Tips for Evaluating Performance

Employee tips for:

• Writing SMART Goals
• Being Effective in Your Role
• Documenting Performance
• Performance Discussion

Manager tips for:

• Writing SMART Goals
• Being Effective in Your Role
• Documenting Performance
• Evaluating Performance
• Managing Challenging Performance
• Performance Discussion

Writing SMART Goals

An important part of managing performance is establishing clear expectations of how the work should be done by writing effective goals.  Results, not activities, should be the focus.  Expectations should be clearly stated and the results measurable.  Employees and their managers need to clearly understand what is expected and how the work they do will be evaluated and measured. 

The purpose of setting and executing goals is not to detail all that the employee does every day, but rather to summarize and commit to high impact “stretch” contributions which are aligned with the University’s goals.  For a goal to be effective, it needs to meet the SMART criteria:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Ambitious
• Results-based
• Time-bound

Specific

The goal should define specific results and provide concrete details on what is to be achieved.

Measurable

Ask yourself how you will know the goal has been successfully met.  The goal should express what is to be accomplished in terms of one or more of the following:

• Behavior: observable actions
• Quantity: number or amount
• Quality: how well the result meets the criteria; what it’s like when it’s “right”
• Cycle time: time from request to completion, processing time
• Efficiency: resources (time, budget, people) applied to achieve the result

Ambitious

Employees should have “stretch” goals.  “Stretch” goals move us to a higher level of personal and organizational performance and should reflect significant challenge or breakthrough results.  “Stretch” goals will be different for different people in your organization.  What is challenging or “stretch” to a new employee may not be for a seasoned or more experienced employee.

Results-based

State the results to be achieved rather than the activity or work processes leading to those results.  Focus on what you are responsible for accomplishing. Specifically defining results during the planning process will make evaluation at the end of the year easier!

Time-bound

Establish a time limit.  State the date by which results must happen.  For ongoing expectations, specify how often the goal or expectation must be met as well as how often they will be reviewed.

Here are some examples of goals using SMART:

• To reconcile the department financial reports by the fifteenth of every month with no increase in reconciliation errors.

• To lead the assessment and redesign of the department’s webpage in order to create a professional student focused website. Develop, revise and design information by partnering with content experts by September 2008.

• To reduce overtime in the department from 150 hours per month to 50 hours per month by the end of the fiscal year with no increase in student complaints.

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Documenting Performance

When documenting performance, note both what and how.  Performance goals define what an employee is tasked with achieving throughout the performance cycle, that is, expectations for results.  Competencies define how an employee completes these tasks, that is, the behaviors they use as they work to deliver results.  Goals and competencies are not mutually exclusive.  Rather, they are interdependent parts of effective performance.  For example:

• An employee who achieves outstanding results but who leaves bruised relationships in his or her wake is not likely to be able to maintain these results over time, especially if they require the help and support of others.
• An employee who is outstanding at maintaining excellent interpersonal relationships but does not deliver results undermines the performance of the team, function, and possibly the university.

It’s only by documenting both what and how that anyone can accurately assess an employee’s performance.

Documenting Performance Goals

• Performance goals should be written to meet the SMART criteria.  Performance against goals can also be documented based on the same criteria.  SMART stands for:
• Specific
• Measurable
• Ambitious
• Results-based
• Time-bound

• For each performance goal, be certain to document measurable or observable results, not just activity.
• Document the use of resources—time, budget, and people—while considering the quality of the results and whether available resources were used effectively.
• Finally, document milestones and deadlines, whether they were met, and the amount of variance—time early or late.

Documenting Competency Performance

• When documenting competency performance, focus on observable behaviors in specific situations or tasks.
• One way to do this effectively is by using the S/TAR format:
• Document the situation or task the employee encountered.
• Document the observable actions the employee took in this situation; focus on what can be observed through the five senses.
• Document the results of the employee’s actions.

Competency Documentation Examples

Here’s an example related to the Service competency:

S/T:  At the start of the academic year, many students arrived at our office to ask questions about a new add/drop policy.
A:  You took the time to answer their questions and, when you realized there was a pattern to these questions, developed a FAQ sheet.
R:  Students appreciated your effort.  The FAQ helped efficiently answer the more basic questions so that you could focus on the more complicated issues.

This example relates to the Collaboration competency:

S/T:  You had conflicts with the team members you worked with on the Assure-scan project.
A:  During heated discussions, you frequently cut team members off in mid-sentence.
R: This prevents them from feeling understood and creates a roadblock to working together in the future.

Note that this example would include coaching as a follow up to this feedback for improvement.

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Evaluating Performance

• Ask employees to self-evaluate.  Feedback from employees on their own performance provides their perspective and a starting point for the performance discussion.
• Seek feedback from key co-workers.  This provides a full picture of interactions.
• Consider the degree of difficulty in assignments.  Is this the same work as in the past or something newly acquired?  Has their work expanded in scope or amount of responsibility?  Were there any projects that caused great results with little contribution?
• Judge performance, not potential.  Focus on actual contributions and results achieved. This is a review of “accomplishments”, not of “potential.”
• Judge achievement, not progress.  Be diligent about reviewing successful attainment of positive results and contributions during a fixed period of time rather than crediting effort, activity, or progress. 
• Review performance for the entire cycle.  The evaluation must reflect an employee’s performance over the whole period of time covered by the review.  One month of outstanding performance does not offset eleven months of mediocre performance, even if it occurred in the month immediately preceding the review.
• Review each objective independently.  Do not let reviews of one objective influence the review of another.  Employees often do better in some areas than others.  Therefore, review each aspect of performance independently of others.
• Be a courageous, conscientious reviewer.  This may be the toughest guideline of all.  Managers who succeed here are scrupulous about giving a favorable evaluation of performance only when the employee has really earned it.  They know that the easy, comfortable route is to give people a “break” or the benefit of the doubt – no conflict, no difficult review discussion. 
• Avoid rating pitfalls:
  • Leniency—The tendency to use a less stringent set of standards to rate an employee, resulting in an inflated rating.
  • Halo Effect—The tendency to give an employee an overall rating, either positive or negative, based on the evaluation of a single performance objective, which results in an inaccurate evaluation of overall performance.
  • Central Tendency—The tendency to avoid rating employees at the high and low extremes and to cluster all ratings at the center of a rating scale.
  • Impressions—The tendency to rate an employee on the basis of impressions and gut feelings rather than on concrete, observable examples of performance, behaviors and skills gathered over a period of time.
  • Recency Effect—The tendency to rate an individual on his/her most recent performance or contributions rather than on performance during an entire review period.

