Managing For Dummies®, 3rd Edition

Chapter 13. The Fine Art of Performance Evaluations

In This Chapter

• Considering the importance of performance evaluations

• Developing performance evaluations

• Avoiding evaluation mistakes

• Making evaluations better

Timely and accurate performance evaluations are an important tool for every business manager or supervisor. So why do most managers and supervisors dread doing them, and why do so many employees dread receiving them? According to studies on the topic, an estimated 40 percent of all workers never receive performance evaluations. At all. Ever. And for the 60 percent of the workers who do receive performance evaluations, most evaluations are poorly done. Very few employees actually receive regular, formal performance evaluations that are thoughtful, complete, and beneficial to the employee.

Ask any human resources manager whether formal performance evaluations are really necessary. The answer you get will likely be a resounding "Yes!" However, if you look a little below the surface, the reality may echo something quite different. Although most managers consider performance evaluations a necessary tool in developing their employees, reinforcing good performance, and correcting poor performance, these evaluations are often too little, too late. They miss the mark as tools for developing employees and for requesting their employees' input on how they're doing and what they need. If performance evaluations are done poorly, managers are better off not doing them at all — especially if ...