How I Got the Most from my Performance Appraisals

Almost everyone I know dreads a performance appraisal, whether giving or getting one.  Managers dread the administrative process of  As a retired manager, I've given a 20 to 30 performance appraisals.  I've also received over 30 performance appraisals during my working years. 

As an astute supervisor once told me, there are only two or three performance appraisals that I found useful.  Here they are:

For promotion recommendation.  In my company, an up to date performance appraisal (PA) is needed to make a promotion recommendation.   Doing a PA for a promotion recommendation is very straightforward to do.   The PA will focus on the positive business results, great contributions and strengths.  It's basically a testimonial.

To document career goals.  A PA is a excellent opportunity to tell my supervisor and the company about my personal career goals and get management's reaction.  To me, a lot of improvement plan recommendations means I'm not on track.   A plan of preparatory next assignments means I'm on track.

To request approval of my personal training plan.   I always found PAs a great time to tell my supervisor the training courses and associated costs for the upcoming year.  In my experience, my training plan of one to two courses involving no more that 10 working days were always approved.

PA elements that I didn't find useful:  strengths, weaknesses and improvement plans.   In general, I didn't get much benefit for reviewing these areas on a annual basis.

For more on Strategies and Plans, check back every Monday for a new segment.



This is not financial or career advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

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