An effective employee evaluation

When it's time to evaluate the performance of an employee don’t every one including the managers feel like it’s a pain? It is a hard time for the both parties since they just can’t skip the process, so they tend to get over with it as soon as they can.

Do you ever ask yourself is it supposed to be this hard? Why it is a painful to review what has done yourself throughout the year.

When an organization recruits an employee most of the time it’s based on the CV or recommendation given by someone or the positive impression they are giving in the interview within several minutes. The organization taking a risk & recruit but till the evaluation process done they will not have a clear idea if they have recruited correct person for the job.  It is important to know for the organization management whether every employee align with the shared goal & the each one of them looking at the same direction towards the big picture. So that is why employee evaluation taking place in every organization & it's much important.

From the employee point of view its important to know that they are in correct path or they should adjust it, where the feed back is needed from management & if an employee perform well in his job role he or she doesn’t wanted to treat same as the one who does not perform at the end of the year. The solution for these problems is given through the employee evaluation process.

So, in this blog we are going to go through some tips which will make the process less painful & much lighter for the employee as well as management.

01.  Set goals earlier & communicate the same to the employee.

So, at the end of the year rather than mangers review the performance of an employee & say “you haven’t achieved what we have expected from you” it is better the management communicate that what they are expecting from the employee starting of the year. The employee will be plan ahead & will divide the given target with the time frame to him or her & will drive through the self-motivation. So when the evaluation process taking place both parties know what are the expectations & were they achieved by the employee.

02.   Discussion should not happen annually.

Since the employee evaluation is an annual event it may be difficult to keep tracks of the performance for the employee & the management since the one year is a long time period & its not fair to employee to be evaluate upon recent events happened &  put out the hard work done by him for even consideration by the management. Quarterly or by annual discussions are recommended where the mangers can review the employee performance & see if he or she is aligned with the organization goals. If something is off employee have the opportunity to be on a correct path towards the company set targets or if he or she doing well they will be more motivated & will be more efficient towards the work & will be a healthy example for the other employees too.

03.  Let employee lead.

Letting employee start the evaluation discussion it will be more effective since he or she have an idea where they are standing in. They might self-review their work & It is always be a good practice in a working culture environment. Since from this step employee get a voice their will be a two-way discussion & the discussion will be more effective for the both parties.

04.  Focus on the progress.

Focusing on the progress is an important part in the evaluation. It is simply two types which is employee progression & Organization progression. In the evaluation process when the discussion happens it is not all about what the employee has done through out the year but what effect has caused his actions in the organization is the key point where it will evaluate as good or bad. If it is a bad effect what need to be change in the future or if it is a good effect what should do to improve the actions further should be discuss in the process. Some organization pay attention to employee self-development activities such as higher educational qualification building, Training & development activities & discuss about work life balance in the evaluation process since they believe that its directly impact the work.

So, following up these small steps will create a more effective evaluation process rather than ticking off some sheets & submitting the sake of a procedure.

Reference:

Heathfield, S. M. (2019) 10 Key Tips for Effective Employee Performance Reviews, The balance careers. Available at: https://www.thebalancecareers.com/effective-performance-review-tips-1918842.

Son, S. (2019) HOW TO CREATE A TRULY EFFECTIVE PERFORMANCE REVIEW PROCESS, tinypulse. Available at: https://www.tinypulse.com/blog/sk-effective-performance-review-process

Taylor (no date) 6 Ways Great Leaders Conduct an Effective Performance Appraisal, reviewsnap. Available at: https://www.reviewsnap.com/blog/6-ways-great-leaders-conduct-an-effective-performance-appraisal/.

How to push your team through success?

Team is not an unknown word in corporate world, where we always get to work as a team. Forming a new team is a huge risk, an organization take. Since there is so many uncertain facts as, are they fit to this kind of work? will they get along with each other? Will they drive by self-goals or company’s?  However, it’s a risk that organization should take.

In1965, Bruce Tuckman introduced 5 stages of group developments. Through this journey team should always keep pushing to the next stage to meet the end goal which we can name as success.

Forming

This is the first step where team members new & overly polite to each other. They might be anxious & might not know what their part in the team. So, to push them to next step first they should know where to begin. Self-introduction about Where they came from, the background, Interests & skills is a good way to start. Next they should know what is their goal is, to which way they should drive for, what is their part in the team, what is the time line & what are the ground rules. Organizing team building activities, get-togethers will help them to glue as one.

