June FAQ - Completing Midyear Appraisals

One Friday each month I dedicate the post to looking at some questions I have heard recently from developing leaders. Sharing those questions and my thoughts for them is a way for me to spread the information to as many leaders and future leaders as possible. If you have a question about leadership or just a situation you would like some additional insight on, please email me at Effective Retail Leader. Let’s take a look at this week’s question.

How important are mid-year appraisals? They seem very time consuming, and everyone is so busy right now. How much effort should I put in them?

Performance appraisals always seem to create some level of questioning or even controversy these days. There are many groups that advocate against having any type of performance appraisals and an equal number continuing to push the traditional way of thinking and providing annual evaluations with a mid-year check-in process attached. Arguments can be made for both. Ultimately we have to ask: what we are trying to accomplish with this process?The universal answer should be to help our team improve and become better versions of themselves in the work they are doing.Personally, I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with the idea of performance appraisals. I love the idea of providing feedback to the team. I hate the idea of it being on very narrow and specific time frames in an overly formal process. I believe this is especially where the dreaded mid-year appraisal process gets a bad rap.Many businesses create a formal and detailed activity that is mandatory to complete for all direct reports. This can feel intrusive to the business with seemingly little purpose behind it. It gives the impression of checking the boxes. It can be even more cumbersome for multi-unit leaders that might have 10 or more direct reports. It is a time-consuming activity.So, are mid-year reviews important? Yes is the short answer, but even more so if you haven’t been giving feedback to your team along the way so far this year. It can be an opportunity to reflect on the year so far and ensure there is a discussion around the individual’s performance and growth as a leader on your team.The better answer is: yes it is important, but shouldn’t be a significant added effort since you have been providing actionable feedback all year so far. Depending on your role, that might look a little different, but the best leaders are always giving some type of feedback that will help each team member progress on their goals for the year. These do not need to be formal, written sessions. Simple check-ins or status calls usually will suffice. Having these meetings can reinforce the positive behaviors or address any required course corrections versus waiting until a formal process in June or in January.When you have your touch base sessions, keep a few notes on what was discussed, and then those can be used for review during the defined mid-year process. You will already have the information you need to complete whatever your company program looks like. It could be as simple as cutting and pasting parts of your previously written notes.Most of these sessions are already built into your daily and weekly routines. For Store Managers, I would assume that you are having regular meetings with your other managers in your store and providing feedback on what is happening. Keep notes from those discussions to use as needed for performance appraisal sessions. District Managers and above have routine store visits they conduct, each of those should result in feedback provided. So you are actually creating your mid-year or end of year data as you go. Build a system for keeping those notes that will be easy to transfer over or reference when the time comes to complete that more formal, system driven appraisal.Feedback is a gift, as the saying goes. Your team will appreciate the feedback you provide along the way. No one wants to wait six months to get information on how they are doing from their boss. It will mean more to them if they receive that feedback as it happens, and it eliminates any potential surprises when the time comes to complete that mid-year or end of year appraisal.Join other retail leaders in continuing their development journey with Effective Retail Leader.com. SUBSCRIBE today to receive FREE leadership tips directly to your inbox and monthly newsletters that provide many tools to help further develop your leadership skills all at no cost. JOIN NOW!No spam ever - just leadership goodness.