Throughout the years, the basic premise behind the performance appraisal process has remained the same. We may have called it different things – like management by objectives – and the format may have changed – such as 360º feedback – but the purpose has always been constant: to provide performance feedback to employees.

Now it’s time to transform the process again. This time, it’s the delivery system. Utilizing social media – web-based and mobile-based technologies that turn communication into interactive dialogue – allows employers the opportunity to transform the performance appraisal process and make it a much more powerful tool.

Avoid Annual Ambush

In a 2009 Reuter’s poll, four out of five employees indicated they were dissatisfied with their performance reviews. The poll found that:

• 33% wanted reviews tied to compensation
• 20% wanted them to be fairer
• 16% wanted them more often

The benefit of using social media is the ability to satisfy these dissatisfied employees. With the right tool you can provide your team with frequent and detailed feedback about their performance, instead of piling it all on at the end of the year. Plus, automation allows users to make comments and provide public recognition to their team mates daily.

Create Ever Evolving Real-Time Goals

Someone once said, “If you stand still, you’ll never get ahead.” The world is an ever-changing, constantly moving place. To keep up, you and your team need to change with it. That includes your goals.

With social media, goals are collaborative, real-time, and evolving. Team members have the opportunity to request feedback, ask opinions, and offer suggestions on a real time basis. And as team members accomplish their goals, they receive public recognition for their contribution. The overall result is a more highly motivated and engaged team.

Provide Collaborative Coaching

According to Dr. Samuel A. Culbert in his rather scathing 2008 Wall Street Journal article, Get Rid of the Performance Review!"The boss's assignment is to guide, coach, tutor, provide oversight and generally do whatever is required to assist a subordinate to perform successfully."

However, in the May 2012 article, Could social media revolutionise the performance appraisal process? writer Jenny Hill, notes, “The traditional appraisal process makes the assumption that the manager is a good coach.”

The problem is, according to Annie Fisher’s CNNMoney article, 8 ways to be a better boss, "Although so-called knowledge workers do require more of a coaching or mentoring management style to do their best work, relatively few bosses know how to provide it..."

Hill goes on to state:

"With a social performance management process, coaching becomes collaborative, not just top down. Employees are actively encouraged to ask for help throughout the organisation's network. Colleagues, not just managers, give support. The result …… knowledge is shared across the organisation and coaching becomes an on-going, collaborative process."

Ultimately, the goal of the performance appraisal process should be to do as Dr. Culbert suggests: guide, coach and tutor your team. That’s where our talent management system comes in.

Kapta Systems offers you the online tools to evaluate, motivate, and engage your team. Contact us now for further information on how to use social media to transform your performance appraisal process.