ACE Your Performance Review

Your Performance Appraisal is a point in time where a) you’re assessed on how well you have done against objectives you have been set, as well as b) it being an opportunity for you and your manager to provide feedback to each other about your behaviors, skills and achievements during the review period. To maximize your Performance Appraisal score, you must achieve the objective measures set by your manager exactly as they were set.

I deliberately laid out my opening sentence into two pieces, ‘a’ and ‘b’. Because ‘a’ (in almost all cases of Performance Reviews) is where your score comes from. The assessment of the apsects of your performance described in ‘b’ are the more subjective, woolly measures that are almost impossible to score, so they are generally aspects of your soft-skill development that you and your manager will work on over time and are not graded (however, they are still important and have a great effect on the relationship between you.)

So the rule of thumb is if you want to maximize your score, then you need to ensure that you’ve done everything as specified in your objectives. Easy, right?

OK, so it’s not that simple, isn’t it? Well it isn’t if the objectives you agreed with your manager are not SMART.

That is, they are not Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timebound.

• Specific – Objectives should specify what they want to achieve, and why.
• Measurable – You should be able to measure whether you are meeting the objectives or not.
• Achievable – Are the objectives you set, achievable and attainable?
• Realistic – Can you realistically achieve the objectives with the resources you have?
• Timebound – When do you want to achieve the set objectives?

Only when your objectives conform to these criteria does achieving them possible, let alone easy.

Just a side note: objectives don’t really serve their purpose (that is, to increase your capability, develop skills, and add to experience, as well as add value to your company) if they’re easy, do they? When objectives are tough – when they stretch you – do they encourage you to build these things I described here.

Each of these factors is critical (without one of them, the objective is actually impossible to achieve), although I think that the most important factors (in terms of a starting point) of a SMART objective are measurable and specific, i.e. that a target has been specified that can be measured. Let me illustrate with some examples.

Q: Which of these objectives are measurable and specific?

1. Obtain 3% market share of the mobile phone industry by 2004.
2. Increase sales 10% from 2003 – 2004.
3. Survive the hard times the business is currently in.
4. Grow overall business by 15% year on year for the next five years.
5. Increase brand awareness over 2 years.

A: Objectives 1, 2 and 4 are specific and measurable. Objective 5 is questionable – the measure of ‘brand awareness’ isn’t specific, and the amount of increase isn’t stated. Objective 3 is also not specific or has a measure (how is ’survival’ measured, and over what period?)

Get the picture?

Once you have specific and measurable in your objective, it’s quite obvious what’s required. The other factors (achievable, realistic and timebound) are fleshed out from here. So if your objectives don’t specify exactly what is required, and how it is measured, then achieving them is quite frankly impossible!

Graded Results

Quite often, managers set a scale of graded results in order to allocate a score to your performance. What this does is to set targets for each grading. This will look something like this:

Say you have been set an objective to reduce the cost of errors when keying in data. Your manager wants to reward you on a scale.

0% – 2% error rate: 100% of performance score

2% – 5% error rate: 50% of performance score

5% – 10% error rate: 25% of performance score

10% or above error rate: 0% of performance score

When objectives are set using a scale of graded results, it is very clear what you are aiming for, and what the reward is. Providing you have the ability to control and influence the results, (and that it is clear how error rate is defined) then these are SMART objectives. Right?

Are your objectives SMART?

So to maximize your Performance Appraisal score, you have to know without any ambiguity what you need to do to achieve a maximum rating. So it comes down to the SMARTness of the objectives.

If they’re not, then will you know what to do to gain maximum results? The answer is certainly No.

So what will you do?

Here is your answer! To provide you with the solution to this question I created the ACE Your Performance Review Crash Course. It shows you how to get your Performance Review back on track before your Appraisal, in simple, easy to follow steps. It also shows you how to prepare for your Appraisal, and what your manager will be looking for when he or she makes their assessment.

Read more how you can ACE your Performance Review.

If you perform Performance Appraisals with your team, then it’s likely you have needed to give someone ‘bad’ feedback. But did you follow through? Giving someone a bad review is not easy (it’s hellish!) but it’s also very necessary if we have the reviewees best interests at heart. Read the rest of this entry »

Coaching is a method of using experts to guide and advise to gain increased performance. Football coaches develop footballers to their greatest potential – it’s their job to motivate athletes to achieve greater performance than they thought possible. Career coaches do just the same!

Coaching for Performance Improvement

Would you use a career coach?

