Setting Goals - Pratt Institute

PRATT INSTITUTE
PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT PROCESS
MANAGER’S GUIDE
Annual Performance Period:
June 1, 2011 – May 31, 2012
Due: June 30 th , 2012

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Agenda
Page(s)
Agenda 2
Why do Appraisals 3
Shared Process 4
Timeline 5
Plan and Prepare 6
WingSpan Overview 7
WingSpan Login 8
WingSpan Appraisal Process 9
Rating Tendencies 10 - 11
Conducting the Appraisal Meeting 12-13
Pratt’s Strategic Plan for 2012-2017 14
Diagram – Goal Setting 15
Setting Goals 16
Sample Goals 17
Human Resources 18-19
Q & A 20

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Appraisals serve several important purposes:
• measuring employee performance and progress
• providing an employee with constructive feedback
• identifying goals and objectives for an employee
• creating guidelines for improvement in areas that need further development
• providing support for personnel actions (e.g. salary increase, promotion, etc.)
Supervisor
• encourage optimal work performance of employees
• align individual goals with Institute goals and objectives
• identify any obstacles and methods to aid employee’s work performance
• enhance employee/supervisor communication
• discuss employee career development and note progress
Employee
• help to see role in organization
• opportunity to provide feedback to supervisor
• identify strengths for possible advancement
• receive direction on areas to develop

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Shared Process
Appraisal review is a shared process
The employee and supervisor both contribute and share responsibility for
completing their respective reviews, identifying potential goals and preparation
for a constructive dialogue in the appraisal meeting.
It is important that employees participate fully, ask questions and make candid
comments during the meeting and within the written performance review.
The purpose of the meeting is to promote increased communication and
understanding between the employee and supervisor through discussion of the
employee’s work performance and the joint planning of future goals.

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Timeline
• supervisor drafts review while employee completes self-assessment
• schedule appraisal meeting once supervisor review and self-assessment
are done
• discuss employee work performance and jointly identify future goals for
employee at meeting
• finalize appraisal and goals
• secure next level approval if necessary
• employee confirms on Wingspan that meeting was held and they are in
receipt of appraisal
• employee has the opportunity to comment on final rating
• all steps of the process should be completed by June 30 th
• extensions may be granted if necessary

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Plan and Prepare
Gather pertinent reference material to use as
illustrative examples, situations and documentation
that support the appraisal and rating
• job description
• goals and objectives from prior year
• previous performance reviews
• communications: e-mails, correspondence to/from
employee
• documentation: meeting notes, employee reports,
work samples, letters of commendation, awards,
complaints, warnings, etc.
• weigh feedback from colleagues, students, staff,
clients, et al. familiar with employee’s work
performance

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WingSpan Overview
Introduced in 2010
automated, integrated employee performance database
Advantages:
• easier to manage
• less time-consuming
• reduces paper
• ready access to performance review history and reports
• allows tracking progress and identification of performance trends
• single resource for performance data

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WingSpan Login
1. click on link in e-mail mailed to
employees; or
2. log into: My.Pratt Website
Human Resources
Performance Review
WingSpan link; or
3. type in address line …
https://pratt-ws.silkroad.com/pratt

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WingSpan Appraisal Process
Begins
Employee Writes Self-Assessment/Supervisor Drafts Appraisal
Employee and Supervisor View Other’s Appraisal/Assessment
Supervisor and Employee Meet to Discuss Appraisal and Goals
Supervisor Finalizes Appraisal and Sets Goals
Next Level Manager Approves Appraisal and Goals (if necessary)
Both Employee and Supervisor Acknowledge Meeting and Completion of Process

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Rating tendencies to avoid…
‣ Recency Effect/Sampling Error
• basing an entire review on just the last few months or a specific incident
It is a common tendency for supervisors to give too much weight to an employee’s recent work performance or a
single notable issue since it is fresh in the supervisor’s mind and easier to recall. It is important to give a
comprehensive and balanced review of the employee’s performance throughout the entire review period. It is helpful
to keep track of your employees on a regular basis and keep a record of any projects they are working on. Keep
notes, work samples, etc. for your employees throughout the year to chart their accomplishments and also note their
progress.
‣ Halo/Horns Effect
• addressing only one particular performance area and generalizing it to the entire evaluation
It is crucial to give employees a fair and accurate assessment of all aspects of their work performance so they are
aware of and can address their relative strengths and weaknesses. An employee may excel in one area but need
improvement in another. Employees likely won’t develop their skills and abilities sufficiently if they are not given an
accurate and full picture of how they are doing.
‣ Leniency Bias
• giving overly generous ratings
There can be a tendency for supervisors to give inflated performance ratings to employees, to avoid a difficult
conversation with the employee and having to give constructive criticism. This dilutes the integrity of the appraisal
and often leads to increased performance issues if employees aren’t counseled on what they need to work on.
Performance reviews should include honest and straightforward feedback to the employee.
‣ Strictness Bias
• rating employees too harshly
• Conversely some supervisors are too hard in evaluating employees. This can backfire by demoralizing employees
who may feel their contributions are not fully recognized or appreciated. Although constructive criticism is important,
the appraisal should also be balanced and acknowledge where the employee has done well.

