Just about everybody remembers the day they had to bring a bad report card home to Mom or Dad-and the consequences. No after-school activities for a month. More chores added to the already-too-long list.
The adult version of the report card is known in most companies as a performance appraisal: a routine, official review of an employee`s strengths and weaknesses. Often, your annual raise is tied to your performance appraisal for the previous year. You don`t have to show it to Mom or Dad, but the performance appraisal process can be just as horrifying.
Author Wess Roberts is hoping to make performance appraisals less intimidating and corporate politics a little easier to understand with his latest book, ”Straight A`s Never Made Anybody Rich” (HarperCollins, $19.95). Roberts is also the author of ”Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun” (Warner Books, $8.95), one of the best-selling management how-to books of the `80s.
Roberts says performance appraisals often only measure how a worker is doing in comparison to others, not how they are living up to their potential. ”We tend to grade employees on a curve just like we did people in school,” he says.
Many corporations encourage workers to compete against each other for good performance appraisals, he adds. ”The problem is that companies only have so much money for payroll and salary increases and they want to give it to their outstanding employees,” Roberts says. This economic constraint often leaves an average or above-average employee with a poor performance appraisal and little or no raise, he explains.
Roberts blames the resulting morale problems on corporate obsession with competition. ”Meanwhile, the more vital form of competition-one`s performance as measured against one`s own potential-goes largely unnoticed.”
Roberts says bad bosses are to blame when employees walk away from a performance evaluation confused or upset. ”It`s the same as in school, when kids will take a final exam on the last day and never get feedback,” he says. Roberts says a good boss lets employees know how they are doing throughout the year. ”Therefore when it`s time for the annual review, no one is surprised and there is minimum anxiety.”
Employees can prepare for performance appraisals, Roberts says, by knowing in advance what is expected of them. ”If you have a sales quota, you know what the objective measure of work is,” Roberts says.
A performance appraisal can be challenged. Roberts says women are more likely to challenge a bad performance appraisal than men. ”Women have a tendency to be more open and honest,” Roberts says, ”while men have a tendency to cover up and pout.”
Roberts, who worked for more than a decade as a human-resources executive for Fireman`s Fund Insurance Companies and American Express before becoming a full-time writer, says female employees were more likely to tell a boss what they considered was an unfair evaluation, while men ”were more likely to tell everybody else but not the boss.”
Roberts says it isn`t a good idea to be confrontational with your boss if you don`t think you`re getting enough feedback or if you don`t agree with the feedback you are receiving. ”There`s nothing worse than working for a boss who keeps you in the dark,” says Roberts, ”but you aren`t going to change the boss` behavior.”
One way of getting feedback, says Roberts, is to regularly solicit comments on reports or proposals. ”If you`ve prepared a report, write the word `draft` on it and send it to the boss with a note saying, `I`d appreciate your feedback,”` says Roberts. ”Then you start developing a rapport. If you just make an appointment to talk about your performance it puts (the boss) in a defensive posture.”
Employees who receive appraisals they believe to be unfair are not alone, Roberts says. ”Most people have this experience. If your boss constantly expects you to behave in a way you find disagreeable, it`s time to find a new boss.”
LIFELINES
For minority women
The Minority Women`s Center for Self-Development & Career Advancement offers seminars, workshops and support groups that address career issues, including handling job problems. Annual dues are $35; 312-421-5822.
Networking leads
EXEL (Each Exchanging Excellent Leads), a networking group dedicated to career advancement, meets twice a month in Villa Park. Membership is $35, plus quarterly dues of $20. Information: Ardith Dolamore, 708-627-5647.
Career development
Women Employed offers career development programs and a career counseling service. The dues structure is based on income; 312-782-3902.
Management programs
Women in Management conducts programs for professional women in a variety of businesses. Annual dues are $100; 312-263-3636.
Related reading
”Managing For Peak Performance,” by Alan Weiss (Harper Business, $12.95);
”Managing For Results,” by Peter F. Drucker (Harper & Row, $8.95); ”How To Fire Your Boss,” by Chris Malbury (Berkley, $4.50); ”Women & Money,” by Frances Leonard (Addison Wesley, $12.95).
