The appraisal interview is under fire. Organizations are abolishing the standard interview at the end of the year and switching to a new-style interview cycle. In practice, appraisals do not motivate employees and do not lead to performance improvement. However, it is not easy to simply make the switch from an existing situation to a whole new way of working. It affects every employee and can therefore mean quite a change. The big question is how to introduce this "new style of assessment" and arrive at a renewed interview cycle that suits your organization.
In recent years, organizations have begun to organize themselves differently. Where we used to work in a classic 'rake' where top-down was managed, we now work much more in teams with managers leading everything. What we are ultimately moving toward is working in a network of teams where one team works on a common project or objective. In this way of working, the team is central and there is much less hierarchical leadership. All this requires a very different way of working.
Why a "conversation cycle new style" and assess differently?
During an appraisal interview, managers and employees look back at the past (half) year and discuss what didn't go well. The conversation is about a period that has been and that you can no longer change, which is not at all inspiring for growth and development. In addition, employees are often evaluated on the basis of a standard questionnaire that managers must fill out for each employee. First, this takes a lot of time and second, every employee is different, so it is weird to assess every employee with the same questions. Take a salesman, for example. One of his biggest customers has gone out of business and despite almost compensating for this loss with new customers, he has not reached his sales target. It would then be unfair for him to receive a poor rating.
Finally, too much time is spent on how to make sure that employees who do not function well, or function less well, do function well. Instead of spending a lot of time, money and energy trying to turn a 4 into a 6, it is much more important to ensure that those people are in a place where their talents do come into their own. In addition, it is important to spend time on people who perform very well. After all, you want to keep those people. Too often these employees do not feel heard. But precisely these people need coaching and good conversations. That way you can turn a 9 into a 10.
Webinar: stop judging
In this webinar, we will take you through 8 steps to an appropriate, new annual cycle where employees and managers are in continuous conversation.
How do you build a "conversation cycle new style"?
In the new way of assessing, you want to put people first. The goal is to get the best out of your employees. Can your employees perform optimally? Then teams perform better and this ultimately only benefits your organization. Most importantly, the renewed appraisal cycle is focused on growth and development. But how do you build a new appraisal cycle? We would like to give you 5 tips.
1. Design an HR cycle that fits your organization and your employees.
Every organization is different and has different employees. In fact, it is very different whether you work in an organization with highly skilled employees or in an organization with many hands-on positions. The other day I heard someone say, "we have a lot of people who are on construction all day, they do 'just' their job every day and are fine with that. They have no desire at all to be involved in growth and development". A crazy thought in my opinion. Growth and development can be done in different ways. Because the world changes so quickly, they have to keep learning. For example, technical devices are taking over work processes, service and maintenance are becoming increasingly important, and these jobs often revolve around collaboration and work-based learning. So it's important to stay current, even for people in hands-on positions. Adapt your approach accordingly. Giving attention and learning on the job works in construction, for example, but that doesn't mean it will work in an ICT company. There is no one size fits all. Before adapting the interview cycle, do some good research into what fits your company. Look at what happens on the shop floor and ask employees and managers how they would fill it in.
2. Give employees more direction and ownership
You can manage employees from above and tell them exactly what to do and what goals to achieve, but you can also let them do it themselves. Give employees more responsibility over his/her own performance and development. For example, let employees set their own goals. By clearly telling them what the organizational goals are, they can adjust their personal and team goals accordingly. In this way, they see that they are making a valuable contribution to the higher purpose of the organization. Using a tooling like Treams , you as an organization will have continuous insight into the growth and development of your employees.
3. Monitor development and interact more often
We also call the conversations between employees and managers the heartbeat of any organization. It's very strange if you are only told after six months that something is not going well. That is why it is important that these conversations take place regularly. That way you know where your employees stand at all times and adjustments can be made in time. An open discussion about what is going well and what is not going well is the basis for innovation, cooperation and growth. During these conversations, ask employees where they want to be in five years and what they need from you, as a manager, to achieve this. Give and ask for continuous feedback
The generation of Millennials are employees who want to continue to develop continuously. It is important for them to hear regularly how they are doing and what they can still change to become even better. Therefore, implement feedback in the new interview cycle. By having employees regularly ask for feedback, they become aware of their 'blind spots' and can make timely adjustments when something is not going well. When creating a feedback culture , it is important that there is a safe and trusted culture, that clear goals are set so that employees know what is expected of them and what they can ask for feedback on, and that employees know how to ask for and give feedback.
The manager's role in the new interview cycle
But if the responsibility lies entirely with the employee, what is the manager's role in this whole process? Good question! The manager disappears much more into the background and ensures that a climate is created in which the employee can actually take control. Thus, the manager determines the dot on the horizon and coaches employees to reach this dot together.
HR's role in the new interview cycle
First, it is up to HR to bring to light the importance for a new interview cycle and bring the rest of the organization into it. In doing so, it is important to use ambassadors to make it go even smoother. Choose employees who are role models for the rest of the organization. It is also important for HR to ensure that the right tools are available. Consider a tool such as Treams where employees can set their goals , measure progress and ask for and give feedback. HR should ensure that the entire process is fun and easy.