The Performance Appraisal Interview

This week we were to interview someone outside of medical care about their process of conducting a Performance Appraisal.  I interviewed my brother, David, who is a Manager for Content Strategy at Family Search International of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. 

I was really impressed with his responses to my questions. Performance Appraisals are a huge part of his work. They are incorporated into daily, weekly, quarterly and yearly interviews and reviews which keeps his team on the same page and striving regularly and effectively toward the same goals.

Here are the questions we developed as a team and his responses:

1.  How often are performance appraisals conducted with employees of your organization?

He conducts a very formal, annual performance appraisal and supplements those with quarterly evaluations.  He meets with his employees one on one every week and reviews all goals.

Weekly meetings - are conducted so that employee and employer are on the same page and that they stay productive. They involve employee growth.

Quarterly meetings - These discussions include how employees are performing in their goals. All adjustments are made at this time to meet all necessary goals.

Annual meetings - They are formal and this is when employees are scored.

2. Do you conduct all of the performance appraisals, or do you delegate this task to other employee managers?

He has conducted all the appraisals for the past five years as he does not have any managers under him.

3. On average, how long does the typical performance appraisal last with your employees?

He has an online system that all department, organization and employee goals are included. These are updated throughout the year. As each goal is accomplished it is noted. Also, any adjustments are made to this goal. Because of this, it doesn’t take a lot of time at each weekly meeting. The annual interview is built up through the course of the year. So, the whole process annually takes about an hour for him as a manager. Employees also spend a couple of hours working on in alone to prepare for the meeting.

4. Many organizations have certain pre-established criteria and organizational objectives upon which the performance appraisal is based, what are yours?

They have department level goals that are very big picture. Then there are the division goals. For example, help 500,000 members of the church submit a name this year. Then there are team goals for his team. There are four primary goals they have developed. Then there are personal goals for each member of the team. These goals are to be compatible with the team goals and on up the ladder.

5. How do you eliminate or control the chance of bias in the appraisal interview?

They meet so frequently with the one on one, and then the quarterly and final appraisal. There is no lack of alignment. There is perfect alignment because they have communicated throughout the year. Once the employee scores himself, then he usually ends up bumping up their numbers. Some groups in the department tend to score themselves higher. These need to be looked at objectively. Things are more subjective at this level. There is very little bias at his team level.

6. How often do you conduct performance appraisal interviews?

There are weekly, quarterly and annual appraisals. The online system to maintain goals and performance is updated on a very regular basis depending on the individuals.

7. What is expected of an employee during the performance appraisal interview?

He expects the employee to have already rated himself on each goal. He should know what went well, what didn’t and how did they rate themselves. Most employees are completely compared with that. Sometimes they rate themselves too harshly. Then they can talk about why they feel that way. This goes the same if they didn’t do well. He expects them to come in with all the details for each goal that they need to discuss.

8. Is a performance appraisal interview typically conducted when an employee asks for a raise?

No. They are unrelated. In fact, he can only remember one or two times when an employee has asked for a raise. It just doesn’t work that way where he works. They need to demonstrate their ability for a raise, not ask for it. When there is merit, he makes a point to refer an employee for a promotion.

9. What kind of questions are typically asked during a performance appraisal interview?

The goals are designed as smart goals so they are specific to those goals. Other examples are what areas have you struggled in or felt were very challenging? How can I help you better? What are some things that I can do to help you? How can I be a better mentor?

10. What is the most valuable question asked of an employee at their performance review?

How well they performed on each of their goals and he asked them to elaborate. So basically, how well have they accomplished their goals.

11. What insight are you looking for during an employee’s performance review?

Is the goal this employee is working on too big/small of a task? Is it beneficial to the company and their goals? As the organization changes direction, so do the goals. Assessment of how they are doing and how relevant it is today based on where it was when it was first created.

12. How do you address difficult situations during a performance review such as negativity and lack of team participation?

This is the hardest thing. You develop a relationship with this member and it needs to be fixed. Currently all is going well. In the past he has had a problem and it has been tough. He brings it up neutrally. He tries to remove emotion from it. If he keeps a good relationship with each member the problem is addressed factually. He talks through the problem and keeps it calm. In the past it has mostly gone well but once in awhile it hasn’t.