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recognize and reward the team and /or the individuals for their contributions to the company results. Though teams may appear to present another wrinkle in the performance appraisal system, well-defined goals and objectives, clearly communicated and supported by continual feedback and recognition for the team and its members, help ensure the team’s success.

Alternative Work Arrangements

Another sign that the work world is changing is the increasing number of telecommuters, job-sharing, and off-site arrangements. For example, some 40 percent of organizations now allow employees to telecommute in some capacity. These flexible work situations are becoming more commonplace and present another challenge for companies. How do you evaluate performance, provide feedback, and motivate employees with whom you have little face-to-face contact? Because these types of work arrangements are relatively new, there is no well-established performance appraisal process by which these employees are to be evaluated. However, as companies work to develop systems to effectively address these situations, it is important that employees’ need for feedback and recognition is met on a daily basis. This requires an ongoing commitment to communicate and connect with employees perhaps more than ever before.

Impact of Technology

If left unchecked, the increasing use of technology in today’s business can have an alienating effect on employees. But, technology today can also offer employers many options for better communicating and connecting with their people. The key is learning how to use the technology and then taking advantage of all it can offer. Voice mail and e-mail can be effective tools for daily communication with employees—especially

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T H E R E A L W O R L D

For most people, accountability is a dirty word, suggesting they might not do what they were supposed to unless they were closely watched and perhaps even badgered to comply. The fact of the matter is, however, high performers love to be held accountable because it helps to quantify how much they are able to get done. And for everyone else, they need the feedback to get to become a high performer. The more employees are held accountable, the more they tend to rise to the challenge of performing. So think in terms of positive accountability in a way that highlights the impact of your efforts and increases dialogue and communication for everyone to be better.

for thanks and encouragement. A.G. Edwards, the financial services company, goes further and uses technology to conduct a weekly phone conference of all employees.

One step closer to face-to-face communication is the use of videoconferencing. Home Depot, for example, has a weekly satellite feed to all stores known as “Breakfast with Bernie and Arthur,” its chairman and CEO. Still, when the issue for discussion is emotionally charged, it is best to schedule a face-to-face meeting as soon as possible. If that’s not possible in a reasonable time, it is better to provide feedback using some form of technology than not at all.

WHAT MAKES A GOOD PERFORMANCE SYSTEM?

Performance appraisals—in the traditional sense of the term—are obsolete. To be effective, the performance review process must be updated to take into account the needs of employees and the nature of

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today’s fast-paced business environment. To be successful, a good performance appraisal process must be participative—that is, the employee must have a voice in the process. Involving the employee in establishing goals and objectives for his or her job not only generates a sense of fairness about the process but also is an effective way to improve job performance. In addition to mutually setting employee goals and objectives, the performance process needs to link individual goals to the organization, identify education and development needs, and discuss career advancement opportunities. Done well, this process serves as an excellent foundation for the ongoing communication advocated earlier.

Providing employees with continuous feedback in a timely and nonthreatening manner is at the core of how employers can effectively motivate their employees. Employees today need and want frequent recognition of their job performance and will put forth their best effort for employers who fulfill this need. Companies that continually reward and recognize their employees in an environment of ongoing communication will create a workforce that feels empowered to make a difference.

GETTING TO THE HEART OF ACCOUNTABILITY

Accountability is something that every manager wants and expects from his or her employees but is often elusive to obtain. How are employees held accountable for the jobs they were hired to do, the results they promised to achieve, and the goals they agreed to reach? And how do managers create an environment in which employee accountability is positive, even enjoyable, and certainly valuable? For most organizations, for better or worse, this is accomplished via performance evaluations, that is, timely and accurate evaluations of an employee’s successes and shortcomings.

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Most managers and supervisors, however, dread doing performance evaluations, and even more employees dread receiving them. According to studies on the topic, an estimated 40 percent of all workers never receive performance evaluations. And for the 60 percent of the workers who do have reviews, most are poorly done. Very few employees receive regular, formal performance evaluations that are thoughtful, complete, and constructive to the employee.

Ask any human resources manager: Are formal performance evaluations really necessary? The answer you get will likely be a resounding “yes!” However, if you look a little below the surface, the reality may echo something quite different. Although most managers consider performance evaluations a necessary tool in developing their employees, reinforcing good performance, and correcting poor performance, these evaluations are often too little, too late. They often miss the mark as tools for developing employees. If performance evaluations are done poorly, managers are better off not doing them at all—especially if by not doing evaluations, the alternative is more frequent coaching and communication.

EVALUATE; DON’T AMBUSH

When an evaluation process is working in an organization, employees aren’t surprised by the results. In such organizations, employees receive regular and ongoing feedback on their progress from their managers. Then, when it comes time to conduct a formal performance evaluation, you can focus on summarizing the things that you’ve previously discussed and on strategies to improve.

But, for the evaluation process to work as well as it can, managers must be fully prepared for employee evaluations. Leaving the preparation for performance evaluation meetings until the last possible minute is a prescription for disaster. The average manager spends about one

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hour preparing for an employee review that required an entire year of performance. This is not nearly enough time to be properly prepared for a performance evaluation meeting.

In summary, when it comes to ongoing accountability about employee performance, keep these points foremost:

•Communication with employees should be frequent so there are no surprises. You should give your employees informal feedback on their performance early and often.

•The primary focus of performance appraisals should be on going forward—setting new goals, improving future performance— rather than on looking back.

•Learning and development should always be included as a part of the performance appraisal process (although sometimes a discussion about pay raises can be separate).

The entire process consists of setting goals with your employees, monitoring their performance, coaching them, supporting them, counseling them, and providing continuous feedback on their perfor- mance—both good and bad. If you’ve been doing these things before you sit down for your annual or semiannual performance evaluation session with your employees, you’re going to find reviews a pleasant wrap up and look at the past accomplishments instead of a disappointment for both you and your employees.

Don’t be among the many managers who fail to give their employees ongoing performance feedback and, instead, wait for the scheduled review. Despite your best intentions and the best efforts of your employees, assignments can easily go astray. Schedules can stretch, roadblocks can stop progress, and confusion can wrap its ugly tentacles around a project. However, if you haven’t set up systems to track the progress of your employees, you may not figure out this oversight until too late. You end up mad, and your employees get black eyes because of their mistakes.

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P O P Q U I Z !

Holding employees accountable in their jobs is a challenging aspect of any manager’s job. Consider the following questions that address topics covered in this chapter:

1.What is employee accountability, and how does a manager best get it?

2.Why are performance evaluations useful? What makes them challenging?

3.What are important prerequisites for any effective performance evaluation?

4.Name three common traps that undermine performance evaluations, and describe how to avoid each.

5.Name three ways to make performance evaluations more positive and constructive for both managers and employees.

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IVP A R T

Building

High-Performance

Organizations

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C H A P T E R 1 1

V

Improving Communication

IT’S A NEW WORLD OUT THERE . . .

Communication and . . .

How good communication makes organizations work better. How to become a better listener.

Learning how to make great presentations.

The power of the written word.

Keeping up with technology.

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