5 Common Appraisal Errors Made by Managers

When you review and make conclusions about your employees’ performance, there is a need to take note of some common pitfalls that might lead you to erroneous judgement. These can damage your credibility in the eyes of your employees and your boss too. Some of these errors include:

1. Over-emphasis on recent events. While recent events closer to the performance appraisal period might be fresh in your mind, it is important not to let them carry too much weight on your review. Ethan could have pulled off a brilliant presentation in front of an important client yet he has not done much work in the past few months. Alyssa did not manage to hit sales targets for the past 2 months yet was consistently the top performer in previous months. The best way to be fair is to assess performance throughout the ent Over-emphasis on recent events.  ire period. 

2. Favouriting those like you. Do not judge employees who are similar to you favourably, such as those who have shared hobbies, values, political opinions as you, while giving unfavourable reviews on those who are unlike you. For instance, managers may have a tendency to rate those who graduated from the same university as them better than those who do not. 

3. Labelling everyone the same. Some managers try to play it safe by judging all their employees the same. However, if everyone gets the same review, whether he performs exceptionally well or performs poorly, this will lead to serious repercussions. The good performer will lose his motivation to work while the poor performer will not see any reason to improve. 

4. Blaming. Do not blame employees just because things are not going well or claim credit when things are on the bright side. When analysing the ‘’why” behind your employee’s performance, the manager have to admit that they could possibly be contributing to the source of the problem or if something good happened, they were not entirely responsible for making it happen. Your employees will recognize your honesty and know what kind of boss you are. 

5. Being overly positive or negative. Some managers are afraid of making employees upset hence they soften their reviews and downplay poor performance. There are also those managers who deliver criticisms throughout the performance appraisal session, leaving the employee wondering whether they have done anything right at all. Manage with courage and be straightforward in your review.