Over the years, performance appraisals have become increasingly popular and a rather customary practice among most General Practices for more reasons than one. Among which, the primary reasons are perceived to be:
- The ability of the GP to tunnel corporate objectives, mission and plans towards a cohesive direction thus facilitating enhanced operational efficiencies
- Through which encourage each individual personnel to consider their contributions towards achieving the said objectives, mission and plans
- The provision of opportunities for managers to route positive feedback, praise and recognition towards their team, to create a mutually beneficial work environment for the employer and employee
The Weaknesses vs the Opportunities:
One of the primary weaknesses in carrying out a performance appraisal is that it is most often perceived to be a “check list” exercise, described by many as being predictably boring and unfruitful. In such instances, a much needed change may be required by way of outsourcing the entire appraisal process to a tried-tested-trusted 3rd party entity that would retain the novelty of the performance appraisal process, possibly by even re-creating the process from scratch.
Opportunities for exploiting the performance appraisal, to facilitate a better working environment, are many. Among which it’s important for Managers to realise that:
- Feedback routed to the employee should be directed towards their performance and not personality
- It is a prime opportunity to route encouragement, positivity and motivation towards the employees
- Performance appraisal’s core focus is to move forwards rather than reminiscence, hence forward thinking is vital
- Company direction, mission, objectives and corporate plans all need to be clearly defined
Individual VS Team:
Team based appraisal systems are proving to be more productive and also facilitate a better team orientation. Accordingly, if the practice runs on a clearly defined set of objectives, possesses a strong team spirited environment and holds a predominantly high standard of performance; then application of a team based appraisal system is definitely more beneficial in moving the GP to an upward shift.