Although career coaching is a mature industry, the fact is that only a few utilize it. Why? Well it is because most people think coaching is expensive, and also because it requires them to bare all to another human being. Perhaps more the latter? It is just a perception that sharing fears and hopes is weak. That is not true.

Career coaching, in truth, is an enlightening experience that can truly accelerate a career. This promise comes with a price, but is it a price worth paying? The price is this:

• The financial costs can be high because you are paying for an expert’s time
• The personal cost is that you have to take a risk by opening up to an expert, sharing all the problems you are facing in your career and anxieties you feel
• There is the cost of your time which you have to invest, not just in the coaching sessions, but the time you have to dedicate to work on your actions

The benefits have to significantly outweigh this cost to motivate you to wilfully undergo coaching. It is these benefits that are often underestimated or misunderstood. These benefits are:

• Receiving guidance on how to enact personal changes to progress in your career
• Help with making decisions that can dramatically effect your career
• Identifying personal issues that you were not aware of that have a career impact
• Advice on how to deal with situations in the workplace
• Prompts to act and gain career advantages that you had not spotted yourself
• Help in identifying and building on your strengths
• Confidence boosts as you achieve and reflect
• Simply a person to bounce ideas off or gain perspective on issues or opportunities

Could You Commit to Coaching?

Coaching is a commitment, but it can be done in stages. In fact this is essential; setting grand goals for coaching isn’t advisable as coaching itself can force you to reassess goals and your desired career outcomes. Coaching is best when used to achieve smaller goals that can be continuously built upon, so it is perhaps a process that you will use periodically and on an ad-hoc basis. This approach helps you with the financial burden too, right?

Most of all, to accept and receive coaching, you are being courageous; it’s the courage to accept you need help and act upon the goals you agree with another person. Receiving coaching is not a sign of weakness – it is a demonstration of strength!

So coaching is a practice that requires strength of character and acceptance that its price is a sound investment. It can be trialled and if it doesn’t work for you, then you can always stop and try something else.

The End of the Year is Nigh, and it will end with the culmination of your Performance Review – your Performance Appraisal.

So NOW is the time to begin preparing for it! Are You?

It’s proven that the people who prepare for their appraisal the most achieve the best possible grades. Those folks who leave it until the last minute don’t give themselves enough time to build a compelling case to demonstrate high performance (even if they genuinely have) – so why put this to chance?

The more you prepare, the better the grades, and the more money you will get in your bonus! Do you want your full bonus…… (who doesn’t?)

Here’s the drag – many organizations don’t really help their employees prepare for their appraisal. It’s often done with a basic email reminder, without any real depth of how to pull things together.

How will you be preparing for your Performance Appraisal this year?

To help you with this, I created the ACE Your Performance Review CRASH COURSE – a five day course that shares insider tips on how to approach and prepare for your end of review Performance Appraisal.

Each day you will receive a new Course Book that builds on the lessons from the last. At the end of the course, you will know all you need to ACE your Performance Review and see your full cash bonus in your bank account!

If this isn’t for you, then, what’s your plan?

You can begin this course today and trial the first day’s lesson for just $1 with no commitment to upgrade.

See what’s in the ACE Your Performance Review CRASH COURSE by downloading the free Course Overview.

The Key Influencing Factor in your performance at work is not your skills, your status, your experience. It isn’t even who you know, or who knows you. All these things are important, but there is something fundamental that is required to make all these things attain value. It is your Self-Esteem.

When we feel that we are adding value to our organization and that the value is created as a direct result of ourselves and the collaboration with colleagues, we have a healthy self-esteem. There is a direct link between the results of our performance review and how highly we believe that our work has caused good external results (sales, volume, customer satisfaction, etc – the things that our objectives are measured against).

So it’s no wonder that the people who are seen to perform the best are the people who appear happy, confident, charming and relaxed.

Get this: Some people think that it is the reward of great performance that creates these things in people. But it is the other way around – these things create the great performance.

In fact an acquaintance of mine who considers himself to have experienced some bad luck lately looks at my own personal success and reward as falling into my lap. He is a skeptical, generally negative person who tends to see the bad in things before he looks for the good. He sees the happiness I exhibit being a result of my rewards (e.g. bonuses). It has been tough to explain that one leads to the other, but not in the way he thinks.

