What it means

More and more organisations are moving away from traditional performance appraisals. They are adopting the new way of appraising. But what does that actually involve? It means organisations want to look at their people's performance differently. In this new approach the employee has far more control and is responsible for setting their own goals. With the new way of appraising, the performance review cycle with three fixed conversations a year is a thing of the past. Employees and managers are in continuous conversation about growth and development.

What is wrong with the traditional way of appraising?

By the traditional way of appraising, we mean setting your goals at the start of the year, discussing where you stand halfway through the year in a progress meeting, and being assessed on it at the end of the year. Have you done everything you were supposed to do and reached your goals? Then you get a good appraisal, often with a pay rise attached. Many employees and managers do not experience this traditional approach as enjoyable or inspiring. That is the main reason it is being replaced by the new way of appraising.

Why the new way of appraising?

People are often tense in the run-up to an appraisal, and in many organisations these assessments are relatively subjective, with personal preference playing a part. On top of that, the performance appraisal is often based on how you have performed over the past few weeks or months, simply because that information is top of mind. Many organisations still believe that a single appraisal and one performance review a year is enough. The assessment is also usually given by the manager to the employee. But who knows better how you are performing than the people you are working with at that moment, and that is certainly not always your manager. The new way of appraising often solves this problem with 360-degree feedback .

How do you introduce the new way of appraising?

You want to put people at the centre. To make this change, there are a few things you need to do. First, you move from fixed moments to a continuous review cycle and meaningful conversations, and from long-term goals to short-term goals, per quarter for instance. Second, you stop focusing on what is going wrong and start focusing on what is working, with the aim of strengthening it. You move from a one-sided process, where the organisation or your manager is responsible, to a collective process in which manager and employee decide together what the goals are and are jointly responsible for them. Finally, conversations are no longer only about KPIs. In the new way of appraising you talk broadly about results, competencies and behaviour.