Better Decisions: Take the time to do proper performance evaluations with your staff

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Open communication and feedback with employees will greatly enhance your chances of success

by GARY MAWHINEY

One of the most difficult tasks faced by a manager or supervisor faces is evaluating staff and providing feedback to their employees.

Most employees want feedback on their work or performance and this is an excellent opportunity for both employer and employee to reinforce the lines of communication. Employee feedback will improve their performance, motivate self-improvement and head off potentially large problems before they take root in everyday work habits. It will also decrease staff turnover, which is a major complaint of all employers.

There are a myriad of reasons why employers do not undertake reviews. Some of them are because "good employees know they are good," "they make people envious and jealous of each other," "some things are best left unsaid," and "they take too much time." Nonetheless, performance evaluations are an excellent management tool and are something that should be used on a regular basis.

In a recent study, most employees listed the lack of feedback as one of the top reasons why they left their job. It ranked right up there with poor pay and lack of opportunity for advancement. Staff feel powerless to ask for more feedback. This is a natural feeling.

Employers run the risk of being "blindsided" by an excellent worker who leaves for no apparent reason. Communication is the key in running a successful business, whether or not it is in an industrial setting or on a farm. Obviously, the small farming operation does not have the resources to employ human resource experts, but if producers take some time to educate themselves on how to conduct a performance evaluation, it will greatly enhance the chance for success.

Employers must commit to these evaluations in spite of time pressures and outside influences. Evaluations must be done openly, honestly and in a timely manner. They should concern themselves with discovering what is good about their staff and talk about it.

Obviously, nobody is perfect, but if you only dwell on correcting your employee's shortcomings, the feedback will benefit neither the farmer nor the worker. If you take the attitude that you are going to set your employee straight on "just how things should be done," then it is a safe bet the employee will either not talk or give you the answers that you want to hear.

If both you and your employee are comfortable in this setting, chances are that both parties will benefit from the review.

Many times I have heard farmers say that, as a result of doing a performance evaluation, they learned something new, not only about their employee but about their farm as well. Since your workers are doing the job every day, they may come up with a new wrinkle on how to do it and end up making the work more efficient, thereby adding to your bottom line.

Dr. Bernard Erven of the Depart-ment of Agricultural, Environmental and Developmental Economics, Ohio State University, is a recognized expert in the field of performance reviews.

He has researched this field extensively and has published eight questions for effective employee reviews (see Figure 1).

Considering these questions will give you a good start in designing your own performance review method. It is important that you put the review on paper so that the employee has a copy as well as the farmer. Many times we forget what was said or interpret the meanings differently. By having a paper trail you eliminate that problem. Also, on the evaluation forms include an area where the employee may agree or disagree with the evaluation and a space for them to write their comments. Both the supervisor and worker should sign the form and keep copies. It is not necessarily a bad thing if the employee disagrees with his or her evaluation, but it does signal that more work has to be done by both parties. BF

Gary Mawhiney is human resources management program lead with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs