How To Do A Good Performance Review

The ingredients of a bad performance review are haste, lack of focus, a non-empathic attitude and a mechanical approach to the process. A good performance review obviously calls for a diametrically opposite approach. Here are some tips for managers whose duties include conducting performance reviews of their team members.

Be Prepared: The intention behind a performance appraisal is to have a fruitful discussion based on previous findings. Meaningful preparation for a team member’s annual appraisal includes referring to old emails, memos and other communications as well as mental notes pertaining to his or her performance. This is, in fact, a two-way process. The employee should be asked to complete a self-appraisal against the previously set goals, backing this up with all possible documentation. This reduces potential fireworks and enhances the quality of the discussion.

Set A Positive Tone: A manager should keep in mind that most employees tend to be anxious about their annual performance appraisals. After all, a lot of things that affect them directly depend on it. Reaffirm that the purpose of the meeting is to help both the employee and the organization to benefit from his or her work. The last thing that a manager should do is allow the employee to feel trapped or confronted. The best way to begin is by asking the employee to present his or her self-appraisal. During this, the manager should pay careful and courteous attention while the employee relates key achievements during the year.

Identify Performance Gaps: After the self-appraisal, the manager can proceed with his or her own appraisal of the employee’s performance. This should focus on whether the employee’s perceived accomplishments are in line with the performance goals set in the previous year. The purpose here is to identify gaps between the actual and expected performance. The employees should be made aware of how a particular performance deficit or achievement/goal imbalance impacts the organization. Employees tend to agree if they see how their work fits into the larger picture. The manager needs to watch out for signs of defensiveness or any kind of negative reaction, keeping in mind that the objective is not to confront but to find solutions.

The manager should:

• Allow the employee to articulate disagreement
• Not pass judgments or make depreciating personal comments
• Stick to areas that matter
• Use praise as well as criticism

Agree On An Action Plan: The employee should be allowed to suggest an action plan first. There should be no spoon-feeding from the manager at this stage. The manager should, however, ensure that the plan is smart, doable and addresses the established performance deficits.

Summarize And Set New Goals: The performance review discussion should lead to the establishment of new goals, or amendments to the previous goals. Again, this is a two-way process which should take into account the employee’s skills and capabilities. The manager should explain how these goals relate and lead to organizational success, and how business would suffer if the mutually agreed goals are not achieved.

Set A Follow-Up Plan: Even if the conversation has been tense, the manager should ensure that the final summary includes performance strengths. The final task is to set up monthly meetings for following up on the mutually agreed plan.

Annual performance appraisals have their place as a formal system. They serve as a discussion forum that allows all concerned to examine an employee’s performance over the bygone year. However, this process must always be balanced and complemented with abundant recognition and real-time feedback throughout the year.

A grey area in training ?

They say ‘learning never stops' and if this statement didn't ring true, Sachin Tendulkar would have been without a coach today, right? Several experienced learners have paved the way forward for the more senior and experienced leaders of India Inc to learn, unlearn and relearn

But for this workforce that has already over the years experienced learning, the idea of deriving learning (and not imparting it) could baffle them. 1) Why get trained when I am nearing retirement? 2) Why learn, when I have my experience to boast of? 3) Isn't it a crazy idea to go back to school? Ken Simper, executive GM of BlessingWhite tries to answer this conflicting behaviour by stating that top sportsmen are not in any way ashamed to have a personal coach; in fact, at times more than one.  Around the world, there is a growing understanding of the need for and acceptance of the benefits to be derived from training senior managers. After all, it can be ‘lonely at the top'. "Most often than not, people around them are working hard to tell them what they think they want to hear. It is really hard for those in top management to get candid and solicit corrective feedback," he states.

