Get ready for an appraisal meeting

Preparation can help you conduct a performance appraisal meeting effectively. What steps should you take to prepare?

A year ago, Jeff became one of your direct reports in the accounting department. In the coming month, you will conduct his twice-a-year performance appraisal. Jeff came highly recommended for his job, and he has eight years of experience in finance. However, his performance in the job has not met your expectations. You want to look into possible explanations for his underperformance before the appraisal meeting.
Which of the factors below is not a likely explanation for Jeff's underperformance?

 Low motivation

 Inadequate assistance and resources

 Lack of skills or experience

Correct choice. You have enough information about Jeff's career background to rule out inadequate skills or experience as a cause for his underperformance. 

To continue exploring possible reasons for Jeff's underperformance, you review his self-assessment. Each employee completes a self-assessment one month before his or her performance appraisal meeting. In Jeff's self-assessment, he wrote that he often feels unsure about the correct procedures to follow in his job.
Given this information, what would be a good next step for exploring reasons for Jeff's underperformance?

 Compare Jeff's performance against that of his colleagues in the rest of the accounting department

 Ask Jeff to file additional weekly self-reports between now and his performance appraisal

 Compare Jeff's performance against people who joined his department at roughly the same time

Correct choice. If Jeff is unclear about the procedures he should follow in his job, there may be a training problem in his department. Comparing his performance against people who joined his department at about the same time might be instructive. If they are all underperforming to varying degrees, then the problem could be training. 

You investigate how Jeff's performance holds up against that of the three other people who joined the accounting department at roughly the same time. You discover that performance among the members of this group is generally lower than among employees who were hired at different times. Moreover, many of these underperforming employees report that they are having problems understanding processes and procedures.
Given this information, which item would be most useful to bring to Jeff's performance appraisal meeting?

 The training manual used for new members of the accounting department

 Performance records of direct reports who previously held Jeff's position

 Copies of the other employees' self-assessments indicating their difficulty understanding processes and procedures

Correct choice. Reviewing the training manual with Jeff might reveal that there are disparities between what's in the manual and how procedures and processes are actually carried out in the department.