Performance appraisals – a word says more than a thousand excel charts
A whole series of articles on performance appraisals? Overdue for a long time. Some time ago I have already touched upon the topic in a blog contribution: employees as well as the executive can take an enormous profit out of regular talk times.
Part of the company culture
A company is more than just an assembly of people who just happen to work together under a common real or metaphorical roof. And an accidental assembly of people who really work together desperately need a consciously cultivated talk culture. And that does not only mean the casual conversation in the break or tittle-tattle in the corridor (although indeed the importance of this informal conversation for the productivity can hardly be overestimated), but it also means the talks that you in your position as an executive have with your employees.
Oh yes, leading employees …
A lot of executives have trouble with it – and correspondingly with carrying on performance appraisals. One type of executives sees himself as an equal part of the team rather than a boss. The other one feels better when faced with figures and project papers rather than during a one-on-one talk. Mate type and mastermind can equally be good bosses. Or equally less good ones. For the boss-employee-relationship differs from the one to a colleague or to a friend. And it is precisely in this specific boss-feature that you must be present in the lives of your employees so that you can achieve the best results with your team.
Communication, Appreciation, Feedback
The non-renounceable tool of the executive-employee-relationship is the talk with the employee. Without performance appraisals your employees may possibly feel to be not seen by you – and that certainly is anything but good motivation! Your employees want to know where their position is, they would like to declare themselves, they wish their efforts to be appreciated and they wish to advance through feedback. You owe your employees appreciation and feedback – which are, of course, also in your own interest and in the interest of the company.
Performance appraisals – taken seriously and carried out authentically – are for a company, no matter whether small or big, of inestimable value. The next blog entry is about the „When-Where-How“ book on etiquette for well-working performance appraisals.