Senior employees at Wipro have no qualms in getting mentored by their ‘less-experienced' and younger colleagues (read: reverse mentoring). After all, aren't fresh from college colleagues often the fiercest users of technology, and as a result, could be powerful advisors in creating innovation based on these technologies? Abhijit Bhaduri, chief learning officer and head - CHRD, Wipro Corporate agrees, "Leaders build their knowledge of working in a multi-generational workplace. They learn valuable lessons in collaboration and influencing. Feedback from junior peers and team members can play an important role in helping senior leaders understand where they should focus their learning on. The 360-degree feedback is a powerful process of documenting developmental gaps and strengths and is devoid of age."

But training the trainer isn't an easy task. Dr. Ariff Kachra, Strategy Professor – Richard Ivey School of Business & MD – Ivey India who points out the above feels that senior managers are not served well by training. He opines, "Senior managers need programmes that develop their ability to think about complexity and structure ambiguity in ways that allow them to design strategies to outperform competitors." Surinder Bhagat, country HR manager, Freescale Semiconductor India also emphasises that average training content may not go well with them and HR plays a key role in choosing the right module, making it interesting and also useful. Though an increasing lot of senior leaders are open towards leaning, they do harbour reservations w.r.t the quality of training and development offered by most institutions; the method of instruction used in development programmes and the ability of the instructor to really understand the challenges faced by senior managers.

The three key elements needed in encouraging learning and training programmes among senior employees, according to Bhaduri are environment, content and convenience. Environment refers to the stature and value that the facilitator and other participants bring to the programme. Experienced leaders like to learn from someone who has 'walked in their shoes' and can provide insights that could be leveraged. Content of the programme has to be readily translatable to the problems the leaders are grappling with. Just an academic framework is not enough. Convenience of being able to get the content just in time to solve a real-world problem makes it attractive for senior leaders.

It's not easy to plan a training agenda for older workers, so there ought to be certain parameters to be taken into consideration while formulating a training plan for the older workforce, says Shah: 1) Understand their profile: study the background and accomplishments of each learner. The purpose of retaining this information is to capitalize on their experiences in a very specific way; 2) learning method: Blend your learning method with activities such that you cover all styles of learning – visual, auditory and kinesthetic. Another big challenge is dealing with some of the older trainees who feel like they are close to retirement, so they presume they can't really apply—or don't need to apply—the learning. 3) Setting the expectation: Seek their expectation i.e. what they would like to learn from your session. Weave their unique expectation into what you want to cover; this will help you get their buy-in. They want to see relevance from your session right from the start.

Wipro's leadership development programmers’ help in managing role transitions from the time they first start leading a team to the time when they become Enterprise level leaders. We give them inputs on Customer Leadership and use psychometric instruments in helping them understand themselves better. We have multiple consortiums where we work with non IT companies on crafting a curriculum that helps leaders address a strategic business challenge. Leaders learn from unconventional sources and immersion experiences. Last month we had taken twenty of our leaders to the Jaipur Lit Fest to teach them storytelling so that they could become more effective communicators. Therefore, the process of learning is not bound by time and both, organizations and senior employees are translating this very belief into real-time application.

Rahul Shah, head - learning solutions with DDI warns you against a few goofups that ought to be kept at bay while training older workers:

Being theortical: They will lose interest if you are unable to engage them by balancing seeking and telling. Since an adults' attention span for a lecture is about 10 minutes; then, a change in pace or activity is needed. Seek examples that allow them to share their experiences; 

Don't be a ‘know-it-all' guy: They will challenge you in everything if you come across as a 'know it all' person. This may impact your session and participants may challenge all the concepts and can drive others to their way;

Exercise self-esteem management: Older employees' self-esteem is on the line when they enter the classroom; therefore, a safe and an encouraging environment is a must in managing their esteem needs. Keep the trainer environment "safe", so they have the ability to practice without ridicule from peers.

Tips for creating error-free resumes

Job seekers take note: One resume error, one false stroke at the keyboard could send your resume into the "circular file."

