ADEPT/ACCU-Judge
ADEPT
Appraising and Developing Employee's Performance Training (ADEPT)
As a matter or survival in today's unrelenting competitive environment, companies must continually search for opportunities to improve both individual and organizational productivity and quality.
ADEPT is a performance development system that helps accomplish these objectives by aligning each individual employee's roles and responsibilities with the organizational and team mission, values, and strategy. ADEPT provides managers and employees with role clarity, periodic performance feedback and coaching, and meaningful performance reviews.
All managers and employees are put through a carefully evaluated and established training program that uses video-based learning modules to maximize the effectiveness of the system. Participants are given the skills needed to implement this 5-step performance management system. ADEPT breaks the traditional appraisal paradigm by viewing performance management as development that is continuous from appraisal period to appraisal period.
Why The ADEPT System Is Effective
- Appraisals and rewards are related to business and individual results to a greater extent versus the subjectivity of appraised performance in a traditional system.
- Prioritizes areas of responsibility critical to individual success.
- Clarifies an individual's role even in the face of organizational change.
- Aligns and rewards all individuals throughout the organization with mission, values, and strategy.
- Empowers and motivates employees to strive for quality and team-based performance.
- Provides a means for engaging both employees and managers in identifying and finding solutions for improving both individual and organizational performance.
- Helps organizations to adapt to the rapid pace of change in today's business environment.
- Encourages self-management through employee involvement in all steps of the system.
- Maximizes an organization's competitive advantage and drives organizational change.
Step 1 - Defining Effective Performance
All employees and managers formally meet to mutually discuss, set, and agree upon the employee's major responsibilities and performance expectations for the upcoming appraisal period. A critical activity during this step is to align every individual with the organizational and mission, values, and strategy. This provides role clarity, vital in today's rapidly changing organizations, by clarifying each employee's expected behavior and results.
Step 2 - Observing and Documenting Employee Performance
All individuals are given instruction on the do's and don'ts of accurately observing documenting employee behaviors and results. An employee part of this instruction involves learning the kind of judgment errors that can be committed when observing others, and the solutions for eliminating these errors.
Step 3 - Conducting Periodic Performance Reviews
Managers and employees meet periodically to update and ensure alignment of employee's major responsibilities and performance expectations. Another important aspect of this step is to discuss and agree upon the effectiveness of employee performance to date.
Step 4 - Diagnosing and Coaching
In order for employees to continually develop, managers and employees need to have coaching sessions on a routine basis. Managers give positive feedback to employees who deserve recognition for outstanding performance. Managers also identify performance problems, diagnose the cause of problems, and reach agreement with employees on steps to be taken to solve these problems. These ongoing coaching sessions help to increase and strengthen the communications that occur between employees, their managers, and the organization.
Step 5 - Review Overall Performance
Organizations need to put more emphasis on the first four steps than is currently done. When these steps have received conscientious attention, this final step becomes more successful. It should contain no surprises for the participant provided that the entire process has been faithfully followed. True organizational change can only come about if all individuals are not only clear on what is expected of them, but are also recognized and rewarded for their achievements.
ACCU-Judge
Some of the most critical decisions made in today's organizations surround the hiring, promotion, and evaluations of individual contributors. Yet, these decisions are continually plagued by various judgment errors that all individuals are susceptible to regardless of their experience, education, or level within the organization. These judgment errors occur whenever individuals are asked to make decisions about others. They are prevalent during the employment selection process and the performance appraisal process. In each case, one individual is put in the position of evaluating another and guarding against systematic bias is crucial.
Examples of these judgment errors include:
Leniency
Giving an individual higher ratings than they really deserve. When this error occurs we tend to hire the wrong person or during performance appraisal give ratings that are inflated which negatively impact morale, and skews the system unfairly.
Similarity/Dissimilarity
The tendency to like and rate an individual higher because they are similar to oneself, or dislike and rate an individual lower because they are dissimilar to oneself in terms of attitude, background, personality, and so on. This error happens frequently in the hiring process and leads to discrimination lawsuits. The appraisal process is many times distorted when you have conflicting values and alleged issues of favoritism.
Halo Effect
Over-generalizing from one piece of information such as letting someone else's opinion about an individual influence your own or giving an individual the same, or almost the same, rating on various rating scales.
Comparison/Contrast
Tendency to rate an individual higher or lower than they really deserve because they are being compared with others rather than against some fixed standard of selection criteria or performance. What we end up with here is in appraisal or selection is the promotion of or the hiring of "The Best of the Worst."
First Impressions
Tendency to let one's initial impression of an individual overly influence their overall evaluation of the person.
Central Tendency
Rating all individuals using the middle of the rating scale and not differentiating among them when, in fact, true differences exist. This error happens frequently because we are not very good at giving performance feedback or facing the reality that we may have hired the wrong person. By giving someone a "Questionable" rating because you're "playing it safe" when you are not sure does not help the person or the organization.
Strictness
The reluctance to give high ratings when they are justifiably deserved.
The ACCU-JUDGE program includes:
- Viewing the employees on videotape.
- Having an opportunity to rate their performance.
- Comparing and discussing one's ratings with other participants.
- Teaching one the kinds of judgment errors one commits.
- Learning solutions for eliminating these judgment errors.
ACCU-JUDGE is a one-half day program that can either be implemented by itself or used in conjunction with other leadership and management development programs. It has been used to train over 50,000 managers and supervisors to eliminate judgment errors that distort their appraisals of individuals. ACCU-JUDGE has been carefully evaluated in all types of organizations and found to be highly effective and well received by participants throughout the country.