Perhaps he is right, to a certain extent. My belief in myself and high self-esteem must have started somewhere – perhaps by encouragement from my parents or a mentor – but the difference between me and him is that I deliberately shift myself into a ‘virtuous cycle’ where every success creates further opportunities to grow, learn and take on new challenges with confidence. My self-esteem is both a cause, and an effect!

I was looking around to see what is available for people who have a nucleus of enlightenment that their own self-esteem can be a cause and effect too, but are not sure how to develop it. The ACE Your Performance Review Crash Course doesn’t really help in that space.

Instead, I found an excellent course on DVD by Jack Canfield (author of Chicken Soup for the Soul, and The Success Principles) who talked me through his ‘proven recipe’ to approach the building of self-esteem. I was on the road for a few days, so I whacked it onto my iPod and off I went. I was totally engaged – mostly because it shares real stories from real people – so it’s easy to relate to it. Especially as Jack Canfield is humble and down-to-earth. There isn’t a shade of consultant-speak (which I abhor!)

It is very inspirational for people on all stages of their enlightened journey.

If you’re ready to take your journey, this is what you’ll learn:

• BUILD YOUR SELF-ESTEEM HIGHER THAN EVER
• CHANGE YOUR RESPONSES TO CHANGE YOUR OUTCOMES
• TAKE FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES
• CREATE A VISION AND FIND YOUR PURPOSE
• CREATE MORE BALANCE & LIVE A MORE FULFILLING LIFE

Perhaps the short statements above don’t do it justice…

Jack Canfield – Peak Performance Principles – How to Boost Your Self-Esteem and Discover Your Purpose – Personal Development DVD Training Video

Having a Great Manager is what every employee wants. They provide support, direction, clarity and decisions that help us do our jobs effectively and efficiently. If we could all be better managers, then the workplace would be a happier and more productive place, right?

The difference between being a good manager and a great manager is a focus on performance and results, and, providing the best environment for them to be achieved.

A great manager doesn’t use a stick. A great manager achieves the effect of waving a wand over their environment by building a team of high performing members.

We’re often told that management is a science; due to its complexity, but instead it can look like an artform which can’t be learned. Science or artform – you have probably noticed that some managers make ‘being great’ look easy, whereas others look clumsy.

Have you considered why?

Well you can find out by taking a look at this book: Harvard Business Review on Becoming a High-Performance Manager which shares the ideas and stories of recognized high-performing managers.

As an example, if you’ve wondered how management experts delegate, then you’ll find some interesting case studies right here. Are you curious about how the best managers measure and plan capacity? It’s in this book. You’ll also discover expert advice on dealing with disputes and managing conflict. And here is something that most new managers ask – how to build trust and rapport with their team.

Are you aiming to build a long and successful career in management? Then this book is for you.

You’ll be impressed with the candor and depth of this book – it doesn’t gloss over the subjects it covers, and because it uses real case studies, it becomes instantly tangible. Recommended!

Harvard Business Review on Becoming a High-Performance Manager

If you could just buy ONE BOOK to help you construct killer phrases for your performance review, which one would it be?

I’ve been scouring the web for books on this subject: phrases for effective performance reviews. Why? Well I’ve been interviewing a number of graduates of my ACE Your Performance Review CRASH COURSE and discovered that the people who have enjoyed the best results of all were able to articulate themselves really well – in other words – use the most effective phrases to describe their achievements, behaviors and activities.

So I started to look around to find out which books can help other people achieve the same outcome.

There are a fair few books available, to my excitement. Surprisingly, the best book I found on this subject is actually intended for people who are reviewing their staff. Why I like it is it puts you, as the reviewee, in the shoes of your reviewer. Taking this approach means that we can engineer our phrases we’ll use in our reviews to press the right buttons and hit the note of what our managers listen for. Hey – I’m the first to suggest that our Performance Appraisal is about US, not our MANAGER, but it’s an effective tactic to use the right phrases to ensure our message is understood – right?

So the book I found is 2600 Phrases for Effective Performance Reviews: Ready-to-Use Words and Phrases That Really Get Results by Paul Falcone, which is currently on offer at $8.58 (a steal!).

But what about you?

What book would you buy to help you with your Performance Appraisal if you could buy only ONE? I’d love to hear it. I challenge you to find a better one that Falcone’s – browse around here and see if you can discover one. If I like your suggestion that much, I’ll buy it!

UPDATE: Game Is On!

My wife, Claire, just started the ball rolling. She found How To Say It Performance Reviews: Phrases and Strategies for Painless and Productive Performance Reviews (How to Say It) which she thinks is better! Have you found one yet?

