Ten Tips to Maximize Your Performance Appraisal Documentation Skills (part 1)

By Paul Falcone

Rule 1: There should be very few surprises in the annual review.

This is a ‘‘total recall’’ document reflecting twelve months of work. If something totally new needs to be surfaced now, you probably didn’t do a thorough enough job communicating with the employee throughout the review period.

So sharing performance concerns for the first time during the performance appraisal should be the exception, not the rule. Still, sometimes it may be necessary to do so, even though that may appear to ‘‘blind side’’ the employee. Nothing is more de-motivating than finding out that your overall performance didn’t meet company expectations when you thought you were doing fine. Typical complaints sound like this:

‘‘I can’t believe my boss. She gave me an overall review score of 2 out of 5, meaning that I didn’t meet expectations. It would have been nice if she’d told me some time over the past year that I needed to improve

in a particular area. She’s always so nicey-nice and perky to your face, and then she stabs you in the back on the annual review. Well, I have a pending meeting with the division president to discuss my supervisor’s

shortcomings, and this review she gave me will be the first item of discussion.’’

To avoid such lose-lose situations, whenever you’re faced with documenting new issues for the first time in an annual review, acknowledge in writing that the matter hasn’t been formally brought to the employee’s attention beforehand. For example, ‘‘I recognize that we haven’t formally discussed . . . , but I felt it appropriate to bring this issue to your attention during this annual performance review because. . . .’’

Assuming you have a compelling reason to include brand new information in a document that covers an entire year’s performance, this open and honest approach will make your documentation appear to be more objective and evenhanded. More importantly, the employee may perceive the entire matter as ultimately fairer because the disclaimer at least acknowledges that this is new terrain.

Rule 2: Review the employee’s prior year performance review(s) before attempting to draft a new appraisal.

Performance reviews aren’t meant to be conducted in a vacuum. They only make sense if they logically follow the prior year’s performance appraisal notes. Therefore, look to prior reviews for areas of particular strengths, weaknesses, or areas for development.

Which areas have improved?

Which areas have remained stagnant and in need of further development?

What’s the overall performance trend when comparing this year to last year?

Rule 3 : .........

Source : 2600 phrases for effective performance reviews. Paul Falcone. 2005

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