What Makes a Good Appraisal Interview?

WHAT MAKES A GOOD APPRAISAL INTERVIEW?

Here is a tip for supervisors that will contribute to a successful appraisal interview. Give advance notice. Employees like to have advance notice of the appraisal session so that they can think about the past evaluation period from their own perspective. The prepared employee may have any number of things to share about management, the department, or organization, or barriers to their effectiveness. Also, the employee who comes to the session with a list of accomplishments feels a part of the process in a positive way.

State the purpose of the session. The purpose of the session should be to talk about the employee's job performance. It should be an opportunity for the supervisor and the employee to determine where supportive action is needed. The performance appraisal should not be used as a disciplinary tool. Feedback about performance should be given at the time the behavior occurred. As a result, behavior deserving discipline or praise should have been dealt with previously. That is, the performance appraisal is a review, not a first notice for poor or above average performance.

Here are two tips for supervisors that will contribute to a successful appraisal interview. 1. Present documentation. The more facts and dates you have on file, the more acceptable and meaningful both your positive and negative feedback will be to the employee. 2. Stick to observed behavior. Evaluate only what you've seen and heard. Rely on the firsthand evidence. Don't make over-generalized statements or inferences.

Copyright AE Schwartz & Associates All rights reserved. For additional presentation materials and resources: ReadySetPresent and for a Free listing as a Trainer, Consultant, Speaker, Vendor/Organization: TrainingConsortium

CEO, A.E. Schwartz & Associates, Boston, MA., a comprehensive organization which offers over 40 skills based management training programs. Mr. Schwartz conducts over 150 programs annually for clients in industry, research, technology, government, Fortune 100/500 companies, and nonprofit organizations worldwide. He is often found at conferences as a key note presenter and/or facilitator. His style is fast-paced, participatory, practical, and humorous. He has authored over 65 books and products, and taught/lectured at over a dozen colleges and universities throughout the United States.

In The News:

Yahoo! News: Top Stories

A sign instructs job seekers at the California Employment Development Department in Sunnyvale, Calif., Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2009. The country lost nearly 2 million jobs through November and more bad news is expected this week when the government releases data on weekly jobless claims and December unemployment. No matter how bad those numbers are, and economists expect at least another 500,000 jobs were lost last month, the pain is stretching into 2009.  (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)AP - Trying to survive a deepening recession, employers are cutting their work forces to the bone, leaving more Americans unemployed and with dim prospects of finding a new job any time soon.



Rep. Roger L. Eddy, right, votes to recommend the impeachment of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich to the House during an Illinois House Impeachment Committee hearing Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009, in Springfield, Ill. The committee voted unanimously to recommend impeachment putting the matter before the full house.  (AP Photo/Seth Perlman)AP - Gov. Rod Blagojevich faces almost certain impeachment by the Illinois House, a historic step that would trigger a trial to determine whether the Democratic governor should be tossed out of office.



President-elect Barack Obama arrives to speak about the economy, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009, at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)AP - Lawmakers are under orders to finish action on President-elect Barack Obama's nearly $800 billion economic recovery plan by mid-February. But already it is plain that a set of serious fissures need to be bridged if the bill is to be completed within five weeks.



Palestinians survey a kindergarten destroyed after an Israeli air strike in Gaza January 8, 2009. (Mohammed Salem/Reuters)AP - Israeli jets and helicopters bombarded Gaza Friday and Hamas responded with a barrage of rockets, as Israel's government said it will press forward with its offensive despite a U.N. resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire.



In this Jan. 29, 2002 file photo, then Admiral Dennis Blair, center, commander-in-chief of the United States Pacific Command, reviews a guard of honor at the Singapore Ministry of Defense headquarters.     (AP Photo/Naashon Zalk)AP - President-elect Barack Obama is completing his national security team by announcing his unusual choices for CIA director and a national intelligence director who may face tough Senate confirmation questioning over how he confronted the Indonesian military when civilian massacres were occurring in East Timor.



Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York January 2, 2009. (Lucas Jackson/Reuters)AP - Investors showed nervousness Friday ahead of the government's monthly employment report, sending stock futures moderately lower.



Pay Equity pioneer Lily Ledbetter addresses the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2008 file photo. Democrats are ushering in what they believe will be a new labor-friendly era in Washington with House votes on two bills aimed at helping women fight pay discrimination in the workplace. The House was to vote on the bills Friday Jan. 9, 2009, and they could reach Barack Obama's desk soon after he enters the White House.  One of the bills, the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, is a response to a 2007 Supreme Court decision that made it more difficult to sue over past pay discrimination.  (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds, FILE)AP - Democrats are ushering in what they believe will be a new labor-friendly era in Washington with House votes on two bills aimed at helping women fight pay discrimination in the workplace.



An LG cell phone shows live TV during a demonstration at an OMVC news conference at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas,Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)AP - TV stations in 22 U.S. cities announced Thursday that they will start broadcasting their signals this year in a format designed to be received by mobile devices like cell phones, MP3 players, GPS units and in-car entertainment systems.



