How to do a performance evaluation?

1. Competency mapping
Competency mapping is the process of understanding the competencies of employees already working in the company and how to leverage them in different positions or functions in a way that is beneficial to the organization.
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This process serves as a basis for the creation of performance appraisals because with it, appraisals can become increasingly assertive and objective. From there, it will be possible to measure the contribution of each person through the relationship between professional performance and the essential skills to fulfill their function.
2. Set goals
First of all, it is important to define the objective of the evaluation to be clear on how the results obtained will be used. Will the assessment be used for employee training and development? Promotion? Succession? Remuneration? Bonus?

Without a defined objective, it is impossible to know what is the best type of performance evaluation for the company. This is the key to your planning.

An important tip in processes that only involve competences as evaluation criteria is not to use performance evaluation for training and processes that involve financial issues at the same time, such as compensation and bonuses. This is because financial issues generate high expectations in the assessment, which can lead to biased results. Because of this, it is recommended, especially for this type of objective, the use of goals and results as evaluation criteria, since they are more objective criteria.

3. Choose the method
With the objectives defined, it will then be possible to choose the most suitable model for your company, whether it is a simpler model, such as the assessment made only by the manager, or a more complex and complete assessment, such as the 360º assessment.

It is also important to take into account aspects such as available time, financial resources, staff size and HR competencies when making the decision.

4. Structure the performance appraisal questionnaires
Perhaps one of the most important parts of the performance appraisal process is creating the questionnaires. After all, it will be like a kind of map to guide your employees and managers alike.

With it, it will be possible to know what to ask, which aspects will be explored and what the dynamics of each assessment will be.

Although there are already several questionnaires and templates ready, it is not advisable to use them, as it is very likely that the criteria addressed in the assessment may not match the real culture and needs of the company. The ideal is to use the templates only as inspiration and customize your own questionnaire within the company's proposal and objectives.

In any case, regardless of the chosen questionnaire model, it is important that it addresses topics such as technical skills related to the function, behavioral skills and performance goals.

When preparing the questionnaire, it is recommended to follow the following step-by-step:

Set goals clearly
Think about getting honest answers
Structure the questionnaire  
Choosing a rating scale
We even have an article that explains precisely how to set up the ideal performance evaluation form. And another that explains how to choose the appropriate performance appraisal scale.

5. Communicate employees and leaders
It is important to always make the performance appraisal process as transparent as possible, conveying the message clearly, objectively and transparently. It is worth highlighting the benefits that the process will bring to everyone, which also ensures the engagement of employees. This can occur through press releases, emails or even face-to-face meetings.

A good option, in this sense, would also be to invest in endomarketing, creating a greater bond between the employee and the company, making employees feel good in their work environment and also aiming to align and develop a sense of everyone's commitment to the new strategies and guidelines dictated by the market.

6. Apply the performance review
After following all the steps described, get your hands dirty and apply the performance evaluation.

In this first moment, the process can serve as a good test, but not necessarily to position the results. Therefore, the results must be monitored and it must be investigated what worked and what could be done differently for the next cycle

The periodicity of the performance evaluation must also be considered with caution. A good option to make this process familiar is to insert this frequency in everyone's agenda, so that the event becomes part of the organization's culture, and in which everyone must participate with engagement.

7. Review and give feedback to everyone
After the process is finished, the HR work will not end, quite the contrary, it will only be beginning! The manager must analyze the results, carry out a diagnosis and also assemble a definitive report on what was collected. In addition, ImpulseUP software makes it possible for you to work with your assessment data in an easy way, grouping, filtering, sorting and generating charts and dashboards that reveal how your company is doing and what needs to be improved.

With the results in hand, it is essential to structure a culture of feedback. The ideal is that they are passed on individually, preferably, so that each employee has their privacy to understand what was evaluated and what were the identified results.

What are the tools for performance evaluation?
One way to structure this process with precision and practicality is using Excel Worksheets. However, they are a lot of work since usually the manager needs to send the spreadsheets to each employee, then collect the results individually and later combine the data in a single spreadsheet, to assemble a report. In other words, it is a very time-consuming and tiring process.

There is also Google Forms, a free service to create online forms, which in turn is easy because it is a cloud software and you can also use a link for everyone. On the other hand, it makes data analysis tiring, because the manager has to prepare a report by hand as well.

Fortunately, we can count on tools that streamline and document this entire performance evaluation process, eliminating the need for spreadsheets, emails and complex systems. Choosing these tools is a way to optimize processes and ensure fast and accurate results.

This agility allows assessments to be carried out more frequently, and also enables early detection of employee skills gaps. With this, the company can act to correct problems quickly and efficiently.

ImpulseUP provides a complete solution for managing goals, competencies and performance evaluation cycles according to your company's organizational culture. With the software, it is possible to plan, execute and analyze the results of performance evaluation cycles in a simple and consistent way.