Make Employee Performance Appraisals Useful
An annual employee performance appraisal can often be a dreaded time of the year for both employees and bosses. Get the most out of these reviews with four steps to making appraisals useful and positive:

1. Managers and employees must agree to give and receive balanced, candid feedback. Don’t assume the agreement to speak honestly is implicit, make it explicit.

2. Managers, be honest and courageous. Don’t rate an employee a five who is really a three. You don’t do anyone any favors. Employees want to know how they’re really doing, no matter how much the feedback may sting.

3. Managers, focus on three things the employee did well and three things to do more of next year. Any more input is overwhelming.

4. Managers, schedule a second conversation a week after the employee performance appraisal, so employees can think about and process what you’ve said and discuss further, if necessary.

To read more from this topic, visit Shari Harley’s Candid Culture article here.