Foundation to Success

The secret to successful appraisal is preparation for both parties: the appraiser and the appraisee. Let us consider each in turn.

The appraisees must know the agreed system and the areas of activity to be addressed. They need to be ready and able to participate in a constructive analysis and discussion. Thus preparation is much more than simply "thinking about the meeting" just ahead of it taking place. Appraisal is a pulling together of thought and analysis that go on through the year; or should do. So preparation needs to be spread over the long term as well. It is useful to keep a file and make notes progressively about areas that seem worth discussing. Often topics for discussion will, in any case, be the subject of ongoing review and action. In that case the appraisal will act as a review progress to date and to highlight future need rather than being a starting point.

Immediate preparation is important too. The appraisal meeting, like any other needs a considered agenda and at this level this should be as much the responsibility of the appraisee as anyone else. There is a danger of feeling nothing is really necessary but to "play it by ear", especially if people involved know each other well and instinctively opt for informality.

The appraisers will likewise need to think ahead about the meeting. They should be familiar with the appraisal process overall it is primarily a matter of adapting the approaches used to a particular individual. The appraisers, should, most likely, be responsible for taking the initiative and for directing the process and the meeting. Because the appraisal is the culmination of a larger process, it is difficult if not impossible to conduct a meeting in the absence of having monitored activity to some extent during the year.

Final preparation might well take the form of appraiser and appraisee getting together to decide the final agenda or timing. At the very least an agenda must be set out in advance.

Given this preliminary consideration, the meeting, which typically lasts from perhaps 90 minutes to a whole morning, should go smoothly. Though this can only be in the case provided the attitude of those involved is positive and constructive, and this in turn will tend to relate to the overall organisational that prevails.

Next week ... how to run your appraisal meeting and what you need to follow up with

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Patrick Forsyth is a tutor at SIM executive development seminars. He runs Touchstone Training & Consultancy, United Kingdom, and specialises in marketing, sales and, management communications kills. This article is republished with permission from Patrick Forsyth, it first appeared in Today's Manager Magazine, Apr-May 2003.