Executives were asked, "How many typos in a resume does it take for you to decide not to consider a job candidate for a position with your company?" Their responses:

One - 40%
Two - 36%
Three - 14%
Four or more - 7%
Don't know/no answer - 3%

"Employers view the resume as a reflection of the applicant," said Max Messmer, chairman of Accountemps. "If you make errors on your application materials, the assumption is you'll make mistakes on the job."

Unfortunately, typos and other slipups are easy to make, and spell-check won't always catch them. To illustrate the point,following are some real-life errors made in resumes, applications and cover letters.

• "Hope to hear from you, shorty."
• "Have a keen eye for derail."
• "Dear Sir or Madman."
• "I'm attacking my resume for you to review."
• "I am a rabid typist."
• "My work ethics are impeachable."
• "Nervous of steel."
• "Following is a grief overview of my skills."
• "GPA: 34.0"
• "Graphic designer seeking no-profit career."

Accountemps offers the following tips for creating error-free resumes:

1. Get help: Enlist detail-oriented family members, friends or mentors to proofread your resume and provide honest feedback.
2. Take a timeout: Before submitting your resume, take a break and come back to it with a fresh set of eyes. You might catch something you missed the first time.
3. Print a copy: It's easy to overlook typos or formatting mistakes when reading a resume on a monitor, so print it out for review. Read through it slowly and pay close attention to font styles and sizes, in addition to spelling and grammar.
4. Try a new perspective: Sometimes readers inadvertently skip over parts they have read previously. Review your resume backward to help avoid this problem.
5. Read it aloud: Your ears might catch errors your eyes have overlooked.

Survey Methodology: The survey was developed by Accountemps, the world's first and largest staffing services firm specializing in accounting and finance. It was conducted by an independent research firm and is based on telephone interviews with 150 senior executives from the nation's 1,000 largest companies. With more than 360 offices worldwide, Accountemps offers online job search services at www.accountemps.com.

Social Media Recruiting and Mobile Technology

Recruiters have always been quick on the uptake when it comes to new and innovative technology, especially if this technology makes it easier to stay connected. Lately, there’s a lot of buzz surrounding social recruiting and mobile recruiting – and many recruiters are blindly jumping on the bandwagon. But what’s just buzz, and what will become a permanent part of every recruiter’s toolbox?

Mobile Recruiting: Apps and More

Mobile recruiting allows recruiters to do what they do best: stay connected. How? Apps. There are a few recruiting apps that I really like:

• Job Science puts the functionality of an applicant tracking system in recruiters' pockets.
• Instant Customer is a handy gadget for business card and contact management.
• Global Recruiting Round table gives users access to top industry news and trends, and allows them to plug in to a community of experts.
• Job Speek adds a new dimension to job postings: audio.

Mobile SMS and QR code recruiting is getting some serious attention. However, recruiting leader and sourcing consultant Geoff Peterson says, “The technology’s not 100% there.”

Social Recruiting: Plan for Your Slice of the Pie

Recruiting has always been social, but social media has opened a new can of worms. And if you want a piece of the social recruiting pie, there are a few things you should keep in mind:

• You need a strategy. You may have a Twitter account, but that doesn’t mean you have a social recruiting strategy. You need clear goals, an execution plan and metrics for measuring success. Otherwise, you’re just filling my Twitter feed with white noise.
• Don’t bombard, engage. Anyone can post “an exciting opportunity” on LinkedIn. If that’s all you're using your social media accounts for, however, you’re going to lose your audience fast. Share an article you enjoyed, link to something interesting you’ve come across, just don’t bombard them with jobs.
• Keep the social in social media. You can get all the Facebook fans and Twitter followers you want, but unless you’re engaging your network, they’re just numbers. There are a number of communities out there that revolve around social media in a number of industries.

About the Author: Kyle Lagunas is the HR Analyst at Software Advice. He blogs about trends, technology and best practices in HR and recruiting by day, and drinks entirely too much wine by night.