Employee Evaluation: Measuring Intangible Traits

It’s the same thing every year. Supervisors sit with their teams individually and follow the standardized performance review process. This format is one that tends to avoid or at best “dip a toe” in the waters of critical intangible factors such as cooperativeness, dependability and judgment. It is important to note though that the higher up the organizational chart, the greater the importance these intangible traits become.

Unsurprisingly, the majority of supervisors find these ‘intangibles’, the most difficult traits (factors) to evaluate on paper. It may be because these appear to be on the surface, deeply personal. It is much easier to remain objective on an evaluation of hitting measured tangible goals. It is a bit harder to base an individual’s achievement solely on their personality or human merit. Though intangible factors may seem personal, they are critical to effectively maintaining positive working relationships and hitting tangible targets.

 

In order to assess an employee’s intangibles, you first need to identify which traits are vital for the role. Cooperativeness might be critical for an individual working on a team project, for example. Identifying initiatives would be ideal for creative types building or designing websites, marketing campaigns or business development.

Prior to your review with an employee, take time to identify the intangible factors included in the individual’s performance standards. If done correctly, you should have no issue answering yourself why the employee has rated the score they will be receiving. This will help to draw a tangible score (measurement) to an intangible trait.

 

The following questions will assist in measuring the intangibles related to each category listed.

PLANNING
1. Does the employee set measurable short- and long-term goals?
2. Are the employee’s goals in tune with company needs?
3. Does the employee’s planning show sound assumptions reflecting the company’s goals, objectives and resources?
4. Does the employee typically achieve the expected results and deliver on a timely manner?

ORGANIZATION
1. Is the employee aware of what is going on in his or her department, including who is doing what?
2. Does the employee know what the department can do in an emergency?
3. Does the employee do a good job of delegating work according to subordinates’ abilities?

INTELLIGENCE
1. Does the employee see relationships between facts and draw appropriate conclusions quickly?
2. Does the employee learn from the experience?

JUDGMENT
1. When confronted with an emergency, does the employee quickly recognize the most important priorities?
2. Does the employee think through the financial implications of his or her decisions?
3. Does he or she make decisions quickly but not hastily?

INITIATIVE
1. Does the employee anticipate what must be done?
2. Does the employee perform well in the absence of superiors?
3. Has the employee made original suggestions to improve operations?

LEADERSHIP
1. Does the employee explain rather than command?
2. Do people listen closely when he or she speaks?
3. Does the employee spell out the benefits of doing things his or her way?
4. Does he or she deal smoothly with unexpected developments?

 

It’s hard not to be subjective when evaluating intangible factors; we are human, after all. A good way to avoid subjective influence is to focus on concrete examples of times (instances) that the employee has displayed respectively to a particular trait, both positive and negative.

 

Documentation is your most critical historical guide. Keep simple performance logs/notes for each employee, which can also be integrated into 1:1 meetings. These meetings give an excellent perspective on an employee’s strengths and challenges affecting positive and negative behavior.

Keep your notes current. When the time comes to discuss intangibles with your employee during a feedback session or in a formal setting, tie the traits to tangible examples of workplace wins and losses. As an example, you may praise an employee for extra efforts to resolve an issue. Perhaps bringing in help or an ad-hoc team to restore business productivity.

Help your employees reach and maintain their peak performance by defining what high performance is. Share this expectation and vision of what high performance looks like to you. It is also important to show how to get to that high-performance target.

This is best achieved by involving your employees in setting goals. Keep these goals realistic being aware that employees will have their own motivations. Find out what the motivations are to help meet consensus to achieve a positive acceptance. Once this is complete, get out of the way and avoid micro-managing. They now have the tools, goals, and resources.

Enough cannot be stated about trust in the workplace. It is shown to inspire your employees to do their jobs by going the extra mile. Trust creates healthy spaces between employees and managers. Trust lends to a culture of empowerment and allows for valued contributions to the business objectives. Practiced collectively, this leads to success, and a “win-win” environment with collaboration and respect are entrenched within the company culture.

Any thoughts on the above article? Please include your notes below.