Do you supervise people? If so, this book is for you. One of a manager's toughest--and most important--responsibilities is to evaluate an employee's performance, providing honest feedback and clarifying what they've done well and where they need to improve. In How to Be Good at Performance Appraisals, Dick Grote provides a concise, hands-on guide to succeeding at every step of the performance appraisal process--no matter what performance management system your organization uses. Through step-by-step instructions, examples, do-and-don't bullet lists, sample dialogues, and suggested scripts, he shows you how to handle every appraisal activity from setting goals and defining job responsibilities to evaluating performance quality and discussing the performance evaluation face-to-face. Based on decades of experience guiding managers through their biggest challenges, Grote helps answer the questions he hears most often: * How do I set goals effectively? How many goals should someone set? * How do I evaluate a person's behaviors? Which counts more, behaviors or results? * How do I determine the right performance appraisal rating? How do I explain my rating to a skeptical employee? * How do I tell someone she's not meeting my expectations? How do I deliver bad news? Grote also explains how to tackle other thorny performance management tasks, including determining compensation and terminating poor performers. In accessible and useful language, How to Be Good at Performance Appraisals will help you handle performance appraisals confidently and successfully, no matter the size or culture of your organization. It's the one book you need to excel at this daunting yet critical task.

" A good appraisal system can serve as an effective structure for culture change within an organization -- and it can help ease one of every manager's most dreaded duties. Now, based on 25 years of experience, Dick Grote gives readers everything they need to make the process work well, including:

* what an ideal system looks like

* the available options and approaches

* how to evaluate performance, write a fair appraisal, and conduct the actual appraisal discussion

* how to create a system from scratch or optimize the one already in place

* critical issues that must be considered, including employee development, pay, and legal concerns

* emerging trends that influence the process -- such as 360-degree feedback, teams, the use of software

* actual appraisal forms from 12 companies, as well as scripts, diagrams, checklists, worksheets, flow charts, and sample policies"

Most managers hate conducting performance appraisal discussions. What's worse, few feel confident in their ability to accurately assess the performance of a subordinate. In The Performance Appraisal Question and Answer Book, expert Dick Grote answers over 100 of the most common -- and most difficult -- questions about this vitally important but often misunderstood and misused tool, including: * How should I react when an employee starts crying during the appraisal discussion ...or gets mad at me? * Which is more important -- the results the person achieved or the way she went about doing the job? * Is there such a thing as a perfect performance appraisal form? Many of the answers include a Hot Tip or Red Flag: a note to the reader making a particularly insightful suggestion. This book helps supervisors and HR professionals ease the pain of performance appraisal and use the process effectively.