How Well Are You Evaluating Employee Performance?

The topic of criticizing employees makes many managers cringe

. Its certainly not the best part of the job but it is, indeed, part of the job. So, lets first take some of the sting out of the word criticizing employees and instead call it evaluating employees. Sound better?

Evaluating employees is an important aspect of your responsibilities for many reasons. Employees actually want your feedbackconstructive, of coursebecause they want to be as productive as possible and perform at the high-level you expect. But to do that they need you to be candid with reviews of their job performance.

Needless to say, there are good ways and bad ways to approach evaluating employees. Youve likely been evaluated many times to get to your position, so you may intuitively know what needs to be said and how it needs to be said. If youre new to this or want some refresher tips on the most effective ways to evaluate employees, lets take a closer look:

Describe the behavior: Remember that youre evaluating employee behavior, not the person. One of the worst things you can do is criticize personality traits or characteristics. Avoid statements like you dont listen or you have a bad attitude. Focus instead on describing the specific behaviors that are causing poor performancewhat theyre doing or not doing that is having a negative impact on the business.

Dont make comparisons: Comparing one employees behavior or habits with anothers is unproductive. No one wants to be told how they dont measure-up to the performance of another employee. Its unprofessional at worst and annoying at best. Its far more effective to evaluate the employees performance based on previously agreed upon goals and expectations.

Use facts: Avoid assumptions and focus on the facts. The last thing you want to do is evaluate employees based on a perception that may or may not be true.

Dont mix messages: Your employee evaluations should be balanced but dont preface your negative feedback with a positive statement. Keep them separate. When communicated in virtually the same sentence, a general positive comment will typically be ignored in favor of the specific negative statement.

Ask questions: One of the most effective employee evaluation techniques is to ask clarifying questions. Asking questions enables you to avoid direct criticism while hinting at the problem in a way that is still clearly understood. For example, if an employee is always late turning in sales reports, you can ask, Is there anything I can do to make it easier for you to submit your sales reports on time?

Timing is Everything:

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, never alienate an employee by singling him or her out with a negative comment in a public setting such as a department meeting. Embarrassing employees in front of their peers will only develop resentment, not improve performance. Provide all employee evaluations in private so the focus can be directed to the behavioral problem and the proposed solutions. Regardless of the type of feedback, you will win employee respect by keeping it private and always being professional and considerate of their feelings in public situations.

If youre a manager (or know of one) who needs help with workplace communication and evaluating employee performance, dont hesitate to call the professional business coaching experts at Blue Thinking by visiting www.ThinkBlueThinking.com or calling 619.550.8052.

by: Bruno Raynal

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