How do you follow up and support your employees after a performance appraisal?

1 Set SMART goals

One of the main outcomes of a performance appraisal is to set SMART goals for your employees. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. These goals should be aligned with your organization's vision, mission, and strategy, as well as your employees' strengths, interests, and development needs. You should also involve your employees in setting and reviewing these goals, so that they feel ownership and accountability for their own performance.

2 Provide regular coaching

Another way to follow up and support your employees after a performance appraisal is to provide regular coaching. Coaching is a process of guiding, encouraging, and challenging your employees to achieve their goals and improve their skills. You can coach your employees by asking open-ended questions, listening actively, giving constructive feedback, recognizing achievements, and offering resources and support. You should also schedule frequent and consistent coaching sessions, preferably monthly or quarterly, to monitor progress, address challenges, and celebrate successes.

3 Encourage peer feedback

A third tip to follow up and support your employees after a performance appraisal is to encourage peer feedback. Peer feedback is feedback from your employees' colleagues, customers, or other stakeholders who work with them or benefit from their work. Peer feedback can complement your own feedback by providing different perspectives, insights, and suggestions. You can facilitate peer feedback by creating a culture of trust, respect, and collaboration in your team, by using tools such as 360-degree feedback surveys, or by organizing peer review meetings or workshops.

4 Promote learning opportunities

A fourth way to follow up and support your employees after a performance appraisal is to promote learning opportunities. Learning opportunities are activities or resources that can help your employees develop new knowledge, skills, or competencies that are relevant to their goals and performance. Learning opportunities can include formal training courses, online courses, webinars, podcasts, books, articles, mentorship programs, job shadowing, or cross-functional projects. You should identify and recommend learning opportunities that suit your employees' needs, preferences, and availability, and encourage them to share their learning outcomes and apply them to their work.

6 Solicit feedback from employees

A sixth way to follow up and support your employees after a performance appraisal is to solicit feedback from them. Soliciting feedback from your employees is a way of showing respect, trust, and openness for their opinions, feelings, and suggestions. You can solicit feedback from your employees by asking them how they felt about the performance appraisal process, what they liked or disliked about it, what they learned from it, and what they need from you to improve their performance. You should also listen to their feedback attentively, acknowledge their concerns or complaints, and act on their recommendations or requests.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?