Six Ways to Screw Up a Performance Appraisal

1.      Providing invisible feedback.When offering constructive feedback, objectively describe what you have observed and indicate why it’s a problem.  Do not sugarcoat the issue into oblivion.  For example, the above manager might say “Nancy sometimes makes exceptions to policies without sufficient justification.  This can result in unequal treatment for customers.” 2.       Springing a surprise.If you failed to give feedback when a problem occurred, you need to acknowledge your error: “I know that I should have mentioned this at the time, and I’ll tryto give more immediate feedback in the future.  However, we do need to talk about the project delay that occurred last summer.” 3.       Becoming a psychologist.Convert your conclusions about personality traits into a specific description of problem behaviors.  So instead of telling an employee, “You need to start showing more initiative”, you might say “When you finish one project, I need for you to come and ask me what else needs to be done instead of just waiting for another assignment.” 4.       Putting the spotlight on flaws. Being more attuned to problems than positives is just human nature, so you must make a special effort to see all the things that your employees do well.  Unless the person is so bad that they’re about to be fired, a review should contain at least twice as many positive comments as negative ones.  And be sure to use as much detail when describing accomplishments as you do when describing problems. 5.        Delivering a lecture. Ask questions!  After introducing every major topic in the performance review, solicit the employee’s input.  Have trouble thinking of questions?  You can find a list of them at Conducting a Motivational Performance Review. 6.       Arguing about examples.  When you illustrate certain points by citing specific events, make every effort to keep the discussion focused on the future instead of the past.  If the employee starts to argue, be clear about the goal of the conversation.  For example: “I do understand that other factors contributed to the problems with this project.  However, I don’t think we should spend time revisiting that situation.  Instead, let’s talk about how we can prevent similar problems in the future.”