AP - A former actor on "The Sopranos" faces up to 15 years in prison for a botched burglary in the Bronx in which an accomplice shot and killed a police officer.

Florida's Tim Tebow (15) throws a pass over Oklahoma's Auston English (33) during the third quarter of the BCS Championship NCAA college football game in Miami, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)AP - Tim Tebow gave Florida the jolt it needed, and the Gators toughed out a second BCS title in three years. Their 24-14 win over No. 2 Oklahoma in a choppy, sloppy affair Thursday night made them a national champion.



Jaclyn Holt (R) fills out an application form at a job fair organized by the New Hampshire Employment Security agency in Salem, New Hampshire December 17, 2008. (Brian Snyder/Reuters)Reuters - Steep falls in European industrial output underlined the severity of the world economic crisis on Friday and more grim news was on the way with the United States expected to report the biggest monthly job cuts in more than 30 years.



An Israeli soldier stands atop a vehicle after crossing into Israel from the northern Gaza Strip January 7, 2009. (Amir Cohen/Reuters)Reuters - Israel pushed ahead with its two-week-old offensive in the Gaza Strip on Friday, defying a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire.



Reuters - A report being released on Friday alleges that the U.S. Treasury has failed to reveal its strategy for stabilizing the financial system, not answered questions asked by a government watchdog, and has done nothing to help struggling homeowners, the Wall Street Journal said.

President-elect Barack Obama (L) leaves the podium with Timothy Geithner, president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, after announcing that he will become Treasury Secretary during a news conference in Chicago, November 24, 2008. (John Gress/Reuters)Reuters - U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's economic team is working on an overhaul the $700 billion financial rescue program with the aim of doing more to spur the flow of credit to the struggling economy, an Obama aide said on Friday.



A pressure gauge is seen at a Ukrainian gas compressor station in the village of Boyarka near Kiev January 9, 2009 (Konstantin Chernichkin - UKRAINE/Reuters)Reuters - Russia's state-controlled gas monopoly said a deal to monitor gas exports via Ukraine would be signed on Friday, allowing for the resumption of supplies to Europe cut off by Moscow's price row with Kiev.



People taking the Long Island Foreclosure Tour arrive at a foreclosed home for sale in New Hyde Park, New York in this May 17, 2008 file photo. Citigroup could soon agree to principles that would let troubled borrowers save their homes through bankruptcy, sources familiar with the talks said on Thursday, while industry groups are easing their opposition to the plan. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)Reuters - Financial giant Citigroup Inc will support a proposal in Congress to rewrite U.S. bankruptcy law to help troubled mortgage borrowers avoid foreclosure, Chief Executive Vikram Pandit said on Thursday.



Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich gestures as he announces former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris as his choice to fill the vacant U.S. Senate seat of President-elect Barack Obama during a news conference in Chicago, Illinois December 30, 2008. (Frank Polich/Reuters)Reuters - A legislative committee on Thursday recommended the impeachment of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, citing widespread abuse of power including allegations he tried to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.



A doctor checks the blood pressure of a patient at the J.W.C.H. safety-net clinic in the center of skid row in downtown Los Angeles July 30, 2007. (Lucy Nicholson/Reuters)Reuters - An analysis of proposals to overhaul U.S. health care by President-elect Barack Obama and members of Congress suggests it is possible to insure all Americans without significantly raising total health spending.



US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice speaks to an unidentified aide during a Security Council meeting at the United Nations. Israel has battered Gaza with bombs and shells, vowing its offensive on Hamas would go on despite an order by the UN Security Council to stop the assault that has killed hundreds of civilians.(AFP/File/Timothy A. Clary)AFP - Israel battered Gaza with bombs and shells on Friday, vowing its offensive on Hamas would go on despite an order by the UN Security Council to stop the assault that has killed hundreds of civilians.



The Sirius Star is anchored off the coast of Somalia in November 2008. Somali pirates have freed the Sirius Star, a super-tanker carrying two million barrels of crude oil. The pirates hijacked the ship as it was sailing through the Indian Ocean in November.(AFP/US Navy/File/Ho)AFP - Somali pirates on Friday freed the Sirius Star, a Saudi-owned super-tanker carrying two million barrels of crude oil they hijacked on November in the Indian Ocean, the leader of the pirates told AFP.




Oasis in a Cash Flow Desert - Four Resources That Increase Small Business Capital Streams

For small business owners, an enthusiastic vision for smooth, steady growth can... Read More

Small Business Checking Accounts

ACCOUNTING AND BILLINGCHECK BOOKSWe recommend that you maintain a business checking account... Read More

Organisational Culture for Continuous Improvement

I have been working with leading Business Improvement guru, Tim Franklin, preparing... Read More

Problems with Group Decision Making

DECISION BY AUTHORITY RULE: Many groups start out with-or quickly set up... Read More

Best Workplaces

The Best Workplaces report (Financial Times, April 28, 2005) notes many factors... Read More

Executives and Emotional Self Awareness

A major problem impairing an executive's performance is his Emotional Blind Spots.... Read More

Once Upon a Conflict

Once upon a time there lived an innocent, hardworking manager. One day... Read More

Executive ESP: A Pathway to Success!

