How to Be Good at Performance Appraisals: Simple, Effective, Done Right

Best book on Performance Management subject, with clear system, process and guidelines, highly recommended for any supervisory or managerial position,

Very helpful and practical book. It was easy to understand the difference between coaching and performance appraisals, with many practical examples.

The balanced-message technique which managers are typically instructed to use for discussing performance appraisals is categorically wrong, according to Dick Grote in this book. It is a time-proven failure and the reason why people hate performance appraisals. It annoys and demotivates good performers while cheering and heartening poor performers. Instead, an effective performance review gives a single clear message, concentrating on strengths or on improvement needs.The book contains plenty of other helpful advice, including:* A performance appraisal is a formal record of a manager's opinion of the quality of an employee's work, so it should be drafted by the manager, not the employee.* Performance appraisal is necessary to identify gaps in talent within the organisation, best performers who need to be the subject of retention strategies, and worst performers who should be salvaged or cut loose.* Useful practices which are rarely used include calibration sessions to ensure consistency in appraisals, assessing how well managers do appraisals, and greater use of 360-degree feedback.* SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, time-bound) goals are a bad idea because they tend to aim too low.* If the appraisal is a positive one, it is helpful to give it to the employee an hour before the meeting, but if the appraisal is a negative one this is not a good idea as the message should be delivered verbally.I found the book very helpful, reasonably short, and entertaining to read. I would recommend it to anyone who has the job of conducting performance appraisals, and I would particularly recommend it to anyone who has the job of designing performance appraisals.

Great book. Grote lays out sound guidelines and clear practices to add value to an otherwise despised activity. Love the discussion about Prima Donnas and the feedback approach you must use in such cases. I disagree with the “no surprises myth”. Grote insists that when writing a performance appraisal the manager could find problem areas that he/she wasn’t aware of. And here is the issue. Why the manager wasn’t aware of the gap? Irremediably this mean the manager was not doing his/her job properly. In addition if I’m “surprised” by my boss in the performance review I will question him/her: “why you didn’t tell me this before?” This will downgrade my engagement with him and my job. This is the price of your “no surprises myth” policy.

Easy to read and pinpoints areas of Performance Management

Busted some myths such as "sandwich" type of mixure of good and bad reviews during the process.Especially good on the "goalsetting" part, even beneficial for myself who isn't so good at it.Thank you! Very practical.

This book contains all important topics on performance appraisals from different perspectives, from rating scales pecularities to how to set up the whole system. I took with me into practice the advise not to use hamburger technique with negative feedback and it works much better as so far learned pos-neg-pos. As with most business books time between writing and publishing is too long and performance management as such has taken a leap forward. However, if your organisation is using one of these old school rating-calibration-development systems, then this book is must read one.

Very good book. I have purchased a copy for each of our Managers. I found the role playing segments particularly useful for Managers who struggle with communication in performance sessions. I personally liked the advice to not mix the bad with the good "sandwich". If they have done a good job, stick with the "good". If not, then stick with the "bad" and need for improvement. Don't confuse people.

The only book you'll ever have to read if you want to better your performance appraisal skills... practical advice that's straight to the point

Nice book

Give understanding of approval system

Great book with lots of helpful advice and tips. A vauled addition to any professional's library.