How good is your appraisal process? How engaged are your employees in it? Do your managers rush to the office at Appraisal time, impatient to complete the forms and give feedback to their teams?
In this article on hrlook.com - the definitive HR resource, the great advice to those of us who have to manage Appraisal is to keep it simple, short and regular.
I would add:
- Use technology to do the hard work - provide online forms, support and process support, development plans and 360 Degree Feedback if that's appropriate (maybe once a year).
- Make sure that your managers are trained, and get lots of practice, in giving feedback, especially difficult messages.
- Encourage regular exchange of feedback at all times, not just at appraisal time.
And consider this: ultimately, what's going to make employees and managers buy in to Appraisal?
For managers, I would strongly recommend that doing Appraisals, and doing them regularly, and well, should be part of any manager's performance review. Maybe you could even build in reward for effective Appaisal...
For employees, making the process as transparent and fair as you can, including feedback from colleagues, not just the line manager(360 Degree Feedback), can be a positive motivator for them to get fully engaged.