Conducting a Performance Appraisal Meeting
As outlined in the Performance Appraisal policy, <Company Name> is committed to providing
employees with <an annual, a semi-annual> opportunity to receive formal performance
feedback and discuss their performance and career development with their manager. Using a
consistent approach across the entire company will help to avoid bias and/or human error
within the management team when dealing with performance and ensure that the process is
fair and effective.
Throughout this process, a good practice is to relate performance objectives to company
goals. Think about:
 What is the company’s mission?
 What are the goals of the company?
 How does each job contribute to company goals?
 Why is each job within the company important?
Managers need to understand the answers to these questions adequately in order for them to
be able to explain it to their employees. Taking key words from your mission statement and
using them in your discussions with employees will help them to understand the importance of
their job and how it connects to the overall success of the company.
The Do’s and Don’ts of Performance Appraisals
Do:
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Discuss employee performance
Prepare for the review, provide facts and examples, and document all findings
Create and commit to written future plans
Explore possible career paths
Involve the employee
Don’t:
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Regurgitate job descriptions or just read the performance ratings on the form
Have a 5 minute opinion-based chat
Leave the Performance Appraisal Meeting open-ended
Make promises you can’t keep or say things you don’t mean
Talk too much
Following the steps outlined below will provide you with an effective process for carrying out a
Performance Appraisal Meeting.
Step 1 – Prepare
Ensure that you have the current performance appraisal, which you have recently written, as
well as all documentation regarding the employee’s performance since their last appraisal.
This should include information on their achievements, quotas, absences, written warnings,
awards/bonuses and copies of their previous performance appraisals. Before you have a
discussion with the employee, put your thoughts about the employee on paper. This way, you
will be able to refer to your notes during the meeting to keep the discussion on track and make
sure you cover everything you want to.
You should review (and have available during discussions with the employee) a copy of the
job description and any training or procedural manuals provided to the employee that relate to
their performance.
Let each employee know, well in advance, when their performance appraisal meeting will be
in order for them to prepare their own questions and comments.
Step 2 – Select Meeting Time and Location
Set aside appropriate time in your schedule to meet with the employee – you do not want the
meeting to be rushed or interrupted. Performance Appraisal meeting should last between 30
and 90 minutes. Schedule adequate time (at least 30 minutes) between performance
appraisal meetings in case they run overtime. This extra time will ensure that meetings are
not rushed and all material is discussed. It is better to schedule fewer performance appraisal
meetings in one day as to avoid a “rapid fire” feeling. Employees want to feel valued and
important – this impression will not be given if they are one of twenty brief 15-minute
meetings. Rather, try to perform 2-3 meetings in a given day.
You should try hard to not re-schedule performance appraisal meetings as you risk giving the
employee the impression that the meeting is not a priority for you. Plan meetings and inform
employees of their meeting at least one week in advance. Treat these meetings as a priority –
plan around them.
Privacy and confidentiality are extremely important when dealing with performance. Ensure
that you have a private area available to meet where others will not overhear your
conversation (meeting room, office, etc). The meeting location should be free from
interruptions such as phone calls, office visitors, general conversations and similar common
office activities.
You also want to make the environment in which the meeting will be held as comfortable as
possible. Provide comfortable seating, temperature, lighting, etc. Remove any distracting
items such as a ticking clock or a radio. Have all phone calls held, and do not allow anyone to
enter the room other than yourself and the employee.
Step 3 – The Meeting
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Put the employee at ease. Begin the meeting with positive general friendly conversation
/ small talk. Describe the purpose of the meeting. For example,
“Good Morning, Employee’s Name, how was your weekend?….etc,”
“Thank you so much for meeting with me today. As you know, the purpose of this
meeting is to discuss your performance appraisal. What I’d like to do is to review your
progress and achievements, examine opportunities to further enhance your skills, and go
over any questions or concerns that you might have. Let’s get started!