Storming

 

In this second stage team begin to warm up since the excitement ware off & now, they aware of each other & started to work, team is going to meet conflict situations. They might come from different background different cultures & different working environments but in this step it all seems matters since team mates personalities may clash. They will see each other’s flaws, Voice most likely if they feel someone is not pulling the weight. It's better not to ignore the conflicts but to face them & solve them since that’s a step forward. It's important to get to know each strength & weaknesses since that helps the team to establish & move together.

Norming

In the next step team is starting to cool off & becomes normal. They starting to accept each other’s weaknesses & embrace the strengths. They tend to get comfort & express their real opinion in the work. They feel like they are part of a team in real & they are more productive in this stage & eventually step up for the next stage without enforcing.

Performing

It’s a high time in the organization where they feel team members are driven by shared goals. Team is confident in this stage & they are stepping up the ladder with “can do” attitude & will not leave anyone behind but assist each other. They are more satisfied by their work. It’s easy to communicate, It is easy to solve complicated situations & out put is what all are focused about. In the organization they are starting to get highlighted & others see them as a brand. To face the next stage, they need to push to the outside competition. That will help them to grow much bigger & stronger.

Adjourning

This step has to be taken where the team has accomplished what they were assign or when organization change their goals. Excitement starting among the team members again since they have to seek for another opportunity or a task. In this stage recognition process & rewarding ceremonies taking place. Team together celebrate what they have achieved or discuss what has gone wrong & what could have they done to avoid such situations. Some team will not be at this stage but to celebrate the achievement make them even focused.

So, in each stage it's very important face the complications & solve it rather than ignore it since it might blow up at the end. So, for a successful team will push through each 5 stages till their shared goal is achieved & be successful. How do the team will keep pushing? Following are few tips which help them do that.

01.  Share the goal among the team & not let forget the big picture.

02.  Setting ground rules & a timeframe where team members will be discipline.

03.  Give other members to lead the group & make sure everyone is taken the opportunity.

04.  Not to avoid conflict situations what might be an opportunity for the team performance.

05.  Make sure everyone voices their thoughts & listen to others as well.

06.  To give the feedback from each end process.

07.  Everyone should feel the gravity of the work & feel responsible.

Reference:

Stein, J. (no date) Using the Stages of Team Development, MIT human Resources. Available at: https://hr.mit.edu/learning-topics/teams/articles/stages-development.

Harper, H. (2019) The Stages of Group Formation, and how they Aid Your Teams Success, WorkStyle. Available at: https://www.workstyle.io/stages-of-team-development.

5 Stages of Team Development Understanding team development process (no date) toggl. Available at: https://toggl.com/stages-of-team-development/.

                       

Does employee voice make a difference?

Employee voice does not mean simply as a granting a chance to employee for their say. It's much more than that, Employee voice means way of communication where employee will feel that they are making a change & they were heard to the management & they are part of the company.  

Where an organization thinks that employees as not trouble makers but asset for the company this process is easier. When employees will be listened to, they are more engaged, motivated, in forums they are encouraged to share the expertise & experience.

In modern world organizations are using more forums where they hear employee & through that process that they have simplify the working process & procedure to cut off the cost & waste. Through that organization will grow continuously & focus on customer high demanding’s.

Following are the few new forums of Employee voice can be heard in the modern structure.

01. Online Employee engagement surveys – In this forum employer can get whatever the answers they need to. 

02. Idea Street – Modern version of Suggestion box. But it is collected through online source.

03. Graffti Walls - This where people can write their ideas or what they think & others can comment on them.

04. World Café - Where employees talk over a coffee with each other, They get to talk to each other about what went wrong or how they achieve throughout the day.

05. Lean projects – In this project employees make processes simplify & efficient.

Since in present more young people are in the work force & by making employee voice unheard-able organizations are in much risk where the younger people always seek attention to them & when it’s not the case they will use Social media as a platform . So Employer might be in a risk of ‘Named & shamed’ online.

So still do you think that employee voice does not make a difference in an organization, hope this blog has change your thinking.

                                            Employee voice make a difference  

References

Employee Voice (no date) Engage for Success. Available at: https://engageforsuccess.org/employee-voice.

Sharp, R. ‘Breaking the silence: Employee voice’, HR, July. Available at: https://hrmagazine.co.uk/article-details/breaking-the-silence-employee-voice.

Employee voice: cultural differences make a difference (no date) The Oxford Review. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nuVdNGLR-o.