Pathfinder – Business update – Business question of the month (March)

Tim Levey, Partner and Head of Business Advisory, runs two groups of Business Leaders in Kent. One of the members recently posed the following question:

“My appraisal process is not working. We have tried three different formats in five years in an effort to get the team to be more engaged and to contribute to their past performance and their future development etc. I’m of the belief that the form I use doesn’t motivate them to put pen to paper ahead of the appraisal and therefore the process can be quite painful when they contribute next to nothing?”

Advice included:

1. We don’t do appraisals. I had a bad experience on the receiving end early in my career, but I’m happy to be convinced.
2. We do them, but I don’t think it’s a massive success. We have never been able to separate the performance review from the pay review aspects.
3. We do appraisals separate from pay reviews. The forms we use are incredibly old and most staff say the same thing each year, but it does draw out people who have something to moan about (usually an issue with another member of staff) or want to understand their career progression.
4. We introduce a new appraisal system every few years. You get a new Head of HR and they want to implement their preferred system. This does keep it fresh, but having to be retrained every few years is a drag.

One member was happy to share what had worked for them for many years. Individuals were asked to grade themselves against the company’s “Principles and Behaviours”, while a small group then also assessed them before delivering a group verdict. Discrepancies were then discussed, but the group assessment was normally convincing, with objectives then being set. The HR Consultant who set up the system now has a number of leads from the groups…

If you would like to join one of the Intelligo Business Leader groups that discuss these types of issues then I would be interested to hear from you. Please contact tim.levey@krestonreeves.com or on +44 (0)330 124 1399.

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