How to prepare team member for performance appraisal interview

Establish the time, date and place in advance

Performance appraisal should not come as a surprise. Your employees should be given advance notice of the interview. Arrange for the appraisal to take place in private, so that you will both feel comfortable discussing any issues. Remember, a good appraisal session involves two-way communication. Plan on sufficient time, so you won’t feel rushed. If possible, limit appraisal interviews to no more than two per day. You want to give your best to each one!

Explain the appraisal procedure beforehand

This will give your team member an opportunity to think about any issues that he or she would like to bring up. You may want to have the employee complete a self-evaluation, too. This will give you an idea of how the employee sees his or her contribution. It can also help identify any problem areas before than interview – so you can decide how to handle them.

Review the employee’s personnel file.

Examine the file for the documentation you have included over the review period. (This is also a great time to clean out and discard outdated documents!) Review the previous appraisal form, so you can acknowledge any improvement that have been made and examine any areas that were noted as needing improvement.

Consult others who have contact with the employee.

Performance appraisal should be as unbiased as possible. Therefore it’s good idea to get your colleagues’ thought on how your employee operates on certain jobs and in certain conditions. Be sure to investigate any allegations of poor performance carefully and thoroughly. (Approach others with care and discretion when you ask for their opinion.) Remember, you are responsible for the accuracy of the information on the appraisal.

If you are responsible for pay rises:

Not all experts agree that pay is a worthwhile motivator: You may want to keep any discussion of pay separate from the performance appraisal – or perhaps include it in a follow-up discussion. The focus of the performance appraisal should be performance. If you do offer a pay rise as part of a performance appraisal, make sure the pay rise suits the performance and consider the precedent you’re setting.