Use this checklist to ensure you conduct effective performance appraisals

Setting meaningful and relevant goals for your employees at the beginning of the business cycle is one of the most critical elements of your job as a manager, says the Practical Guide to Human Resources Management.

The Guide adds that it's equally important to take the time and make the effort to measure how each employee has performed against those goals.

Here's a performance appraisal checklist you can use to conduct performance reviews successfully

Performance appraisal checklist:

• Prepare thoroughly for the appraisal;
• Review all relevant documents such as job descriptions, goals and objectives and previous appraisals;
• Hold pre-meetings to brief your employees and to help them to prepare for their appraisal;
• Start the appraisal meeting by focusing on areas of agreement;
• Allow your employee to explain how he reached his rating for each goal before you justify your own rating;
• Keep an open mind and assess new, valid evidence that you might have missed;
• Share specific feedback in a positive way that validates the ratings you've made, without eroding your employee's self-confidence;
• Keep your employee motivated by exploring developmental opportunities and career development aspirations at the end of the appraisal process. Try and find opportunities within your company to satisfy your employee's need for personal growth; and
• File performance appraisal documents in the employee's personnel file.

The stakes are high. The biggest mistake you could ever make is to not take performance appraisals seriously.

'If your employees think you and your company aren't making a genuine effort to evaluate and improve their performance, their morale and their engagement in the company's mission will suffer. That will inevitably hurt them and, ultimately, the customers they serve,' says Forbes.com.

So use this checklist to ensure you conduct effective performance appraisals.