“So, what makes you most unhappy about the performance appraisal process?” I asked.
Ben winced, “I really hate the whole process. It’s like my Manager gets to play God for a day and make a singular judgment about my value as a person. In many cases, he’s not in a position to really observe my behavior, and sometimes, he just comes up with the wrong conclusion. He just doesn’t have all the facts.”
“So, sometimes, your Manager is just plain wrong?”
“I have never really said it that way, but, in a nutshell that’s it.”
“Has your Manager ever tried to get your side of the story?”
Ben sat back, up straight. “You know, yes, he did, but it was almost underhanded. He came up with this self evaluation form, where I had to evaluate my own performance.”
“That sounds like a good idea, but I gather you’re not too wild about the result?”
“You’re not kidding. Here’s what he said. If I put something down and he agreed with it, then we didn’t need to talk about it. But if I put something down and he didn’t agree, then he would tell me where I was wrong. It’s almost like I was tricked into going first.”
Tricked? this comment reveals a level of immaturity.
I use the self evaluation ‘trick’ all the time.(It is actually a tool or an exercise) It gives me insight into how the employee is viewing the work world and their relationship/involvement with the job. I also find some pearls of wisdom in the self evaluations of employees that take the exercise and their jobs seriously.
I think that someone’s perception of their own performance is very important in personal and professional growth. I think that management and employees should generally be on the same page as far as that goes. Bottom line is that if an employee is displeased when they look in the mirror, there’s a reason.