A brief one today pointing to Seth Godin's recent post about filling in forms; it made me think about how when designing performance appraisal forms, we need to give careful thought as to how we lay them out online, what sections we include, what we make free text and what we make tick box or drop downs, etc.

You have an opportunity to signal what is important; if you value a meaningful conversation around someone's career aspirations then make it a large, free text box!

John

We have discussed before what feel the role of a 'debriefer' is - a debriefer being the person who sits down with a recipient of a 360 degree appraisal cycle and shares the results with them face-to-face.

I suggested that the role of such a debriefer was to act as an intermediary between the recipient and their feedback report - with this in mind, we can consider what the key skills of such a person should be.

Before the session begins, a debriefer should prepare adequately for the session itself - they require the ability to analyse the report in isolation and begin to assess what the themes are that are emerging, patterns that repeat, ratings and comments that differ between different relationship groups, e.g. do the peers believe something very different to the direct reports or boss?

Once into the debriefing session, the debriefer needs to be able to place the recipient at ease sufficiently such that they feel free to express themselves - I find this no different in many respects to any 1-2-1 interaction, but the key difference I feel is that the recipient understands the nature of the session i.e. what YOU are there to do, and that the conversation is confidential - if it isn't you must say this though.

Establishing some position of trustworthiness is critical to being able to support the recipient through the process.

Not unsuprisingly, listening is an essential skill - actively listening to the recipient and gauging what it is they are really saying will provide you all you need to move constructively through the session.

A temptation is to think about what you are going to say next; how to solve the issue, offer advice, move to action or simply to ask another question.....resist all of these! Listen and you will know what it is the next step..

Asking questions is another key skill in a 360 feedback debrief, but probably warrants another post, so I am going to leave it for now.

All of these skills are discussed in detail during our 1-day training programme for anyone tasked with handling the face-to-face debriefs, be they HR, L & D professionals or Line Managers; feel free to get in touch if you would like to know more.

John

At Bowland Solutions, we offer an end-to-end process in helping our clients ensure that the 360 degree appraisal cycle is successful in every way - I have mentioned many times that it is the 'human element' which is of greatest importance...what do I mean by this?

I believe that it is the sharing of the feedback with the recipient which is one of the most crucial stages in the whole process - the human interaction between the recipient, and as we call them, the 'debriefer'.

We provide training to the internal HR team in organisations to be able to conduct these 1-2-1 sessions with the recipient and this begins with clearly defining the role of the debriefer.

As a debriefer, you do not own the report, rather you are there to act as an intermediary between the report and the recipient - you are there to facilitate their understanding of the feedback and enable them to effectively act upon it.

This sounds easy and very much like common sense, but all too often we see debriefers feel that their role is to own the report, add their own judgement and opinion, and very quickly move to resolving the issues highlighted in the report.

There is much greater value in simply allowing the recipient to understand what is being said within the report, so that they own the feedback, both positive and negative, and that they come away with a balanced view.

In both helping to raise their self-awareness and enabling them to own the feedback, the recipient is far more likely to then feel responsible for undertaking any actions that are required as a result.

Once this key distinction is made on the part of the debriefer, it reduces the pressure often felt by a debriefer, particularly if they feel the feedback is negative, and ensures maximum value is derived from the 360 feedback process for the recipient.

A practical way for anybody sharing feedback with a recipient would be to state this intention at the beginning of the session by saying "I am simply here to ensure you understand this report".

John

During a recent performance appraisals training session I was delivering to a group of Line Managers, some of whom were very experienced whilst others were very new to the role, I was struck by how some simple initial steps can improve the appraisal process immediately.

The group identified three themes which they felt would be a good starting point for them:

• How they should communicate the importance of the appraisal process and the benefits for employees
• Ensuring that 1:1s started to happen consistently for all employees; the quality of the 1:1 sessions can improve, but first get them scheduled and conducted regularly to set the expectation
• Make sure that whatever is discussed, agreed upon, etc is followed up

Points 2 and 3 provide some evidence to the first point; if Line Managers schedule appraisals and follow-ups, then they show it's important and valued.

The group can then look to how to structure the appraisal conversation, handle difficult feedback, offer positive feedback and develop the core skills over time.

Doing it counts; very skilled Line Managers conducting ad-hoc appraisals with no follow up doesn't cut it.

John

We are pleased to announce that this year's series of free seminars is about to start from May and we thought it would be a good idea to invite you to vote for your preferred choice of topic and help us decide which one to run first!

The current seminar topics are 'How to....'

• Successfully implement a 360 degree feedback process
• Create a feedback rich organisation
• Successfully implement a performance appraisal process
• Effectively debrief a 360 degree feedback report

If you would be interested in attending one of the seminars listed above, then simply:

1. Email me at john@bowlandsolutions.com
2. Cut & paste the title of your preferred seminar topic into the subject header.

We will then count up the votes and prioritise our schedule of seminars accordingly.

So if one of these topics is a burning issue, please email before Friday May 6th and get it scheduled sooner rather than later!

Thanks and we look forward to announcing the first seminar shortly.

John

I presented a session at a recent CIPD meeting regarding the importance of feedback in the workplace, be that through a model for performance appraisal, 360 degree feedback or otherwise.

The gist of the presentation was to position feedback as just one element of a much larger 'eco-system'; just as flossing is one crucial element of an oral & dental hygeine regime, so is feedback as a key element of an effective performance management regime.

Setting feedback in this context then naturally prompted the question 'so what?'; recent CIPD research concluded that in turn performance management was a primary vehicle of communication between a line manager and their employees.

