THE HINDU sono WEDNESDAY, MAY 3, 2017 WR Jaregn Performance assessment should be everyday work \ Through discussions, supervisors should try to,improve their teams on a daily basis ADITYA NARAYAN MISHRA cross the world, organ: A\istons bie Ss al io mon companies, Ss ey latte tees inthe 1805 andthefollow in Uae eaters ielomae coe i Ta pean mena eon teen gota a eae neti a fe, tis eee proces ft onan Sania inet eat Statin op aertip he spate ed icine Ma ey he appa ee nee (theca, Das tient atu of tn upree goes te Say ellie, yous teen on ang oc fend ed, eae tae aed pie or ra geome Tp of ergo ge crenuicel a ecole aout aia te tedeonmpigthe ces Continuous process ‘Today's employee looks for a fair assessment of the per- formance output and is open to suggestions for change in his working style and behaviours. ‘The need for course cor- rections should be communic- ated at the appropriate time 50 the process of change is set ‘in motion early. The annual appraisal process creates the setting for a discussion, but ‘one cannot wait forthe partc- ‘lar event to offer feedback, Rather, feedback has to be part of day-to-day work. Or- sanisations must rset the ex- pectations oftheir workforce to seek feedback and discuss possible changes in behaviour every now and then, Hence, the new normal on perform ance appraisal makes itn in tegral part of dayto-day con versation with the bos. ‘Atypical performance ap praisal discussion is 2 hur- riedly-convened meeting by the boss. She/ he normally ‘comes il prepared forthe dis- cession, offers a few generic inputs tothe employee tcks off a task on the to-do list, finds no time to record the ‘discussions meaningfully and the employee has no means to Jknow what gets recorded in Dis or her career records, ‘wonder if this helps the ‘opment or the organisati {improving its performance levels. ‘Organisations do well in ‘moving away fom the half- ‘yearly or yearly ritual of hold- ing this process all over and spending a huge amount of energy. Rather, make it a dayto- ‘day practice where the discus- sion isnot limited to the tasks but the process, the beha- -viours and possible develop- ‘ment opportunities, Employ- ces and their supervisorshave to learn this new way of engagement, Arecord of goals One of the most. wasteful activities ina performance ap pralsal is ‘re-certifying’ the goals of the review period, ‘And, of course, many atime, ‘the goals are not set in time ‘nd hence, there s confusion Sometimes, the goals are re- vised along the way due to several factors, Who keeps ‘the records and digs into the past to determine the correct, figures? ‘With the advent of techno- ogy, digitisation of work pro- cesses is on the rise. Hence, measuring the actuals and sei arece a al easier with each pesing iy. Organisations hhave t0 wake up to this pos sibiliy. The discussions have to achieve what they are meant to ~ recognise the achlevements, make the em ployee feel proud and agree ease es Goalsetting process In their eagerness to be trans parent and objective, organ- fsations preseribe perform: ‘ance scores, salary hikes and bonuses linked to achieve rent of targets. So, employ tot aggressively pish fora low target to maximise thet Salary hike an bonus, Hew counter productive itis for the ogaisation when the ne foto ofthe target not found the possbltes of achieving an ations goal but on an Individuals earn ings The anal appraisal proces cannot achieve tis. {The HR taternty and bust nes leaders ar eying ond a way by which the goal-set- fing processis not riged and is rather anchored in clearly- set goal. Salary hikes Typ, performance ap- praisl processes end with Salary hikes, bones, promo- tins new roles snd goals for thet review period, Since ‘many ofthese are ented on the appraise» personal fais, they hinder an object Ie dscisson about perform The employee's mind is fix ated on ning the perform ance score, salary hike and Bona rom the days when the appre proces starts tthe time wen the inal ress are anounced, employees are quite busy having ‘water- oor conversations’ The ot fnisronloses moment. ‘ew practice ‘To sum up, the new prec- tie ston aay hikes, bo- ruses and promotions wth the assessment of the Ind viduals performance aginst targets, benchmarks and po- tential And the appraisal dis- ‘asin snot acutomary an- nial conversation; its pat of ayo day work where good work is recognised and op- portunities for improvement Mentited and worked upon, Let there not bes specic even called anna appraisal disesson diya Nerayan Mishra is £0 at Git. HR Serves)