feedback in perspective and learn from all such information without writing off inappropriate feedback as rude and obnoxious. The ratee should remain calm and cordial throughout the feedback session. He should not be afraid to ask questions. To this end, he must:

• Ask for details, especially when he/she is bombarded with inappropriate feedback.
• State clearly what he heard from the feedback to make sure that his/her interpretation matches the intention of the appraiser.
• Seek suggestions for future action. The purpose of feedback is to share information that will help him/her plan the future. Always ask the appraiser to help develop a plan for changing your future actions.
• Remember to thank the person giving the feedback. Saying ‘thanks' demonstrates that your behavior always remains professional and sets a positive tone for your next interaction.