Following this thread upwards through further research by the CIPD and Institute of Employment Studies (IES), connected effective communication between a line manager and an employee as a foundation for higher levels of engagement.

Engagement is good for business; the David MacLeod report, which I referenced in an earlier post, found pretty compelling evidence that engagement was instrumental in sustained organisational success with increased 'bottom line' results.

When you look at feedback in this context, it suddenly becomes really important that line managers give it and employees get it.

However, context is not enough; we still need the right mindset and approach to usefully embed feedback in an organisation, something I will return to in future posts.

Now where did I leave that floss?
John

I have been reading numerous articles of late which seem to take a hard position against performance appraisals, condemning them as unpopular and ineffective.

Let's take those arguments in turn; being unpopular isn't a valid argument to dismiss performance appraisals and the review process - their unpopularity is often local to the organisation in how it has sought to implement the process, making it overly bureaucratic, complex and time-sapping.

Besides, "Jedward" conversely are comparatively popular and that certainly isn't an argument in favour of them being 'right'....

I think the same factors which can often make performance appraisals unpopular, also serve to make them ineffective; but again it is a local issue within an organisation.

If organisations implemented a simple performance appraisal process which sat within the context of performance management as a continual cycle, one which offers the best framework for managers to have meaningful conversations with their employees throughout the year, then suddenly performance appraisals provide a key element of communication between line managers and their team.

People are 'feedback poor' and something which genuinely offers an opportunity to give praise, recognition, validation and sincere personal development ideas should be popular; and it remains in my view one of the better means of aligning people with organisational goals, which is how it's effectiveness should be measured.

Our whitepaper available to the right hand side of this blog post, shares out thoughts as to how a popular and effective process can be successfully implemented.

John

Just two months into the New Year, and many of my resolutions have floundered by the wayside; February is a great month for a personal interim performance review!

Rather than castigate myself too much, I took solace in reading this recent post from Psyblog which I always find interesting; it examined some common strategies that people use in trying to achieve their resolutions and goals.

What is interesting is how many of those often well-known and adhered to strategies may actually work against us; for my part, willpower is never enough..!

Still, an interim performance review is there to look at what is going well, what is not going so well, and make the necessary adjustments; time to start sharing my goals and recording the piecemeal progress!

John

Here is a guest post from Kevin Watson - details at the end of this article.  The article continues our theme of inviting people we trust and know to write articles on topics linked to 360 degree feedback and performance appraisals.  If you would like to write an article then "get in touch".

7 principles of feedback

1. Choose correct timing for feedback:

Feedback is most effective when given as soon as possible after the behaviour has been observed. Immediate feedback will help to reinforce a desired behaviour and make it more likely to happen again.

2. Ask for self assessment:

Asking the person for his or her own assessment first will involve them in the feedback and helps to generate a dialogue between the coach and coachee. As people are often well aware of their own strengths and weaknesses, encouraging them to voice their own opinions before providing your own will help them take responsibility for their own performance.

3. Focus on specifics:

When you focus on a specific behaviour, you avoid the risk of personality differences and the other person will be more willing to accept the feedback. For example, when providing corrective feedback:

Do: "When you were talking to customer xyz, I noticed that you forgot to use her name"

Don't: "You are not building rapport with the customer"

And when providing praise:

Do: "When you spoke to customer xyz, I noticed that you used really good open and closed questioning techniques"

Don't: "You communicated well there"

4. Limit feedback to a few important points:

Good leaders identify one or two critical areas and help the person address them one at a time. Restrict your feedback to one or two important points so that you do not overwhelm the other person with too many things to consider.

5. Provide more praise than corrective feedback:

Positive reinforcement is one of the strongest factors in bringing about change. Unfortunately most people only focus on the negative.

6. Give praise for expected performance:

People deserve to be praised for doing their job to the expected level. However, too many people take the expected level for granted.

7. Develop Action Plans:

Work together to identify the desired performance or result and how it can be achieved. Decide when the steps will be accomplished.

Call to action!

On a scale of 1 to 10 (where 1 is poor and 10 is excellent) rate your performance against each of the principles above when providing feedback to your team and colleagues.

Finished? What do you notice? Is there any one principle that is particularly stronger than the others? What do you do that makes this so strong?

Which principle is relatively weaker than the others and what can you possibly do to strengthen this? When can you start to exercise your feedback skills in this principle and with whom?

Kevin Watson

My Own Coach Limited

http://myown-coach.co.uk

Kevin Watson is a coach, trainer and consultant supporting personal and team development by pushing beyond those self imposed boundaries and inspiring a call to action, helping them become stronger and measurably more successful in their own terms.

He is an accredited coach with the CIPD and Oxford School of Coaching & Mentoring and a Master Practitioner of NLP.

His professional experience spans over 25 years in retail and was part of the senior team responsible for taking Selfridges from an old department store to the shopping experience it is today.

I attended a recent presentation where the key speaker was David MacLeod; he was highlighting some of his findings in his Government commissioned research into Employee Engagement.

Unsurprisingly, he saw that companies which had higher levels of employee engagement on the whole had higher levels of performance; these companies tapped into the best of people, drawing upon their full capabilities and realising their potential.

This is a product of many things, but there is no doubt that employees feel engaged when they have a voice, have faith in Leadership, an organisation which cares, and a Line Manager who takes an active interest in their performance and development.

Correctly handled, 360 degree feedback, coupled with a robust performance appraisal process, provides an excellent way to enable Line Managers to have meaningful conversations about someone's impact in the workplace and where they can develop.

Read the full report here:
http://www.bis.gov.uk/policies/employment-matters/strategies/employee-engagement

John