5 Simple Ways to Make Performance Appraisals Count

Have you ever wondered why excellence is such a rare commodity in the corporate world? A lot of us have done extensive research to figure it out what is the exact reason behind this scenario. However, have you thought of telling your employees that what you really expect from them in terms of job performance? No one can read minds, and communicating about performance can’t be left to chance. If you don’t communicate about it, it’ll appear as if there’s a culture that do not care about performance. Not only will performance suffer, employees will also become less engaged. How far are you as an organisation reaching your target? What mechanisms have you put in place to reach that organisational excellence?

1. Define Goals as “Wins” in Performance Appraisals

Having a clear definition of achieving goals or winning gives vision and focus at every level of the organisation. The broad organisational goals need to be translated for each individual. It’s not just the sales and marketing team that should meet their targets – your customer service, or development team if you have them should be meeting their targets as well. Count each goal met as a clear ‘win’. And when unexpected adversity occurs, this will make you motivated and inspired to keep going with the attitude of high performance.

2. Share A Winning Attitude

Just having a clear vision of winning alone won't survive. To keep employees focused on winning, you have to get a winning attitude as well. If your employees have the attitude to win they won't get distracted by anything else on their way. Instead they will keep on performing towards not just achieving their goals but to surpass them.

3. Give Constant Feedback

Employees really wish to have feedback from their employers, especially their immediate supervisors because it helps them know where they are in regards to performance expectations. I think it's a kind of positive wave from the employers’ side conveying the message that they really care. Apart from this, giving frequent feedback will certainly eliminate communications gaps and therefore establish good rapport between employee and the organisation.

4. Don’t Just Appraise – Motivate, Celebrate and Encourage

Never delay or hesitate to appreciate your employees' achievement, initiatives, or creativity. This is your chance to motivate your employees into high performance. If they know their efforts are appreciated, they’ll try harder to meet their goals, and even take initiatives to troubleshoot bottlenecks. Reiterate that their role is very crucial in the organisation and and motivate them to better themselves. Then let the employees know how important it is for them to perform at a high level.

5. Reward and Acknowledge Great Performance

Growing a culture of performance excellence is one thing. If you want to sustain a culture of excellence, should also have an ideal performance management system in place. This system should have rewarding employees as part of your regular routine. Set up an efficient performance appraisal management and ensure that your employees are satisfied and gain more quality performance. Let the employees realise that you really appreciate the effort they put in. These rewards can be monetary performance bonuses, or tickets to a concert, or an all paid vacation. You can also combine a mix of these.