Trainism

My personal experience after working in a corporate for several years is that, despite the fact that appraisals are the most awaited by every employee in an organization, there is only a minority of population that prepares well for it. Most of the times employees give in their best  throughout the year. However, do not document  their success regularly.

It is only during the appraisal discussion when they realize its true importance. Every employee wants to feel that he/she has exceeded his/her KRA’s. However, the manager would most of times have a different say on it . This is when you really want to kill yourself for the poor preparation you have done.  Because it is an pure opportunity lose in terms of salary, your motivation dipping down, promotion and only leads to the road of dissatisfaction.

In case you want your performance appraisal to go as per your expectation, you must prepare thoroughly for it. The process of making it successful must start at the beginning of the year, when you set your goals and agree to the KRA’s (Key responsibility Areas). Employees must be as focused on the appraisal day, as they were when they had agreed to the KRA’s in the KRA setting discussion.
The most common trend observed is, that most of times the employees get so busy in delivery that they do not go back and visit their KRA’s. So i is like “Out of Site & Out of Mind”. It is only at the year end when the employees take a closer look into the KRA sheet and realize what have they missed. Remember, I am taking from real time experience.
Hence, one of the most important practices that every individual must follow is that they must regularly visit their KRA sheet. So if it is “Out of Ste, you must go Out of Mind”.

The best duration to visit the KRA’s  is

1. Once a month for: At-least 15 minutes.
2. One in a quarter: 30 minutes to 1 hour
3. Every six months: 2 hours

A few advantages for visiting your KRA’s :

• The employee would remain more focused throughout the year on his targeted goals.
• Employees would remain on track and not divert their energies on projects that will have either no or very little reference in the appraisal discussions.
• Individuals would be able to self measure their performance on a regular and a timely basis.
• It will be easy to track an unreachable goal or target and can be changed before the appraisal.
• Employee will be more confident during any meeting with his manager.
• Individuals shall have substantial proof of all positive, negative and neutral feedback received by customer.
• Team members and manager would look up to the employee as a positive motivator for the team.

A month before the appraisal, take time out to reflect on your performance goals and start documenting and collecting your achievements for the past year in terms of appreciation mails by the client, management and team mates. The Performance preparation sheet must have your periodic evaluation done by your customers, managers and peers.
Pre-requisites of the Preparation:

1. Evaluation of self: No one else but you yourself must know whether you are meeting, exceeding or missing your performance goals. But before you reach to that conclusion, you must know what each rating signifies and means. Prepare a PowerPoint presentation supported by an excel sheet checklist that covers in detail all your KRA’s and your achievements against them.
2. Customer Feedback: The winners of any appraisal are the one who is able to collect positive feedback from the customer or the client he/she works for. Collect all such feedback on a word document and take printouts and file them in your performance appraisal file.

Remember to also discuss your goals for the next year. This contribution from your end will add a streak of positivity in your appraisal and will simplify tasks for your manager and will give a certain path to your career, the way you want to shape it.