Appraisal Horror: Nightmare at work

Appraisal...does the word itself conjure up images of horror, disaster, headaches and story telling? A necessary evil..?? If you feel that way, then your team also feels the same. They know the injustice of it all and suffer silently or noisily. But suffer nevertheless. One of the important things that causes dissatisfaction and loss of morale is- the appraisal.

No, this is not about appraisal systems as such, how to set up a good system or how frequently it should be set up. This is aimed more towards a manager who has a team, and will need to conduct an appraisal, somewhere down the line.

If, as a manager, doing an appraisal is also unpleasant, then this is the right article for you. A guy in the middle, is in an unique position. He has unpleasant things happen to him from the top management and has to decide how to pass on this unpleasantness to people reporting to him. He has utilized his position best if he has learnt from mistakes his boss makes. If you are in such a position, have you ever tried listing down what it is, about your appraisal that makes it so bad?
Let me try and list some very common complains I have heard; do any of the following problems seem familiar?

- PARTIAL AMNESIA: The boss remembers only what you have done recently. He forgets that you had done that great job earlier in the appraisal cycle?

- PROMOTE YES MEN: The boss never bothers about what work you do. He just promotes those who pretend to do a great job and tell him what a great guy he is.

- MYSTERY OF THE RATING: He or she, just assigns a rating without really explaining why. You don't know from which hat the rating was pulled out of.

- BULL EXCUSES : Your boss owns that you did great work, but he just can't give you a better rating because of the normalization process. That process means that if he assigns VERY GOOD rating for a person, then he has to assign a VERY BAD rating to someone else. He is too soft-hearted to do that to anyone or is just telling you some of that stuff that comes out of the back of a bull.

- BACKDATED KRAs: Your boss says, YOU should have looked after so-and-so aspect of the job during the year - AT THE END OF THE CYCLE. Why couldn't he have said that before. How can he judge you on something that you didn’t even know you were supposed to do?
Did these strike a chord of deep sympathy within you? What if anyone from your team reads this, how would they feel?

Here are some simple tips on how not to let this happen to your guys....
1. Make a list:

List the thing that you dislike the most about the appraisal system. Make sure you don't repeat the mistake. Simple?? It is. E.g. I don't like my boss spending only 5 minutes at the end of the year explaining my mistakes or telling me what I did right. I would prefer if he told me right at the instant so I can remedy my mistakes immediately. Now, think, wouldn't your team also like to know as and when they do something wrong/great? Do correcting small behavior-related faults have one appraisal cycle gestation period…like a baby (9 months after)?

2. Note it down:

The good, the bad, the ugly. Note it all down. Open a notepad in the name of each one of your team. Periodically put down what they have been doing into it. E.g. Shiva managed to cross sell a product to a very difficult customer. He showed great communication and inter-personal skills. But he was very uneasy at the dinner table in the party hosted for them. Need to nominate him for the etiquette training. Next appraisal cycle, you have the whole appraisal ready with you.

There are so many additional benefits to doing this:

• You know the reasons you are going to give for the rating. No partial amnesia for you!!
• It takes less time per person, because you already have all the data. Projects or work don't stop during appraisal time. So get on with your other work.
• You can spend time explaining the reasons for the rating, citing specific incidents. E.g. I am giving you this rating, because for your role, the most important factor is being able to coordinate between Team A and Team B... so it will be clear that you are not promoting yes men.
• If asked offhand about suitability of your team members for a particular role change or promotion, you have the information - on the tip of your tongue.

Writing things down makes you conscious and aware of ideas existing vaguely at the back of your mind.

E.g. I recommend Ravi to be assigned to head this team. He showed a lot of
potential when we organized that large convention last month.

3. Tell THEM upfront:
If your organization does not have a system of telling people what is expected from their job or function upfront, then take initiative. Do it for your team. Tell them, what you expect. Sit with your boss and get the same done for yourself too. When you know what target has to be achieved, it is easier to achieve it! There is no use to anyone, telling after everything has happened: YOU SHOULD HAVE DONE THIS or I THOUGHT YOU KNEW!

4. and TELL them RIGHT...

Make sure you can evaluate your team on the Key Results you set. E.g. Mr. Khanna, you should communicate better this year, has no meaning. You can neither measure it nor can Khanna work towards this nebulous goal. Mr. Khanna, ensure that your team knows about all releases 2 weeks before their due date. This time they will be able to prepare themselves well in advance for the work load. You have given him a number...and made his goal tangible.

Does all this seem simple and intuitive? Management always is like that. So then I guess you must be already doing all this!

If you think, that in an organization with a zillion people, you are alone in doing all this, then don't despair! Your team will automatically look to you as their role model. When they lead teams, they will apply what they have learnt from you. They will tell others in other teams... Soon people will be asking their bosses, why something does not happen in their own team or department... and the trickle will become a drizzle...a whisper will become a roar...

Maybe you will create a revolution, maybe not. But you will truly do right by your team and to yourself. Just take that one thought away with you.