An innovative and flexible approach to appraisals
encourages career progression and gets the best out of staff, as
Best Places to Work winners testify
When property and construction consultancy Davis Langdon
relocated its finance, human resources and IT teams from London to
Birmingham, it had to rebuild its entire IT department.
"Nearly all the London IT team did not want to move. So I had to
create a new IT organisational structure at the new location," said
Steve Anderson, who was brought into the company as the new IT
director.
Although it was a challenge, there were benefits. "Effectively I
could redesign the IT department from scratch," he said.
Anderson was in the fortunate position of being able to hire people
he knew. "Several were colleagues from my previous job at another
construction consultancy who were made redundant. I knew and
trusted them, and they knew almost immediately what needed to be
done."
Even so, setting up a large IT department in a new location was a
huge effort to bring together, he said. "It took the best part of
two years to stabilise the operational environment. I wanted people
with a hunger for and commitment to excellence, quality and
customer satisfaction; who were creative, had ideas and understood
how IT can make a difference and add value to business."
These are key criteria against which the 42 Davis Langdon IT staff
- twice as many as before the relocation - are now regularly
appraised. "The single common factor is that they all have their
hearts in the right place and are emotionally on the same page,"
said Anderson. "It took a lot of hand-holding, coaching and strong,
assertive leadership, especially in the early days."
One of the senior managers who did relocate from London is proof
that being appraised against new criteria can uncover previously
hidden strengths. "He felt suffocated in the old IT environment,
although business staff had a positive view of him. My task was to
get him motivated by the new IT environment. He is now a completely
different person, and undoubtedly the best person I have worked
with," said Anderson.
Appraisal is an important tool to ensure staff reach their
potential and meet the needs of the company. "I am passionate about
good appraisal," said Anderson. "Some IT staff spend three or four
days a week outside Birmingham, so it is important to manage their
performance when they are not sitting alongside you every
day."
But he does not see appraisal as something that can be left to a
formal annual review. "I am sceptical about the value of the
traditional annual review: there is a danger it can become a
farce," he said.
Instead, Anderson instituted monthly one-to-one meetings between
all his staff and their managers. "The idea originally came from my
own experience of being managed. I wanted to know as soon as I
could how I was thought to be performing, so I requested regular
appraisals with my manager to focus on areas for
improvement."
At Davis Langdon, managers now spend two hours with their
subordinates regularly. Anderson acknowledges that it is an
overhead, and sometimes it can be hard to fit it in. "But I believe
the monthly appraisals are essential in order for staff to feel
valued and encouraged, and for their line managers to monitor their
ongoing performance," he said.
The manager goes through the employee's personal plan, which
combines job description, person specification and a statement of
their objectives, to check and review what their targets should be,
their standards of performance and responsibilities, so everyone
knows what is expected of them.
"Although the one-to-one meetings are the mainstay of our
appraisals process, we also do a biannual appraisal, which is more
formal and instigated by the HR department." But, Anderson
emphasised that although the one-to-one meetings are informal and
personal, they are not casual. "They are still performance
reviews," he said.
Salary reviews take place at one of the biannual reviews. "Staff do
not get an automatic salary rise for working hard," said Anderson.
Pay rises are awarded for increasing their skills and capabilities
and taking on more responsibility, or if the market rate for their
skills has increased.
"However, staff do get bonuses for exceptional performance, and we
also make bonus payments throughout the year on an ad hoc basis if
they are well deserved."
Anderson said the monthly appraisals are more important at a time
of rapid change in the new IT department, as it moves from being an
efficiently functioning service provider towards taking its place
as a strategic business partner within the company.
"I want to ensure IT can focus on adding the maximum business
value," he said. "For IT staff that means there are new roles and
challenges. We want staff to grow and develop while they are
here."
Appraisals give win-win >>