Performance appraisal: How to face it

Performance appraisal discussions are designed to be one of the most well-meaning processes within an organisation: simple straight forward process of giving feedback on the performance at the end of the year. However, for many, it's also the most dreaded.

Reasons for this could be many. There could be a lack of clarity from the company's side on what it's all about -- is it a development process or a mechanism to give pay hikes?

Again, there could be mixed expectations from the employee. Do you treat it as an opportunity to find out what you did well, what needs to be done better, and what your strengths and opportunities for development are, or do you use it to wangle the best raises and bonuses?

More often than not, due to a combination of these factors, the process is treated by employees and, more so by managers, almost like vaccination -- painful, but we have to get it done nevertheless.

How should you respond to this process? further. . .

Notwithstanding the glorious definitions given by human resources professionals, it's a straight forward process where the boss and his team member sit together at periodic intervals -- it could be once a quarter, or half-a-year, or as in most organisations, a year; In simple words, it should assess what we did, how we did, what can be done better.

A couple of safe assumptions will make your life much easier. Firstly, the boss is not a demon out to fix and nail you through this process. While deviants and ogres exist in organisations, more than 90 per cent are honourable people who do an honest job of this.

You need to accept the boss's intentions as good. Remember, his success is, more often than not, a sigma of the success of the people who work for him. This will, consequently, lead you to a frame of mind to listen and absorb feedback with equanimity.

In most organisations, no matter how devious you may imagine your boss to be, the assessment and feedback are not very far from reality. This is because it would go through a couple of reviews with people still higher up in the organisational ladder who will iron out the extreme biases that may have crept in.

So, please accept the feedback as being close to reality.

Again, it's a feedback about performance, not you as a person. Once you can get this issue sorted out, you would be able to able to assimilate it clinically. Do not get overtly defensive. Listen to it for what it's worth and you will come out a happier person after the discussion. Don't get too hassled with the final rating.

Differences in rewards due to the ratings are usually marginal. And in a 35-year career, a plus or minus 5 per cent in compensation will not dramatically alter your fortunes in life.

Don't get too defensive on the past and turn a possibly constructive discussion into a slanging match. Focus more on what could be done in the future, how it can be done better and what support the boss can provide.

Focus on the future. Negotiate hard on the training you need, additional responsibilities, diverse experiences and the support you would require in the future. These are the building blocks of your career, not the salary increases.

Also, don't get into the comparison trap. Why did X get a better rating than me is a pointless discussion. You, obviously, are not fully aware of what your colleagues in your department, or in other parts of the company have done. So, it is futile moaning over why the grass is possibly greener elsewhere.

To each his own in terms of the context, the expectations and the performance. The organisations have built the process for it to be constructive and also to be used as a development tool. Treat it as such and see what's the best you can get out of it.

The author is a senior HR professional with the pharma industry.