Success Labs Leadership Coaching Series: Teams Overhaul VOAGBR’s Employee Evaluation Process
A simplified and more effective employee evaluation form is in the works for Volunteers of America Greater Baton Rouge as a result of Success Labs’ latest Leadership Coaching Series. After years of using a redundant and outdated system, VOAGBR leaders are looking forward to overhauling the employee evaluation process using suggestions from the two teams of new leaders and high-potential employees who strove to expand their leadership competencies during the Leadership Coaching Series.“Both teams came back with two different end products, and we feel like we can take something from each of them in the coming year to revamp our employee performance reviews,” says Rosanne Acampora, human resources director at VOAGBR.VOAGBR is a nonprofit community organization that focuses on supporting abused and neglected children, at-risk youth, people living with developmental disabilities or chronic mental illness, the homeless and others in need. It’s been a strong partner for Success Labs’ leadership series; for this installment, VOAGBR was seeking ways to develop employees, determine clearer career path options and become an employer of choice in the region.Here’s what the teams came up with.
Team A: New Form, New Standards
Members of this team felt that the evaluation process was generally sound but that there were several improvements that could be made, says Ed Branagan, employer services director at the Teachers’ Retirement System of Louisiana. The ratings scale offered too many options, so managers tended to focus on middle ratings or drift upwards when rating. In addition, the rating language was often unclear or redundant, making the form repetitive and in some cases confusing.“We reviewed VOAGBR’s write-up thoroughly, listened to their presentation carefully and developed ideas that we felt could improve an already solid evaluation process,” Branagan says. “We ultimately provided VOAGBR with options that could be implemented immediately or over time and were budget-neutral.”The team suggested simplifying the ratings sheet, defining job objectives and establishing benchmarks, and adding “reflection” questions that can help employees clarify their thoughts about the past year, such as “what are the aspects of your job that you like the best?”As part of its work on leadership development, the team presented its suggestions in a slideshow presentation. “I’ve been exposed to many leadership competencies throughout my professional career, like the concepts taught during this series,” Branagan says. “But the main thing this series taught me is that leadership is an art, and like any artist you must consistently work at your art. The moment you think you have nothing else to learn as leader, then, at that moment, you are no longer an effective leader.”
Team B: Role-Playing a New Process
This team offered a first in the Leadership Coaching Series: It presented a skit about its employee evaluation suggestions rather than a slideshow. “In working on the final presentation, my preference was to do a PowerPoint presentation,” says Lisa Honoré, public information director at the Teachers' Retirement System of Louisiana. But another team member suggested a skit, and the team embraced the idea. Honoré drafted the skit’s script, and the team tweaked it and practiced it. “I’m happy to say that it was well-received, and many of the positive comments we received were about the originality of doing a skit,” she says.They role-played an evaluation based on a tweaked form that divides an employee’s work into tasks and responsibilities, professional behaviors, and innovation and professional growth. The team also added a “yearly goal” field to each of these topics, to build on employees’ growth toward the next year.Honoré says she learned through the process that there are concrete actions she can take to become a more effective leader. “I used to think bosses were people that had great technical skills and knowledge, but now I see that there are so many other attributes of a great leader that have nothing to do with technical skills,” such as motivating employees and accepting the responsibility of giving them honest feedback, she says.
Next Steps: Making the Change
Acampora says the ideas for simplification that both teams came up with are going to be helpful. “Both of them really took the project seriously and tried to give us something that we were asking for,” she says.Organizational leaders are looking forward to incorporating factors from both projects to revamp the process. Acampora says they’ll likely go over the presentations in more detail in January and hope to update the process for employee evaluations in the summer of 2017.Looking for creative ways to develop your employees? Contact us to learn about our leadership development and coaching offerings.Success Labs is a leadership development and management consulting firm in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. For more than 25 years, our expert team of consultants has worked with hundreds of companies to explore their business potential and improve their company and cultural performance. Contact us to get proactive about your people strategy.