Performance Appraisals & Phrases For Dummies®

Chapter 7. Avoiding the Most Common Mistakes

In This Chapter

• Eliminating the interference that distorts evaluations

• Removing the barriers that block two-way communication

• Correcting problems that are masked as solutions

• Removing the element of surprise

As you work your way through the performance appraisal process with your employees, you need to be on the lookout for the tripping points that can undercut not only your effectiveness but the effectiveness of the appraisal process itself. Managers have myriad opportunities to make mistakes in the appraisal process, and sometimes just one slip-up can render the whole process useless.

Fortunately, these pitfalls aren't hidden or camouflaged subtleties. They're far more apparent than that — especially when you know what to look for.

In this chapter, I shine a spotlight on the range of mistakes that other managers often make in the evaluation process, so that you don't make the same mistakes yourself.

Managing Your Misperceptions

One of the main errors that managers make in the performance appraisal process is failing to see employees as they truly are. When this happens, managers typically place too much emphasis on matters of minimal importance and too little emphasis on the stuff that matters most.

Managers who misperceive the realities of their employees' behaviors do so as a result of their own needs, biases, expectations, prior experiences, and memories. And no matter what the source of these misperceptions may be, the result is the same: ...