Have you read these books, or one like them?

If you have, then share your review by leaving a comment below.

I recently polled 200 recruiting managers in the US, UK and South Africa for their opinions on how graduates perform in their first jobs. What I discovered was a surprise: lack of experience IS NOT the main reason for poor performance. Here are the TOP 6 reasons why:

1. Anti-social tendencies – according to the poll, anti-social tendency is one of the top 5 reasons why employers rate their overall performance as poor. One recruiting manager in London, UK, said that “… when I get a bunch of graduates together, it is often like being on the set of Jackass .” The opinion is that graduates have been so used to living without the constraints of organizational standards that their behaviors often conflict with corporate norms. It wasn’t just behaviors; many respondents cited problems with dress standards, even in the more ‘liberal’ of organizations. Some mentioned ‘highly  inappropriate t-shirts’ and ’shocking hairstyles’.

   What can be done? If you are a graduate in your first job, is it possible that you exhibit anti-social tendencies that might offend others? In a world of free-speech and liberal attitudes (for the most part) changing yourself to ‘conform’ might seem a backwards step but I wonder if trialling changes as an experiment would pay off? This is a personal thing, but take note what recruiting managers are saying.

2. New-skool vs old-skool – over 50% of recruting managers polled described situations where graduates could not integrate well into environments that could be described as ‘behind the times’ in some areas. In other words, those organizations who were not at the leading-edge of technology adoption, e.g. in the use of social networking. It was said by several respondents that ‘digital natives’ face big challenges when working inside an organization that is not as technically dynamic as that in their university.

   What can be done? If you’re a graduate who takes current technology trends for granted, then it’s possible that you will face organizations who haven’t caught up yet. This is the reality of the business world. In these instances, I think you have a choice whether to wait and find an organization that does use digital technology in their core business, or join a lagging organization and use your influence and experiences to help them move on and adopt, at a risk to yourself that they will always be behind the times. This  is your choice.

3. Your mobility -  I was somewhat surprised by this one. Over 30% of respondents said that in these times, training and development budgets must yield the greatest value to their organizations. This should have always been the case, but in tough times,training budgets have been severely cut. The result: employers are reluctant to train and develop graduates who become increasingly mobile towards other employment. It’s a case of confidence (or lack of ) in graduates’ commitment. So if training is witheld, is it any wonder that some graduates under-perform?

   What can be done? If you’re a graduate who has dreams of hitting the big-time, then beware of the signals you may be giving away during in the workplace. Employers want to see commitment for their training investment. You need to demonstrate that you are fully committed to your employer (in the mid-term at least) to avoid being stifled.

4. Communication - the ‘language of youth’ has always been a step apart from that of the older generation. When this language is used in the workplace, it often leads to confusion! It’s a simple fact that managers struggle to understand graduates who use this language. Marion, an IT recruitment manager in Fresno, CA, described a situation like this: ‘In an interview once, a graduate talked with such slang that I had to frequently ask for clarification about what was said, even on the simple stuff. It took me over 10 minutes to understand what subjects the graduate had studied. In an organization, this kind of language creates major communication gaps and would be entirely disfunctional.’

   What can be done? Perhaps a simple one to fix (perhaps not, but it’s something that can be learned). In the worplace, use language that is simple and slang-free. The oldies won’t understand you otherwise. (OK, this maybe their problem in fact, but it’s your livelihood and future prospects you are putting on the line if you don’t!)

5. Commitment to yourself – this is perhaps a tough one where there is no easy solution. Respondents with many years of experience in employing graduates told of their stories where they had secured hot young recruits who could really hit the big time, only for the recruits to leave shortly afterwards once they realized the industry ‘wasn’t for them’. Truth is, many people turn away from the industry that they have studied in once they realize that it wasn’t what they expected. This was a problem in the 80s and 90s when IT graduates entered an industry that had moved on from the subjects they studied. There were not graduate courses on the Internet at that time.

   What can be done? My take on this is that this is the right thing to do. If you’re a graduate disengendered by the industry you had passion for as a student, then you’re much better to move on than prolong your misery. If you haven’t yet begun your career in your chosen subject, then I recommend that you take an internship to gain experience and learn about the industry to see if it suits you, or connect and network with people who are already working in the industry to learn what it is really like.

