Appraisal guide 101; How to ensure a good appraisal

There are a few things in this world that are inevitable and these would continue to spin back and occur like a clockwork such as seasons, holidays, and a few other things. The emphasis of using such a delicate example is to acknowledge the coming of appraisal season and sooner or later it will come and it is only a matter of time.

Appraisal season is inevitable and not so long after employees have to sit with their managers to fill them in about the annual performance of themselves, what did they do, what milestones did they achieve, and other things like that. There are countries like Japan where this meeting is a sort of daily or weekly occurring but other conglomerates or companies emphasize conducting this review once in a year, so that is what they call an appraisal meeting.

The purpose of conducting these performance-related appraisals is that the employee and the manager can sit with each other only a fraction of distance apart and discuss various issues that each of them had to face and complaints with things and issues related to management or working style of the employee. These appraisals can quickly go on towards a heated argument and further escalating the situation but experts believe that if these appraisals are conducted properly and efficiently then it can help the organization to remain productive while cutting out the silos and obstructions which they normally face during the conducting of operations.

Why performance appraisal is seen as a negative thing and what can be done to avoid it?

Many employees see this thing as a negative element of their job and this thing is only being dread by the employees and not by the management staff which has to conduct the interview, why? Because supposedly so the employee is held responsible for whatever negative element that is about to sprout within the interview but it is a totally wrong concept, both personnel are equally subjected to the interview and would be held accountable for their own deeds or progress made. This is how it should be perceived; the employee must think this interview as their chance to highlight their achievements over the years and mishaps which were consciously or non-consciously conducted by the employee. This must be done with full honesty though.

On the other hand, the management body must take it as a review and provide their valuable feedback to the employees and if necessary then also motivating them to do good and become a better version of their present self. It is equally possible that not every manager must be able to provide valuable feedback but employees, on the other hand, can take this as a good thing and prepare themselves for this process ahead of time.

The most suitable guide that can help you with your performance appraisal has to be how you perceive the situation and if or not you are willing to make the best of this event. Approach the performance appraisal like you are ready to answer some questions and don’t forget to highlight your accomplishments too. It also means that you must prepare for some of the questions in advance such as you might know about them or would have a detailed explanation to lend to the other party. Other than that make sure that present yourself as someone who is willing to take on extra responsibilities or even a big role or promotion and present yourself as someone who is willing to learn constantly for the sake of being benefiting to the organization.

If you want to make the best out of your performance review then it is recommended that you study the following appraisal questions carefully and their answers too. This way you will have a carefully crafted answer already embedded in your memory and can tackle the situation pretty professionally. So, without further ado following are some of the questions that you might want to know the proper answer to;

1. How did you do with the goals set out for you from the last appraisal review?

While you might want to think that your employer has been tracking your progress throughout the year and closely monitoring the progress you have made against the goals that were set out for you but most of the time this isn’t the case. Many employers admit that they don't keep track of the employee's productivity so keeping in view that this might be the case here, you are the one who will be able to take everything into the account.

Make sure that you know what were the goals assigned to you the last performance appraisal, out of those how many have you accomplished, and what is your progress about those that you are still focusing on achieving. Think like that your employer doesn't know anything and you are the one who has to fill them in about everything. Also, develop a sound argument around the goals that you are still trying to achieve and discuss your progress for them while on the other hand also list the goals that sounded unrealistic to you and why this was the case.

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2. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

You must know that the chances of your employer knowing nothing about your accomplishments are higher than it is going to be the other way around, so you are the one who has to fill them in about everything. List all your accomplishments before them, what you do think you achieved, and what was the original goal, your track record, and everything new that you learned about in the process of.

Develop all the paperwork that you need to showcase or validate your accomplishments before your employer within the appraisal review and make sure that you list them all. Here all means everything that you have accomplished or achieved that year such as the goals that you achieved within your line of work and any other accomplishment that you scored for yourself such as earning a new certification online, working with the marketing team, or any other section of the enterprise. On the other hand, if you don't document your accomplishments then it is about time that you went in the habit of doing so.

3. Short and long term goals with the company and your career?

Other than the specific goals that were marked for you from the last appraisal review chances are that your employer would also ask about other goals of your own. Such as what is your vision with the company, how long or the extent of accomplishing your goals would you be serving the company, and what about your own career. If this is the case, such as you are asked these exact questions then make sure that you answer them in a professional attitude, highlighting your interests with the company that revolves around a conviction for learning and becoming better at the job that you are doing right now.

Enlist a number of different work-related or non-work-related skills that you want to learn, talk to them about your future plans. Emphasis on the fact that you are pursuing further nodes of education for the sake of learning new things and mastering further extent of technologies to take on additional responsibility at work and thus adding more value to the organization you are working in. Include a mix of short and long term goals and talk about what is your momentum for achieving these goals while also rating your own professional capabilities at the time.

4. What has been the most challenging thing for you this year regarding your work?

This is the type of question that you can take in any direction that you like, if you are not so bright you would end up complaining about the difficulties that were put your way and how unprepared you were regarding them, this is something that you do not want to do. But if you are bright and well prepared for your appraisal review way ahead of time then you can definitely take this approach in a positive way such as discussing a particular element that was difficult for you to attend to or even new and what online courses or certification you have started to ponder upon given something you didn’t know how to handle.

Don’t be shy about discussing the things that were difficult for you to comprehend or attend to, even if it is something like the communication problems that troubles you the most this year you should speak about them in front of your employer. And while doing so that is addressing the problems that you encountered do list the necessary actions that you are taking right now to address these properly. If you are now communicating well with other sections of the enterprise then you are addressing the problem, so fill your employer about the problems that you face and solutions you are adapting to solve these.

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