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Team appraisals
Individual staff appraisals are an annually recurring event in most organisations and businesses – for a lot of good reasons. Both leaders and employees experience these appraisals as a good opportunity to talk about what is important to them as a way of connecting individual well being and development with the work environment and organisational development. In most organisations team-based ways of working has been implemented and the need for new team focused ways of working with developing team performance is apparent. Here team appraisals can be an interesting and effective additional ‘tool’. Team appraisals are a way of examining the common learning potential that exists within all organisations in a forward and development-oriented way.
From an organisational point of view, a team appraisal can clarify the many different interests in connection with the organisation, team, and the individual employee’s work and development, and create coherence between them.
The basic idea behind team appraisals is that within the experience of individuals and groups lies an enormous potential for developing of the entire organisation. A prerequisite for ensuring this positive potential is that the organisation takes the time to systematically examine these experiences.
What are team appraisals?
Team appraisals are a conversation where the closest colleagues, typically a team, take part in each other’s appraisals or have joint appraisals. The appraisal could focus on the group’s mutual tasks and areas of responsibility, or it could be an appraisal with an individual employee featuring an observation team where the goal is a deeper mutual understanding of the individual tasks. The form can be changed and combined according to context and need, and team appraisals can be a supplement to the individual appraisal or function as the organisations preferred appraisal strategy.
Team appraisals – when there is a mutual task
It can be a good idea to work with team appraisals within organisations that work with teams or groups in various ways. A team appraisal is a way of working in a forward-looking and development-oriented way based on the team and the organisation’s cooperation relations. Here the purpose of the team appraisal is to create a clarification of what the individual employee’s and the group’s task is and which key competencies are important for solving the task. The result is organisational, team and individual development.
Team appraisals - focusing on appreciation, ethics, and confidentiality
At MacMann Berg, we work with team appraisals from an appreciative starting point. This means that we examine what works well within the team or group and which ideas there might be for areas of development. It is important to emphasise that the team appraisal is not a therapeutic interview but an organisational appraisal focusing on the professional, personal, and group-related competencies that can further the organisational development.
Everyone has to gain something useful from a team appraisal, which is why MacMann Berg greatly emphasises having clear guidelines for how the appraisals are carried out. For example, it is very important to have clear guidelines in relation to confidentiality, respect for boundaries, expectations for taking part, agreements on following up activities, as well as a clear agreement on what belongs and does not belong in the appraisal.
Ethical considerations are also a very important theme in team appraisals when MacMann Berg is involved. Generally speaking, you could say that we work with five ethical rules for the appraisal:
1. You take turns speaking and listening
2. The appraisal must focus on appreciation
3. Focus must be on the job/team/organisation
4. There must be the opportunity for a time-out
5. The appraisal must represent a confidential space
Where do the team appraisals take place?
A team appraisal can take place at your own organisation, at MacMann Berg or, by appointment, at an entirely different location. The idea is to create the best possible framework for the appraisal in order to create the necessary calmness, focus, and concentration.
How to get started…
If you need assistance with organising appreciative team appraisals in your organisation, you are welcome to contact MacMann Berg for an inspirational talk about the different possibilities.
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