Common Job Performance Evaluation Mistakes

The job performance evaluation has become an essential organizational tool for reinforcing good job performance, analyzing the contributing factors for poor performance and setting goals that motivate an employee to continue to develop in his/her role with the company, as well as contributing to his/her own personal and professional development. 

One of the reasons the above statement is true is that everyone wants and needs feedback on how they’re doing, and a job performance evaluation is a great opportunity to provide constructive feedback in a structured environment. In my opinion, sometimes the opportunity to provide valuable information that can make the difference in whether the employee continues to strive to do his/her best and to grow in his/her job is undermined by some very common mistakes: 

Common Mistakes 

• Not preparing enough—Managers/supervisors haven’t done their homework, so they aren’t really ready to discuss an employee’s performance in a knowledgeable, informed way. Trust me on this one. An employee knows if you have been paying attention.  If a supervisor has not made a habit of taking notes throughout the year or throughout the period between evaluations, then he/she places the burden on him/herself to try and remember everything. This usually does not work, and the supervisor has lost credibility with the employee from the start. If the supervisor does not remember what has happened either positive or negative, then how can he/she get the employee to “buy-in” on setting goals for improvement and growth?

• Not communicating to employees in the interim—Managers/supervisors have saved everything up and waited until the day of the performance evaluation meeting to bring everything up to the employee. There should be NO SURPRISES! This is a mistake because the employee is now caught off guard and hasn’t been given directions in the interim. The employee may think “If this is such a big deal, why am I just now hearing about it?”

• Putting employees on the defensive—Employers tend to bring employees into job performance evaluation meetings and rather than putting the job on the table and analyzing the employee’s performance and how it affects the company, the employer starts addressing all the negative areas with the employee’s performance, which puts him/her on the defensive. Putting the job on the table, and dissecting it with the employee as an equal contributor, allows both the supervisor and the employee to look at all areas of the employee’s performance  without personally attacking or blaming that employee for all of the results of that job performance, whether he had control over the work environment and circumstances or not..
  
  For example, what factors are contributing to the employee’s performance? Maybe he/she isn’t getting the attention he/she needs. Maybe there’s a lack of resources or tools, which keeps the employee from doing his/her job effectively. Maybe there’s a lack of communication between team members. Maybe there is a need for training. Maybe there are unrealistic expectations. 
  
  In my experience, there can be a lot of factors that affect performance, and I think those need to be addressed in an environment that allows for open communication between the supervisor and the employee.

• Working “off the cuff”—Managers/supervisors should not try to make up the job functions and skills necessary to do the job as he/she goes along. That’s like trying to evaluate the performance of a locomotive as it is racing down the track. Rather than having to go back and clean up a misunderstanding of what is expected and then trying to fix it, use detailed, updated job descriptions as a way to set clear, definable expectations that can be a reference for both the supervisor and the employee before, during and after the evaluation process. This is especially helpful if this job description was used in recruiting, and the candidate was selected based on the qualifications listed in the job description.

• Not letting the employee contribute—When the employee has a chance to express their ideas and opinions and an open communication is established, then there is a much better chance that you will get the employee’s “buy-in” on goals and the improvements that can help him/her to do his/her job better. 

In my next Insight, I’ll explain some steps you can take to improve your job performance evaluation process. 

Everyone wants and needs feedback on how they’re doing, and a job performance evaluation is a great opportunity to provide constructive feedback in a structured environment.