By: John S. QUAISIE
A winning team places high value on monitoring and evaluation structures and services which are meant to provide constructive feedback for the attention of management.
One of the critical monitoring and evaluation tools, which are needed to move the business entity along to achieve greater success, is the Staff Performance Appraisal.
Managers and Supervisors need to set goals and objectives with the participation of their team members.
The performance of every member must be monitored and evaluated, in order to identify obstacles and challenges which need to be addressed. When the problems and challenges are addressed, it paves the way for improved performance.
The lack of supervision and monitoring would lead to underperformance and inability to meet planned targets.
Rewarding Performance
Some organizations maintain annual general salary increase for all staff. This means that all employees are given salary increase, regardless of how they perform their jobs within the fiscal year.
All employees receive a certain percentage of salary increase, depending on their job position – not on their performance. This type of reward fails to effectively motivate or inspire creativity and often leads staff to do ‘business as usual’.
Well-meaning organizations and business entities reward staff according to their performance.
360 Degree Evaluation
One of the best tools for assessing the performance of employees is the 360 Degree Evaluation system. This system of evaluation adopts a comprehensive way of evaluating staff performance. The performance of employees is assessed by their supervisors as well as other stakeholders. For example, the performance of an Administrative Officer would be evaluated by the following;
- Supervisor
- Employee themselves
- Colleagues (team members)
- Subordinates
- Visitors/Guests
While weak performers are sanctioned or receive less monetary rewards, high performing individuals are rewarded with higher salary and benefit packages.
In some cases, creativity and innovation are rewarded with promotion to higher levels and scholarship for further training.
Public View
While monetary gains encourage employees to work harder, other forms of award could also be highly motivating. Some companies institute special awards which draw public attention.
One day, when I entered the Banking Hall of a local bank in Accra, I saw a familiar photo. It was that of a student I had taught before in one of the tertiary institutions. Her photo had been displayed in vantage locations in the banking hall.
The label below the photo identified her as the bank’s best performing employee of the month. I looked for her to congratulate her. Apart from the special remuneration package she may have received, such high recognition of performance would obviously motivate her and other employees to go the extra mile to support management in its effort to achieve its vision and mission.
Dinner Award
In some instances, management invites high performing workers, together with their spouses and children, to a Special Dinner in one the top hotels in town. The purpose is to celebrate publicly, the hard work and value-added services of the employees concerned, and also to appreciate the family members for their support.
The Trade Mark
The 360 degree performance appraisal offers well-meaning organizations and other corporate entities, the opportunity to update the knowledge, talents and skills of their employees at regular times and in a consistent manner.
This enables them to reposition their team favourably among their benchmarks, in a highly competitive market. Indeed, this appraisal tool would stand out as an important trade mark of a progressive business entity.
To the employees, this unique appraisal system offers them an objective and transparent assessment of their performance. It also produces a conducive work environment, which makes them feel very much appreciated for the work they do to support the mission of the corporate body.
John is a HR/Management Practitioner
Phone/WhatsApp No. 0244599628
E-Mail: [email protected]