We all have psychic abilities that we use daily, although most of... Read More

Managers? Biggest Blunders

Nobody's perfect, including the boss. Managers, we polled recently, acknowledged making a... Read More

The Seven Cs: Partnership Danger Signs - Communication Breakdown

An ongoing series of articles exploring the seven critical areas that can... Read More

Hiring and Retaining Good Employees

Hiring good employees is not only important to business, it's essential. Employees... Read More

Business & Family Safety and Health Rating

For good reason, practically every endeavor in life is rated. I've seen... Read More

Innovation Management ? how will we make the go or kill decisions?

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation... Read More

Work Life a Balancing Act

Australians are loosing their laidback, carefree reputation, as we continue to work... Read More

How To Get 10% More Work Out Of Your Employees

It is getting harder to run a business for a profit. We... Read More

Will a Workplace Bully Bankrupt Your Company?

Safeguard Your Company Against Harrassment ClaimsTwenty-five percent of employees suffer with peer... Read More

A Comprehensive Sarbanes Oxley Act Summary

Individual and corporate security stand in the center of the Sarbanes Oxley... Read More

Summertime Blues

It's hard to believe the year will be half over in just... Read More

The Significance of the Mundane

This article begins with a tip of the hat to a scholarly... Read More

How to Create a Positive Work Atmosphere

Positive versus Negative WorkplacesWe have all worked in places where we grew... Read More

How To Delegate for Fun and Profit

Ah, the wretched pain of delegation. It comes easy to some people.... Read More

Hold Your Applause!

It's amazing what you can accomplish if you don't care who gets... Read More

Overcoming the Document Tracking Challenge

"Where did it go? It was here yesterday. Wait. Here it is.... Read More

Lets Make Training More Interesting!

Many HR managers believe that by sending their workers to participate in... Read More

Better Management Performance - The Easy 3-Step Way

Managers make three mistakes when they try to run businesses. They do... Read More

Steps to Build ISO 9001 Compliant Program

Implementing an ISO 9001 system represents a major effort. However, all of... Read More

3 Tests To Hire The Best

Question: What's the easiest, cheapest and quickest way to have profitable, productive,... Read More

Managing People - No One Shows You What To Do

Imagine the following scenario - you pay a visit to your doctor... Read More

Employee Motivation: Make Everyone A Cheerleader For Your Company

Do you manage by walking around? What do you see? People excited... Read More

Uncommon Common Sense ? Know What is the Most Important Thing in Your Business

Over 3 of my meetings with 3 business owners last week, what... Read More

Management to the Vision-Contribution and the Role of Compliance

As a manager our role is to:1. Establish the vision, or our... Read More

Culture Management and Creativity

Many concepts in the fields of managing creativity are very much applicable... Read More

Using Outlook to Count Responses

Here's a productivity tip that will save you a lot of time... Read More

Five Days to More Effective Inventory Management

The litany of headaches related to the implementation and on-going care-and-feeding of... Read More

What Every Manager Should Know About How to Conduct Successful Training Activities

Whether you are training preschoolers in the classroom or executives in the... Read More

Delegate or Die!

You Can't Do It All - Learning To DelegateThere is not a... Read More

Narcissism in the Boardroom

The perpetrators of the recent spate of financial frauds in the USA... Read More

Creativity Management and Time Pressure

There is a pervasive belief that time pressure stimulates creativity. This is... Read More

7 Steps To Hire The Best

You can use this step-by-step method to hire applicants who are likely... Read More

Setting Clearer Performance Expectations

The annual performance review.Stating this phrase guarantees some reaction for anyone who... Read More

Another Use for Meetings

Every meeting is a laboratory where you can observe and learn important... Read More

Sexual Harassment Policy Guidelines Part I

Sexual Harassment Policy Guidelines ? Part IPermission is hereby granted to modify... Read More

Effective Meetings - Quick Survey

Here's an easy quiz to check the health of your meetings.1) Who... Read More

Hire Winners: Ask the Right Questions

How do you as a manager, supervisor or team leader hire winners?... Read More

Setting a Pitiful Example: Twenty-six Warnings to Heed *

TO: All Parents [and Employers and Managers]From: Your Child and/or EmployeeDate: The... Read More

3 Simple Things the Best Managers Do - And You Can Too!

If it's so simple, why don't managers all over the globe get... Read More

I Cant Use This Approach Unless My Boss Does - Power, Accountability, and Consequences

People who work with us often struggle with this dilemma: in theory,... Read More