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Thoughts on ways to improve the management of professional services firms

Sunday, October 07, 2007

Designing a simple performance appraisal system - implementation issues

This, my last post in this short series, briefly discusses the practical issues that can arise in implementing the system I have described.

From experience, three main problems are likely to arise.

First, people have to be given the skills to make them comfortable with the new approach. This is best done by means of an initial workshop in which the system is explained, with staff given the opportunity to experiment through role pays.

As new staff are appointed, they too need to be given access to information about the system. In the case of people who will be required to do appraisals, one way to help them is to get them to sit in on one or two appraisal systems.

Secondly, any new system requires time before it is properly internalised. Too often, management focus shifts to other issues, resulting in lagging effort.

Third, the approach must be kept both focused and as simple as possible. Too many firms start adding things in, complicating the overall process.

Remember, the whole point of this system is performance improvement, but in a way that should aid both manager and staff.

Introductory post.

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