Performance Appraisal Form - Best Practices

If you just want to download a sample performance appraisal form you can do so here. However, before you do so, do take the time to glance through this article.

An employee performance review is so much more than the sitting down and getting the paperwork done! The performance appraisal form is simply a guide that helps guide the discussion and helps you keep a record to refer back to at a later time.

The formal performance review discussion doesn't replace "day to day" feedback and discussions. Rather it is the formal step in an ongoing dialogue between a team member and his or her team leader which provides the opportunity to air any concerns and talk about career moves, explore learning opportunities and set goals for the year ahead.

The best Performance feedback discussions are conducted within an atmosphere of trust - which truly only comes about if you have paved the way throughout the rest of the year as a leader who behaves in such a way that you inspire and deserve trust.

As was noted on the performance appraisal examples page - the best performance appraisal discussions happen when the team member completes a self-appraisal first and - as was discussed in the employee performance review article - comes to the meeting with the mindset that she or he is responsible for improving his or her own performance.

Talk about any weaknesses in terms of needs and learning opportunities and keep in mind that the best performing organizations now utilize the research done by Marcus Buckingham and Donald Clifton in the book "Now Discover Your Strengths".The research shows that the best performing people and organizations focus on people's strengths and look for ways to work around people's weaknesses - rather than trying to get them to 'fix' their weaknesses.

Listen more and talk less. Your focus and mindset should be one of curiosity - your goal is to understand your team member's perspective and strengthen the relationship between you. So listen carefully, summarize regularly what they have said and work together to come up with ideas and plans that enable the team member to consistently improve his or her performance.

Be careful of pre-judging. You may not have all the relevant information and facts until your have heard the team member's point of view. Plan the important messages that you want to get across - but stay open to the fact that your perspective may well shift once you have listened to the team member.

If appropriate, you may wish to discuss with a colleague or your manager, your planned approach on introducing or discussing a particular topic that has the potential to be 'sticky'. Feedback from others could make your task easier as they may have had to tackle a similar situation in the past - or could see how you might inflame a situation with the wrong approach or choice of words.

As you are preparing for the discussion some areas to think about are:

• The team member's current job priorities and how they may have changed in the past 12 months


• How job priorities might change in the coming 12 months


• How they have performed against agreed goals and development activities since the last appraisal period


• Changes that are coming up and how to best prepare for the changes


• Feedback you have received from others (be VERY careful with this one - in the ebook Influence Tactics I reiterate many times that you should never give 3rd-hand feedback.)


• Any plans (e.g. promotion opportunities, or new projects) coming up that you have lined up for the team member - but don't make any promises or indications that you can't keep!

Download the sample performance appraisal form here.

If you are a member of the Align-Lead-Inspire Club, go to the Templates/Checklist section and download a blank version of this performance appraisal form in Word format.