Rewarding Performance

After evaluating and differentiating the performance of employees, managers make the appropriate pay decisions.  Pay for Performance means that we build an environment that rewards employees for performance results and for demonstrating the skills and behaviors that are necessary to grow the University.  Drexel’s approach on the connection between pay and performance is simple—Drexel pays for results and accomplishments.  We want to direct the greatest share of compensation to those employees who are making the most significant contributions to our overall success.

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Managing Challenging Performance

There are several major steps involved in responsibly dealing with low performance, and it does not have to be a daunting task.  It simply requires investment in a planned approach and some managerial courage.  And, in the end, the return on investment will be substantial in improving the effectiveness of your organization and delivering results that matter.

BEFORE the Discussion

Take time to plan how you will handle the feedback session before you conduct it.  Have concrete examples to support your conclusion that there is a performance issue.  Be prepared to deal with questions and possible resistance. 

Ask yourself:

• Have specific expectations for this aspect of performance or work habits been communicated?  What are they?
• Is the person aware of how he or she has failed to meet these expectations?  Were specific examples provided?
• Have you documented the occurrences of the problem, as well as any discussions and agreements with this person?
• Has the person been given sufficient time and opportunity to improve?
• Does the problem warrant discussing or imposing formal consequences?
• Do you understand Drexel’s policies regarding disciplinary actions?

DURING the Discussion

Don’t apologize to the employee about giving him/her feedback that may be negatively received.  And, above all, remember that the purpose in providing corrective feedback or coaching is to help the employee improve performance.

• Meet in private, away from the employee’s work area.
• Take notes on what you discuss and agree to.
• Remember:  Your purpose is to present the facts, not debate them.
• Present consequences in a non-threatening way.
• Maintain a professional atmosphere—keep your emotions in check and manage the person’s emotions.
• Rely on your documented performance data to describe the problem.
• “Tell” first, “seek” later.

AFTER the Discussion

• Transcribe and organize notes taken during the discussion.
• Follow through on action items agreed to, including routine progress checks.
• If your leader or HR Partner did not sit in on the discussion, brief him or her on agreements and provide copies of your notes.
• Look for opportunities to observe the person’s performance/work habits and provide timely feedback.  Document the performance and the feedback.
• Provide specific feedback.  Avoid vague, blanket statements.
• When giving feedback, let the person know how his or her performance/work habits “measure up” to expectations set in your discussions.,
• When performance doesn’t measure up, agree on what he or she needs to do to meet expectations.  Document agreements.

Key Principles

When conducting discussions about performance problems:

Preserve Self Esteem

• Be specific and sincere
• Focus on facts
• Acknowledge positives when appropriate

Demonstrate empathy

• Describe facts and feelings
• Empathize without agreeing

Secure involvement and commitment

• Unleash ideas with questions
• Explore consequences

Share your thoughts

• Disclose feelings to build trust
• Share selectively

Provide support without removing responsibility

• Establish clear accountability for change
• Encourage self-monitoring
• Let go, but stay close

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Performance Discussion

Performance Discussion Preparation Checklist

1. Check the record—Review performance plans, goals, and performance documentation.
2. Consult with others whose input is important—Ask for input from key partners and customers.
3. Consider the following—
   • What has gone well and why
   • What has gone less well and why
   • Strengths
   • Development needs that can be addressed with the organization’s support
   • Significant changes to the job
   • Factors affecting the job
   • Expectations for the next performance period
4. Prepare your notes.
5. Employees should provide a self-appraisal to manager prior to the meeting.
6. Managers should provide employee with the completed form—without ratings—prior to the meeting.
7. Ensure a private and comfortable setting; give sufficient notice; and schedule enough time.

Performance Discussion Agenda

• Agenda Review—Briefly describe the purposes for the discussion:
  • To discuss performance for the previous year and to set performance plans for the coming year.
  • To review the evaluation form together, step by step.
• Opening Question—Managers can ask an open ended to start the performance discussion.  For example, “Tell me about your greatest accomplishment this year.” or “Describe a few of your successes for this year.”
• Review Performance Goals and Competencies—In this step, managers and employees review the goals and competencies one by one.  Typically, managers should provide employees with their written comments prior to the discussion so that the employee can review them and come prepared with questions and/or additional information.
• Discuss Themes and an Overall Rating—Themes around performance will emerge during review of goals and competencies.  These support discussion of the overall performance rating.
• Address Development/Career Opportunities—Based on the performance themes identified and the employee’s career path, discuss the employee’s development needs and wants.
• Next Steps—the manager and the employee work together to create SMART performance goals and at least one development goal for the coming year.
• Check for and Confirm Understanding—The final step in the discussion is for the manager to check for and confirm understanding with the employee.

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