Self-appraisal encourages employees to play an active role in the appraisal process. It also provides the manager with another perspective on the employee’s work over the past year. The self-appraisal should include questions that will help your direct report analyse their performance effectively. Here are the 8 questions that needs to be addressed for effective self-appraisal:  Have you achieved the goals set during the past performance review?  Have you surpassed your goals

The following will help you to address performance gaps with employees during appraisals.  1. Begin by acknowledging the positive contributions and accomplishments. This will set up a right tone that will make your employee more receptive to your unfavourable feedback to come. Furthermore, it establishes trust between the both of you by showing the employee that you have been fair in your evaluation and is not judging them biasly. 2. Describe the gap between the target goal a

As a manager, your goal in stress management is not to eliminate it but to learn to manage it. Here are some tips: Make work days satisfying  Take time out to give your employees feedback and provide the information they need to do a good job. Give your employees a sense of control over their work by involving them in decision making. Employees need to feel a sense of purpose when faced with stress so as to propel them to push on. Recognize their efforts  Consider non-monetar

After creating goals and assessing the coachee’s performance, it is vital to formulate a plan to improve your coachee’s performance. Here is a useful checklist:   What is the goal? Recall what is the desired outcome to be achieved. What are your roles? List down the tasks for you and your coachee. When will you do it? What is a reasonable deadline? Are there opportunities to invest in? How will you execute it? State clearly the steps and processes. Think about the resources a

As compared to the whiners at the workplace who are considered a nuisance, the procrastinors need constant supervision and the process can be exhausting. Situation: Sheila thinks that her manager has unrealistic expectations and does not think that she can complete the work in 3 days’ time. She stuffs the report into her drawer. She proceeds to do other work stuff before pulling out the report hesitantly. Her manager has been observing her and decides to approach her “Sheila,

Managing employees who are stationed in remote locations or those who work from home is common for managers in today’s society. Here are some tips for managing virtual teams: 1. Set clear standards of work  Successful virtual teams spend time getting to know each other in a face-to-face setting. An initial face-to-face meeting provides an opportunity to foster a relationship between employees and establish rules on how you will communicate and work collaboratively. 2. Build t

There are 8 areas of project management managers need to be aware of to make a project succeed. Managers need to plan for and work in each of these areas as they prepare, do and follow through on each project. Scope Project scope is about “what are we making?” and “how will we make it?”. Complete and accurate scope planning is the key to project planning. If the scope is defined correctly, every other part of the project such as the budget, the schedule and the quality plan w

Projects and initiatives need the support of managers and staff in the company to make it a success. Read our tips below to learn how to gain buy-in.  Be prepared to answer questions: Why is it important to achieve the goal that the project will achieve? Why is this project the best way to achieve the goal? Anticipate challenges Will people generally dislike or like the project? What can you use to overcome the dislike? Are there any rules or assumptions in the company that t

Turnover can be a concern for many companies because finding replacements costs time, money and productivity. Here are some tips to manage staff turnover: Assess the reasons for staff turnover  While most managers will say that employees leave to make more money elsewhere, money is rarely the only motivator. Evidence shows that motivation plays a big role too. Some of these reasons include: opportunities for development, being recognized and appreciated for their efforts, doi

Closing a deal once you have reached an agreement with the other party is the final but critical step of the negotiation process. Here are some tips on closing negotiations: 1. Send some signals As you are approaching what you would like to be the final deal, make your intentions known to the other party. Let them know that you have reached agreement on the various aspects of the matter and check with them for their input. If you act like things are drawing to a conclusion, t

The importance of communication should not be undermined in any project. It is vital to many projects and flawed communication can doom a project. Here are suggestions for creating a good communication plan for a project.   Assign responsibility for communication This is usually the role of the project manager, but the project manager may assign this responsibility to a dedicated communication manager.   Create key messages. What are the main messages about the project you wa

One of the most daunting tasks for a project manager is to estimate the budget accurately amidst the uncertainly in projects. Here are our tips for estimating and creating project budgets: 1. Determine what components of the project need to be paid for. Make sure you have included the cost of the following: Staff: Time spent by your colleagues, colleagues in other departments, etc. Facilities and equipment: Computers, laptops, conference rooms, printing facilities. Indirect c

Counselling at work is not about psychological therapy. It is about confronting and correcting individuals whose performance is not up to par. Read on to find out how to conduct effective counselling for your staff. 1. Gather and give information  Not all employees come to you and confide that they need help. As a counsellor, you will need to gather relevant information from the employee and in return, respond to the employee’s need for information. 2. Agree on performance st

First Posted: April 8, 2021 As a manager, the level of interaction with senior management increases. How can you keep your cool and impress them well enough for them to take an interest in you? Here, we share some tips: Before the meeting Prepare thoroughly. Do your research and gather as much information and data as you can. Collate ‘success stories’ relevant to your industry to support your proposal as senior management tend to sway towards ideas that work. Also, the more i

First Posted: April 8, 2021 A lot of new managers assume that they know exactly what they need to do in order to be successful in their new role. Sometimes they are right and sometimes they are not. Here are 5 common assumptions: Assumption 1: I must know EVERYTHING One of the hardest facts that new managers have to accept is that it is alright to say “I don’t know”. Your employees do not expect you to know everything. When they ask you questions, they may hope to get an ans

First Posted: April 8, 2021  With more flexible working arrangements, many people working from home and in remote locations rely on teleconferences as an important tool to stay connected. Here are some tips to conduct teleconferences successfully:   Plan your teleconference Identify the purpose for meeting. Plan the agenda and list the items for discussion Schedule a time and date that works for everyone involved in the meeting Identify the chairperson. He or she will be resp

Employee attitudes have evolved over the years. In the past, employees yearned for job security and safety. With the rapidly evolving and fluid economy, most people are looking beyond cash rewards as the major motivation for staying at their jobs. Managers have to get to know their employees well enough and understand what it takes to keep them engaged. Engaged employees give their best at work and goes the extra mile for the company. What can managers do to reward and engage

First Posted: April 8, 2021 Terminating employees is a stressful and unpleasant task for most managers, but it is necessary to learn how to deal with it.  Here is a checklist to help you prepare for the actual meeting: Mull over your records to refresh your memory of the events or issues that led to termination for the particular employee. Confirm that company policy was adhered to in the case. Notify your boss before you act. This is crucial if the said employee was to appea

Deployments used to be a nightmare. Traditionally, the phases of deployments could take several hours or even days. But in the era of CI/CD, companies are shipping out product updates in minutes. You’ve probably heard of the term CI/CD being thrown around quite a lot lately. In simple terms, it's a combined practise of Continuous Integration and either Continuous Delivery or Continuous Deployment. As a growing startup, we started with no CI/CD at all and after some time, we r

Assessing an employee’s performance is not something you do once a year but should be an ongoing process. In order to have a whole picture of his performance and to give a fair evaluation of his work, it is necessary to collect information about his performance through different sources. Observing your employees directly is the best way to monitor their performance. Rather than merely sitting in your office or relying on secondary sources such as feedback from co-workers or c