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Management Training Professional & Management Professional Development

Are performance appraisals good or bad?

Are performance appraisals good or bad?

There are staggering repercussions to conducting performance appraisals, especially in context to overall team performance, productivity and efficiency. Some may consider the appraisal to be a time-consuming event best suited to the ‘quiet’ times in the business. Others argue that they neither effect performance nor offer any real financial remunerations. Are they a waste of time?

Consider – are the dynamics of these infrequent appraisals inferior to the daily task of hands-on management, which is far more instantaneous?  Rarely are they an investigation on how you can improve another, instead they are an opportunity to value an individual and I am not talking about ‘praise.’

STL training london performance appraisals
Winning appraisals

It’s all about them

How well do you know the ambitions of those who work for you? With the fast pace of life, the in-house dog fights and external commitments, professional ambitions can change.  Individual perspectives can alter by internal opportunities, a new sales demographic, or even a personal achievement such as buying a house or the need to support a relative. The most significant attribute of appraisals is the opportunity they present to align business with personal objectives. And in so doing strengthen trust and confidence.

How well do you know your team?

Asking the right questions can support an individual driven to do well and succeed. Most professionals want to enjoy the rewards of success. Yes, there are those who prefer to quietly go about their work methodically and undisturbed. Is it not the individual perspective of success that counts?

Which of these five means success to you?

  • Money
  • Recognition & reputation
  • Promotion
  • Responsibility
  • Security

First, we understand what motivates us so we can understand what motivates others. Ask yourself:

  • What would your best day look like?
  • If you could re-organise your job role what duties would you take, what would you lose?
  • In five years’ time, what would you have liked to achieve personally and professionally?
  • What’s the one strength you would like to use more of?
  • Name one area you would love to improve.

Questions like these can lead to rewarding conversations in appraisals. Reflecting on your personal objectives to team mates is incredibly influential in helping people to ‘snap-out of’ the limbo-land we often find ourselves in.

By challenging others with the opportunity to assess themselves we effectively shake-the-tree. Remember, the response when you confront others with these questions will be to confound and confuse. Your job is to plant seeds and get them thinking.

There are two main keys to giving appraisals that most forget.

Do it regularly

Every three months is without doubt the most potent time frame to conduct appraisals. It keeps the individual thinking:

  • How to redesign and reaffirm their objectives.
  • what achievement means to them and
  • how they can better affect the operation to achieve this.
  • What better conversations can be built over time to strengthen trust and energise motivation.
Feedback is essential
Give feedback

It’s all about them

Your goal in management is to inspire and maintain performance. The one thing that won’t fit this neatly is individual perspective. Through appraisals we can align the objectives and pursuits of the business to the ambitions of the employee – whatever those ambitions are.

Being a great team happens through coaching and leadership. Appraisals allow others to set realistic targets and support them to achieve their goals. Maybe we just got the name and focus wrong? Rather than Performance Appraisals maybe we should call it Mentoring & Guidance? It makes quite a difference.

Categories
Leadership Development Professional & Management Sales & Customer Service

5 strategic tips for sales success

The dynamic art of selling defines success. There is nothing in the world like being handed a signed contract or seeing the product you just sold being prepped for shipment. No other area of professional skills offers such gratification. It feels like you won first prize.

Sales courses at STL training London
sales training courses

Yet do we win as much as we lose? It’s time to think more deeply about how to improve the odds:

1. Have a goal.

Give yourself one daily, one weekly and one for the month. Start from the end of what it is you want. Make sure you achieve at least one thing per day. The secret is to raise the feeling of winning. The weekly target should be a component of your overall monthly objective.

2. Visualise the process.

What do the steps look like? Apply some thinking as to how to take them. Examine your strengths. Each stage is a timeline: a catalyst to the next. Try to combine productivity and efficiency. Get to know who you’re dealing with. Each person must be engaged in a way that suits them.  How will you do that? Then form your next step and then the next.

3. Identify needs.

How well do you know your client’s needs? They can be as diverse as they are specific. Some needs are for personal service, others are for speed and efficiency. For some it’s trust and for others it’s the recognition that your company provides. It may be your product or service is more expensive than your competitors, yet they choose you. Find out the why and the because for all your accounts.

4. Measure Performance.

Anything measured can be defined and improved. You set goals to monitor achievement. Know clearly what can affect performance and have contingencies. There are so many factors that determine performance improvement – do you know what they are and how to improve them? When we are able to analyse these, we can better understand where true issues may lie.

5. Find the right buyers.

How much time is often wasted in trying to connect with potential buyers because we think they are big enough to be our ‘pot-of-gold.’ Although there are successes to be had with the international giants, the real strength is to network with smaller companies that can build your reputation, and who are prepared to commit to long term contracts. Your ambition should be to turn every client into a fan and let them promote you.

With so much that can interfere with your day it is important to be dogmatic. Continually assess what defines success to you. Daily, weekly and monthly. Is it in the number of new clients, the current position of existing accounts, or keeping pace your organisation’s targets? How many leads do you close and how many generate a minimum of 5 appointments? Know your figures, and then play the averages. The big wins are only one more sale away.