Probably the biggest misunderstanding about performance appraisal arises because people don’t understand what a performance appraisal actually is. Let’s make it clear: A performance appraisal is a formal record of a supervisor’s opinion about the quality of an employee’s work.
The operant word here is opinion. That’s what supervisors are hired to do — to render their opinions about how good a job each of their people is doing. Sure, that opinion needs to be objective. Sure, it needs to be backed up with facts and examples.
But the company trusts the opinions of its supervisors—if they didn’t think you could render accurate opinions, they wouldn’t have given you the job. So if the employee doesn’t agree with your opinion of the quality of his work, tough. You’re the boss, and in the area of performance appraisal, it’s only your opinion that counts.
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.