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rating tendencies to avoid continued…
‣ Central Tendency Bias
• rating all employees as average or in the middle
• Supervisors may try to avoid any controversy and play it safe by rating all employees in the middle and thus avoid
having to give justification for ratings at either extreme. This robs the employee of a fair and honest evaluation and
likely will alienate the best employees and absolve the struggling employee from having to improve their
performance.
‣ Comparing
• evaluating employee in comparison to another employee
• It can be tempting or convenient to consider an employee’s performance in comparison to another, presumably
stellar, employee but it is likely to be demoralizing and leave the 1 st employee feeling lesser than. It is important to
evaluate the employee on his/her own merits based on a fair assessment of how he/she performed her job and met
expectations, recognizing his/her unique attributes.
‣ Mirroring
• evaluating an employee based on the supervisor’s own qualities
• Supervisors may, often subconsciously, place too much emphasis on their own perceived skills and abilities, and use
that as a standard in evaluating employees. Again this creates a standard of performance to evaluate the employee
that may not be relevant to the employee and deprives the employee of a fair assessment.
• All of these tendencies are essentially shortcuts for a supervisor and interfere with employees receiving an honest
and fair assessment of their work performance which ultimately harm the employee and Pratt.

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Conducting the Appraisal Meeting
Scheduling the meeting
• set aside sufficient time for full discussion
• be considerate of the employee’s time as well as your own
• avoid interruptions, cancellations, rescheduling
State the purpose and format of the appraisal meeting
• focus on development of employee, non-punitive nature of performance review
Promote candid employee participation
• privacy of meeting place, discretion
• ask the employee for his/her own thoughts about areas of strength, employee development,
potential goals, and any performance issues
• avoid diagnosing any problems
• use caution in discussing employee’s attitude or personality – focus on behaviors and facts
• be non-judgmental
Respect the employee
• create a comfortable, non-threatening environment
• allow employee to give their opinion and disagree with your review
• seek clarification if necessary
• don’t interrupt

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Conducting the Appraisal Meeting (Cont’d)
Be prepared for negative employee responses
• defensiveness, making excuses
• anger, venting
• silence, withdrawal
• give the employee some leeway
• be patient
• maintain composure, avoid reacting or arguing
• steer the focus back to employee’s work performance
• remind employee of the purpose of the meeting
• note that the employee is unresponsive and encourage respectful participation
• remind employee of the value and importance of his or her input
• ask the employee for possible solutions

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The Goal Setting Process helps to integrate and align goals across the Institute
Pratt Institute
Strategic Plan
Division Goals
Departmental Goals
Administrative
Staff Goals

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Pratt’s Strategic Plan
2012 - 2017
Pratt’s Strategic Plan for 2012 - 2017 was presented on May 1 st , 2012 to the Pratt Community.
There are 4 major organizing themes within the strategic plan:
• Enriching the Academic Experience
• Expanding Horizons
• Creating Dynamic Environments
• Building Capacity
The Institute’s strategic goals are organized under these 4 themes. Academic and administrative
offices will use the Strategic Plan spreadsheet as a working document to develop annual tasks
and to track their progress. Supervisors and employees can formulate employee performance
goals from these tasks.
Theme
Goal
Objective
Task
‣ Employee Goal

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Setting Goals
having 3-5 broad goals for the employee is appropriate
both supervisor and employee suggest goals
employee should be encouraged to suggest some of
his/her own goals
setting goals should be mutual process between the
employee and supervisor with frank discussion in the
appraisal meeting

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Employee Goals
Samples:
Human Resources Department
1. HR Director Goal: Create an annual staff evaluation system (from 2006-2011
Strategic Plan) and proceed with evaluations.
a) 2012: Revise Performance Evaluation system to address supervisor
concerns and improve completion rate. Modify online performance review
form and develop performance evaluation training program for supervisors.
This goal falls under a larger goal identified in the strategic planning process:
• Increase the transparency of policies and procedures to clarify
expectations and improve accountability and perception of
departments.
2. HRIS Manager Goal: Selection and implementation of online time &
attendance system (Kronos).
This goal falls under a larger goal identified in the strategic planning process:
• Consolidate and automate business processes and functions to
increase efficiency and improve customer service.

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Human Resources
We are here to assist you and provide guidance
regarding any issues that may arise including:
• The appraisal meeting process or preparation
• Rating pitfalls
• Reviewing draft appraisals
• Assistance in creating a performance improvement plan.
• WingSpan – navigation, access, creating a productive
performance management tool
• Addressing employee issues before they become
significant problems.

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Human Resources Department
x 3787
Thomas Greene
Amy Hecht
Steven McDaniel
Mary Erazo
Veinia Eubanks

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2012
Performance
Appraisal
Meetings
Q & A

Thank You!
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