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Unless the employee is receiving a very negative performance appraisal, try to begin on
a positive note with an acknowledgement of a contribution or effort and wherever
possible, relate it to company objectives. For example:
“I was particularly impressed with your work on the Colburn Project – you did an
excellent job. The client noticed the extra effort that you put in and really appreciated
your efficiency in meeting every timeline and deadline that was set. He informed me that
he was 100% satisfied and even spoke about working with us again on a similar project
in the future. You’ve successfully created a “happy, returning, and referring customer” –
one of our company goals!
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When starting to review the ‘meat’ of the performance appraisal, it is good to begin with
a summary of the strengths that the employee has demonstrated and the areas that
require strengthening.
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Next, you will want to review and discuss each area of the performance appraisal.
Depending on the method used by your organization, this may focus on tasks and
responsibilities as outlined in the employee’s job description, specific competencies or
objectives identified through previous performance reviews. Do not focus on the ratings
themselves, but on the performance and behaviours. Remember to use examples when
discussing each area to better illustrate your comments and to help ensure the
employee understands how they can improve performance or continue to do things that
are viewed as very positive.
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Once you have reviewed all of the areas of accountability, you will want to ensure that
you specifically discuss any very high or very low ratings that the employee is receiving.
Now is also the time to bring up related issues such as absenteeism or lateness.
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If there are any serious concerns being discussed in this meeting, you may want to
review the Addressing Poor Performance section of this website for further tips on
handling these issues. Remember, the performance appraisal meeting is not the time to
bring up serious issues for the first time – they should be addressed through regular
communication with employees. A good approach to follow is that there should be no
surprises for the employee in this meeting.
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When discussing ways in which the employee can improve his or her performance,
focus on behaviours and avoid offensive or personal comments. For example, if an
employee does not know how to use all of the equipment that they are supposed to use,
you’ll want to address this issue. Remember, the point of this discussion is to get to the
root of any problems, identify solutions and create an environment for the employee to
succeed and excel. Give the employee a chance to raise any issues themselves.
“Were there any machines that you have not been shown how to use, or that you feel
uncomfortable using?”
If ‘Yes’:
“This machine can actually make your job a lot easier and is required for some of the
projects that you are working on. I’m going to get John, who is very experienced with
the machine, to go over the procedures for using it with you. He’s a great teacher and
knows all of these machines inside out.”
If ‘No’:
“I’ve noticed that you don’t use the xyz machine as much as you could. I understand
that this machine is a bit more complicated to use, but it can be a great tool for you to
produce high quality work and save time. Why don’t I get John, who is very experienced
with the machine, to go over the procedures for using it with you? He’s a great teacher
and knows all of these machines inside out. I think you find this very useful.”
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When you are comfortable that each element of the employee’s performance has been
sufficiently discussed and you are confident that they have heard the message you are
sending with the performance appraisal (i.e. keep up the good work, we are seeing
improvement, improvement is required, performance is unacceptable), ensure that you
ask for and receive the employee’s commitment to addressing any areas that have been
identified as needing improvement.
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If your company uses a goals and objectives approach, now is the perfect time to
discuss the specific goals and objectives you and the employee would mutually like to
see for the upcoming year.
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You should start to wind up the meeting with a discussion about developmental and
training activities that you and/or the employee would like see them undertake in the
upcoming year. Again, agree on specifics, including timeframes.
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Close the meeting on a positive note and summarize and reinforce all key details and
decisions that were discussed in the meeting.
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If you have made commitments to get the employee information, assistance, training,
etc, make sure that you keep track of those commitments and follow though. Nothing
hurts your credibility as a manager and your ability to hold your employees accountable
more than if you fail to meet your commitments to them.
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Now that the formal performance appraisal meeting is complete, remember to talk to
your employees regularly and deliver positive feedback and constructive criticism
throughout the year. A simple ‘well done’ and a pat on the back once in a while can
achieve amazing results and major problems can usually be averted by dealing with
issues when they first arise.
Step 4 – Documentation
Once the meeting has been completed, document all key points that were gone over including
employee questions, input, the date of the meeting, etc. Make a note of any further effort
required for the training/development of the employee.
Ensure that the employee adds any comments they wish to the performance appraisal
document, signs and returns it. Keep a copy for you to refer to in your regular communications
with the employee and place the original in the employee file.