6. Lack of commitment to their performance - many respondents cited that graduate recruits were too relaxed about their performance and didn’t behave with a sense of urgency. For example, over 30% said that they have regularly experienced performance appraisals with graduates where little or no progress has been made against agree objectives. In some cases, the manager had held regular interim checkpoints to provide assistance and encouragement.

   What can be done? I don’t think that cases like this are entirely the graduates fault. Many graduates are not familiar with performance management, so struggle to deliver their objectives. It’s also true that graduates are not always armed with the business context in which their objectives must be delivered, so the results are often off the mark. The answer is to ensure you’re always clear about your objectives, and to verify (with your manager) that they are deliverable in the first place! If you’re unsure, it does take courage to ask for clarity, but it is well worth it if it means you become more confident that you know what is being asked of you, and that you can deliver to it!

If you need extra help then there is an answer: with the ACE Your Performance Review CRASH COURSE you will learn how the performance management process works (performance review) and how to get clarity on your objectives using a structured framework.

Trial the ACE Your Performance Review CRASH COURSE for just $1!

Trial the First Day of the course, and upgrade for only $26.95

 

> Order Now<

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Time Magazine recently caused a stir when they published the results of research that strongly suggested that Facebook (and other social networking sites) caused graduate students to suffer lower grades.

According to the new study conducted by doctoral candidate Aryn Karpinski of Ohio State University and co-author Adam Duberstein of Ohio Dominican University, college students who use Facebook (the 200 million–member social network) have considerably lower grade-point averages (GPAs) than those students who do not use Facebook!

The research found that of 219 undergraduate and graduate students, GPAs of Facebook users typically ranged a full grade point lower than those of nonusers — 3.0 to 3.5 for users versus 3.5 to 4.0 for their non-networking peers. Amazing! Believable? The study also found that 79% of Facebook members scoffed at the idea that there was any link between their GPA and their networking habits.

Do you agree?

This got me thinking: Does the same apply to professionals who have performance objectives – especially those who have to study to achieve them? (E.g. passing professional qualifications)

Does Facebook over-use cause you to become less focused, distracted and under-perform?

If the Karpinski’s research has merit, then the implications for you when you’re working towards your objectives shouldn’t be ignored.

Is it plausible?

I have to look at my own experiences to gain insight.

I use Facebook, and LinkedIn – the more ‘professional’ social networking site. I also use Twitter too. When I think back to the times when I have considered myself a heavy user of these sites (typically whilst the ‘novely factor’ is still in play), I see a potential link.

During heavy use, nothing else mattered. It is engrossing, and stimulative, and time becomes a blur. I forgot about everything else, whilst it lasted. Does this happen to you, too?

Surfing

Remember back in the day when the Internet was emerging as a household name, and before the true search power-houses (Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc) had enabled us go straight to the content we were seeking? We ’surfed’ the web, often going down interesting blind alleys. Hours could pass by as we found more and more content through hyperlinks. And because it was a novelty and created instant gratification, we’d keep on doing it. It is addictive.

Well that’s what I think is happening with social networking. We ’surf’ the content, and because it is constantly being created, cross-referenced and enriched, we can surf even more without getting dis-interested, despite it often being irrelevant and purely incidental to our lives. We become heavy users very easily. I did.

Is this what is happening to those students who use Facebook heavily, and then experience lower GPAs? Is this what happens to you and I as professionals? I believe so. Do you agree?

I suggest that there is a potential link, and consequence, to professionals who require concentration to be effective in their performance.

If you’re struggling to deliver your performance objectives, then why not take a look at how heavy your social networking use is? Perhaps it’s the key to your struggle so far…

I’ll keep this short ‘n’ sweet.

Unless you ask for feedback in order to learn what adjustments you need to make in your behaviors at work, then you probably won’t get it.

It appears that our society doesn’t like to tell people what they’re doing wrong, but instead we avoid the discussion and (what seems like) hope that the changes will be realized. Guess what… they don’t.

You gotta go and get the feedback!

Your performance review is exactly what this is about: rich, valuable, tangible and specific feedback. It’s not about ticking boxes, or giving pats on the back, or even a cosy chat.

Performance reviews are the mechanism for understanding what we do right, what we don’t do right, and what else we need to do!

We learn by measuring performance against results. This is very important. Measurable results are the tangible indicators of how our behaviors create business value.

We also learn by frank open discussion. If you’ve not experienced this with your boss, you gotta make it happen.

Or guess what….

…. the whole process is a gamble for you.

Speak to your boss today, if you can, and tell him/her you want an honest discussion about how your behaviors are creating or impeding success!