One of the most important aspects of a performance appraisal form is that it tends to be used by manager's as an aide memoire during the annual appraisal meeting.

We can all picture a manager with the performance appraisal form in front of them talking things through with the employee.  We may prefer them to do something different but we'd probably accept that the uncertain manager will use the form as a prop during the meeting.

With this in mind, how we structure the appraisal form; the words we use, and the questions we ask can positively influence the conversation from afar.  We are the experts in performance appraisal, not the manager, so this is our big chance.

For example, by using a simple "look back", "look forward", "plan development" structure we can immediately help the manager to structure their thoughts.  Hopefully they will then review last year's performance, set targets for the coming year and consider what development the individual needs based on last year's performance and this year's targets.

You can follow this approach through into the detail of the form - have in the back of your mind ... "how will the manager use this".


Brendan