For the first time, I am directly responsible for appraising the performance of my team. Given that we operate pretty much like a startup, I have the mandate to devise ways to evaluate a team that was wholly recruited by me in the past 6 months. More difficult is the task to define clear and understandable metrics that I will have to use to measure the objectives I am going to set for them for the coming 6 months.

Like many others, I feel performance appraisals are never "once in 6 months" affairs. Its a continous process. That of the employee constantly understanding what is expected of him and the supervisor constantly modifying and adapting the objectives and metrics to take care of the changing ecosystem at work. That applies a lot more in a very dynamic environment like the one I am in.

Diligent course correction of performance objectives and metrics is something I have missed seeing in most of the teams I have been part of so far. The reasons for this has been many, including a lack of understanding of the importance of course correction, lack of communication between the superior and the subordinate, lack of time and lack of the required importance to be given to this process. Often, this results in a disconnect when the actual appraisal happens, The employee thinks he has done what was needed of him very well, while the superior comes up with his expectations which were not met. Often those expectations are communicated but at the same time are not factored into the objectives and metrics in the appraisal system. Hence, the objectiveness of the changing expectations are never completely clear to the employee until the appraisal comes along.

This is going to be my first experience at giving this thing a shot myself. Its going to be ineteresting.