Performance appraisal is one of the most common management practices around. But I’m always surprised that so few people know the answer to the simple question, “What is a performance appraisal?”
Here’s the answer: A performance appraisal is a formal record of a supervisor’s opinion of the quality of an employee’s work.
The operant word here is opinion. A performance appraisal records the opinion of Harry’s boss about just how well Harry has performed over the past year. A performance appraisal isn’t a document that can be empirically tested and proven. It’s not a negotiation between the manager and the individual to come up with something that both agree on. It’s a record of the manager’s judgment about how well the individual is performing.
Of course that opinion needs to be supported by facts. It must be objective. But one of the requirements of leadership is that the leader must assess just how well each of his or her people has done. And that’s what a performance appraisal is — a record of the opinion of the leader about just how well each team member has performed.
About the Author
Dick Grote is a management consultant in Dallas, Texas and the author of several books. His most recent book, How to Be Good at Performance Appraisals, was published by the Harvard Business Review Press in July 2011.
