How to Give Performance Reviews That Motivate Your Employees


High Performance Organization or HPO could be referred to as the Crème de la Crème amongst businesses. It is a model organization. It is a successful organization. It has an excellent reputation not only with its customers but also with its competitors. It has a satisfied workforce all of whom are proud to be associated with a company which is looked up to by the community at large. So the question that arises is how you can transform your company to an HPO.

For years there have been studies on business models, business strategies and the like. Some of them work for some people some of the time. Nowadays the catch word may be culture. Whatever the appellation used, at the end of the day it all boils down to the people who work in the company and how they are managed. Call it personnel management or human resources. What matters is that your workforce is a part and parcel of your company. It should be in their interests as much as to make it an HPO. You have to get them involved.

5 Little-Known Factors That Could Affect Your High Performance Organization

Perhaps passion is one of the adjuncts of being an HPO. A passion for what you make or what you do. This feeling must pervade every level of the company. This will lead to faster and better decision making which is an integral part of success.

Creativity

It is another sure path to progress. It is not simply a question of encouraging your workforce to be innovative however. You want your company to become synonymous with creativity within your industry. That way you will attract the best brains coming out of college and university.

Failure

It is also important. Failure and how you handle it. No one can be right all the time. Experiments do go wrong. It is important that there are mechanisms in place to cope. The old fashioned adage of back to the drawing board probably best sums up the right attitude. If your employees are waiting for the storm to break it is going to affect their work, make them less productive and unhappy. It is just not worth it. 

Long-Term Planning

It is essential too. Not just in product or service development or financial growth but in people. That means your workers and your customers. They must all be considered. If you decide, for example, to relocate to a new development in a neighboring town, think how your staff will be affected. You may save on rent but lose a lot of good workers to a competitor.

Motivational Performance Reviews

Every member of staff in an organization can benefit when performance reviews are used properly. This type of appraisal is an important motivational tool, although it can have the opposite effect if it is not handled well. In some organizations, managers fear the review period as much as the people they supervise because of the negative feelings that are generated during the process.

Employ a Fair Process

In order to get the best results from this discussion, the entire process should be fair. The forms designed by the Human Resources Department for performance reviews should be easy to use. Information that is utilized by the appraiser must be based on what they have seen directly, and not what they have heard from others. There should also be documentation to support the ratings that are given. This ensures that all managers who evaluate the individual will arrive at the same conclusion.

Consistency in the evaluation is essential. Inconsistent grading policies inhibit improvement. When assessing the work of employees, the same standards should be used by all supervisors in all departments, year after year. Anything else leads to frustration across the board, as all stakeholders struggle with a system that they perceive as flawed and erroneous.

Focus on Challenges and Successes

Supervisory level employees who are trained in how to use appraisals to encourage team members produce better results. They have a group of individuals who are more focused on their responsibilities because they know exactly what is expected of them. All of the staff produces better when they know their areas of weakness and strength.

All stakeholders should have a structured discussion about the challenges and successes that they faced during the year. When people feel that their successes are recognized, they feel motivated to produce more in the future. It is important that managers are knowledgeable about the job requirements and the tools that are necessary to perform certain tasks. In this way they can address shortfalls in equipment and training that prevent staff from excelling.

Discuss Solutions That Help Staff Members to Perform Better and Implement Them

When individuals raise concerns during the appraisal, this information must be used to address the problems that employees see. During the conversation, solutions that will lead to improvement should be discussed. If a team member asks for support with training or gear and several weeks or months pass without anything being done, they will become discouraged.

Information that is obtained in the discussion must be used to create a better working environment. People should know that their suggestions are being heard and their ideas are being used to help the company grow. This way, they will be more committed to the organization and link its success to their own happiness.

Grade Individuals on the Way They Follow and Promote Organizational Values

Employees who work in certain departments are usually aware of what the company could be doing better with respect to the values and mission of their team. The appraisal document should require input from all employees on company strategy. It must request ideas on ways in which the team can improve in areas such as customer service or technology. Each team player must be able to show how well they have performed with respect to each of the core values.

Have Followed up Sessions that are focused on Development

During an appraisal, the person who is being apprised may be overwhelmed by negative feedback. They may not hear solutions that are being put forward that can help to improve the way they carry out their responsibilities. By having a separate session in a few days’ time, you give them a period to cool off and look at suggestions that were discussed.

Managers should also revisit the solutions in another discussion within two weeks, in order to determine what progress has been made. Individuals will be encouraged if they find that the problems they identified with machinery, processes or communication are actually being addressed. They will also be held accountable for the changes that they are to make with respect to training or the way that they carry out their tasks.

Have Informal Appraisals More Often and Link Them to Other Incentive Programs

All members of staff should be regularly updated on their work in informal sessions. That way, they will have a chance to improve before the period for formal performance reviews rolls around. They will receive a better rating and be encouraged to keep their standards high throughout the financial year.

Incentive programs that are linked to these sessions can also have a positive effect. The rewards that are given do not have to be financial. Employees can be recognized for academic achievement in training programs that are work related. They may receive small tokens for satisfying the requirements of informal appraisals.

Construct Appraisal Documents That Integrate the Personal Work Goals of Employees

All employees have goals with respect to their personal performance within the organization. Determine what these are and make sure that they are included on the appraisal document. People work harder towards goals that they set themselves than objectives that are handed down to them by someone else without their input.

If all staff have the opportunity to develop personal targets that are in line with the aims of the enterprise, they are more likely to succeed. Team members must have some input when it comes to developing the goals that they are working towards. If they have no input and see the aims as impossible to achieve, they will not put out as much effort to accomplish them.

Motivate Your Employees

Encourage everyone who works for you to feel they belong. They should feel free to come along with suggestions on any aspect of the business. Give them a patient hearing and make sure that they understand why it cannot be done if it is impractical. One day they might come up with an award winner.

Becoming a High Performance Organization will not happen overnight. It can take several years of hard work. The results should be worthwhile in the end.

In order to get the results you want from performance reviews, they must be ongoing. Good managers give praise and correction all through the year, so that all employees can improve. People who wait months to give feedback are only seen to use appraisals as a punitive measure. Members of staff recognize it as such and react accordingly. Also check that corrections which are brought up in conversation are being implemented. By doing this, the entire organization will thrive.

About the author:

John M. Caviness is a successful marketing manager at the service where you can ask to “help me write my paperOpens in a new tab.”. This job gives him an opportunity to express his opinion and thoughts on different topics including web development.

Steve Todd

Steve Todd, founder of Open Sourced Workplace and is a recognized thought leader in workplace strategy and the future of work. With a passion for work from anywhere, Steve has successfully implemented transformative strategies that enhance productivity and employee satisfaction. Through Open Sourced Workplace, he fosters collaboration among HR, facilities management, technology, and real estate professionals, providing valuable insights and resources. As a speaker and contributor to various publications, Steve remains dedicated to staying at the forefront of workplace innovation, helping organizations thrive in today's dynamic work environment.

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