What then is appraisal? A good starting point for this is to understand what psychological principles performance appraisal is based on. William James, the founding father of American psychology, discovered that there were three conditions that always led to enhanced performance.
The first was that people always performed better when they had or were given clear aims or objectives. Goals or targets would mean the same thing here. The importance of this cannot be overstated. Basically, the aim or objective is the directional mechanism. It is what we are looking for and forward to – it gives us not only direction, but as it impacts our imaginations then it stimulates energy and enthusiasm. Notice, however, that linked with ‘aim’ is the word ‘clear’ – many goals are vague and woolly. This can be fatal. We must, as far as possible, remove all ambiguity. One method for doing this is via the well established principles of creating SMART targets and Standards.
Secondly, people perform better when they are involved in the formulation of the aim or objective. This is obvious when you think about it. For those who have young children, think back. You can stand towering above them and tell them what their objective is in visiting aunty Helen – and then hope they behave! Or, you can kneel down at their level, talk at their level, and say a few things about what you hope will happen at aunty Helen’s and let them say what they hope will happen – and so go on to draw the threads together: what you both agree is going to happen at aunty Helen’s! This has much more chance of being effective. It might be now be technically called empowerment: give people an input into the project ahead and you get buy-in.
And third, people perform better when they are given adequate feedback. However, I must add: adequate is an ‘inadequate’ word to describe what I have in mind. People really perform better when they are given quality feedback. The kind of feedback where what they do is noted, its consequences articulated, praise is free, they are asked to repeat it, and confidence in expressed in them.
It should be clear that these principles which William James discovered are precisely what a good appraisal should cover: goals, involvement and feedback. The tragedy, then, is why do so many people dislike appraisal, and why does appraisal so often seem to fail to work?
The answer lies in the three elements: managers find it difficult to set SMART goals, they somehow also often find it difficult to involve the staff member in setting the goals, and finally, probably most difficult of all, giving quality feedback is all but impossible: well done, is the best they can muster.
Thus, managers need motivation to enhance their skill set because unless they do they will always be spending time, which will be wasted. Staff deserve better. The result for the organisation is colossal if the appraisal process is truly maximised.
The Mapping Motivation Series 