What do you think?
Rate this book
How to Be Good at Performance Appraisals: Simple, Effective, Done Right
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.
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.
240 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 5, 2011
48 people are currently reading
186 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
June 4, 2024
Key points
-Your company likely has a performance review form. Follow procedure and use it but do not let it stop you from adding elements to it for reviewing your direct reports.
-3 out of 5 (meets expectations) should be viewed as expert level (like par in golf).
-4 out of 5 when an employee consistently performs at a superior level
5 out of 5 when 4 is true plus completion of a particularly successful project
-The majority of employees will fall into a 3 or 4 category
-When reviewing a poor performer avoid the compliment sandwich and get directly to the point; otherwise, they are likely to dwell on the compliment and ignore the criticism
-Notify your manager before delivering a 1 or 5 rating
-Coach your employees directly after completing a major project, experiencing a major difficulty, and when their mood changes significantly for extended periods of time. Remember, coaching is for job performance improvements. You are not a counselor.
-Your company likely has a performance review form. Follow procedure and use it but do not let it stop you from adding elements to it for reviewing your direct reports.
-3 out of 5 (meets expectations) should be viewed as expert level (like par in golf).
-4 out of 5 when an employee consistently performs at a superior level
5 out of 5 when 4 is true plus completion of a particularly successful project
-The majority of employees will fall into a 3 or 4 category
-When reviewing a poor performer avoid the compliment sandwich and get directly to the point; otherwise, they are likely to dwell on the compliment and ignore the criticism
-Notify your manager before delivering a 1 or 5 rating
-Coach your employees directly after completing a major project, experiencing a major difficulty, and when their mood changes significantly for extended periods of time. Remember, coaching is for job performance improvements. You are not a counselor.
January 17, 2024
Some helpful tips on how to prep for performance reviews over time, but largely common sense guidance. I was disappointed by Grote's insensitivity regarding employees going through challenges in their personal lives.
October 7, 2019
All you need to know on doing performance appraisals
The only book you'll ever have to read if you want to better your performance appraisal skills... practical advice that's straight to the point
The only book you'll ever have to read if you want to better your performance appraisal skills... practical advice that's straight to the point
April 1, 2023
Best book on Performance Management subject
Best book on Performance Management subject, with clear system, process and guidelines, highly recommended for any supervisory or managerial position,
Best book on Performance Management subject, with clear system, process and guidelines, highly recommended for any supervisory or managerial position,
February 4, 2023
great book
Very helpful and practical book. It was easy to understand the difference between coaching and performance appraisals, with many practical examples.
Very helpful and practical book. It was easy to understand the difference between coaching and performance appraisals, with many practical examples.
December 27, 2025
Thoroughly recommended for anybody in a leadership postion
February 22, 2017
A solid book with a lot of common sense. I do wish the author had spent more time about what to do if your company insists on using a poorly thought out appraisal system, but I suppose as a consultant he didn't want to get too much of a reputation for telling line managers how to get around upper managements decisions.
January 11, 2012
Dick Grote approaches the topic of how to give performance appraisals with simplicity, common sense and good information.
On the plus side, he approaches many difficult topics that someone could need:
--How to give a negative performance appraisal and fire someone
--How to give a positive performance appraisal and yet manage limited money for raises and performance bonuses.
--the four types of employees: good ones with good personalities, incompetent ones with a good personality (lovable loser), disagreeable ones who can do the job, and employees who are both disagreeable and incompetent.
--why the sandwich approach of praise, then criticism, then praise is not a good method of performance appraisal (for the incompetent employees it gives false hope and information and for the good and exceptional employees it is unnecessarily negative.)
--legal issues related to performance appraisals
I'm not a manager, but as a new employee it gave me an idea of how I might be evaluated and that was very useful. Much of the information stayed in my mind even after I finished the book, which is testament to the clarity of his writing.
On the plus side, he approaches many difficult topics that someone could need:
--How to give a negative performance appraisal and fire someone
--How to give a positive performance appraisal and yet manage limited money for raises and performance bonuses.
--the four types of employees: good ones with good personalities, incompetent ones with a good personality (lovable loser), disagreeable ones who can do the job, and employees who are both disagreeable and incompetent.
--why the sandwich approach of praise, then criticism, then praise is not a good method of performance appraisal (for the incompetent employees it gives false hope and information and for the good and exceptional employees it is unnecessarily negative.)
--legal issues related to performance appraisals
I'm not a manager, but as a new employee it gave me an idea of how I might be evaluated and that was very useful. Much of the information stayed in my mind even after I finished the book, which is testament to the clarity of his writing.
February 3, 2017
This is a straight to the point book about performance appraisals (PA) system. It starts with the beginnings of the "why" till the end " you are out of the door" or "you are a hero". One interesting and clear aspect about Grote's approach is its no-non-sense one. Hence no more sandwich style appraisals discussions; god-bad-good news style. Either goof or bad, that's it. One message to rule them all.
May 19, 2014
Very helpful insights on how to give effective feedback before, during and after formal review periods so that employees know where they stand and where improvements can be made. It's also interesting to learn how to improve the process so that it's meaningful. Great examples and summaries for quick reference.
January 12, 2014
The book I wish I wrote on performance reviews. Practical. Useful. So much so we gave a copy to all the supervisors in or workplace.
March 21, 2013
How to Be Good at Performance Appraisals: Simple, Effective, Done Right
October 21, 2014
Wow, I've read many, many books on the topic, this one is hands down the most useful and best written.
May 11, 2015
how awkward to give a rating to a book about how to give ratings...
September 24, 2015
If you believe in performance appraisals and merit raises (and the author obviously does), this is a short, clear discussion with good advice.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews