Someone needs to evaluate your manager’s performance. His understanding of the role of performance evaluation and timing of feedback is clearly in the “needs improvement” category.
A formal performance evaluation should clearly and thoroughly provide employees with specific information regarding the effectiveness of their performance during a predetermined evaluation period, typically one year. This feedback should include information on areas needing improvement, as well as those in which the employee excelled.
Most notably, there should be no surprises during these sessions. Part of the job of a manager is to provide employees with performance-based feedback throughout an evaluation period. This can be done on a formal and informal basis, and corrective strategies should be established as close to problematic behaviors as possible. By delaying this feedback, poor performance is allowed to linger, and the opportunity to learn from this feedback is diminished because of the amount of time between the questionable behavior and the feedback itself.
Today’s best managers maintain regular contact with their employees and provide feedback and coaching on a regular and as-needed basis. Managers who fail to do this typically fail in many other areas as well.
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