Performance Evaluations

Tomorrow Carly, Regan, and Caroline will be presenting about performance evaluations. I am actually really excited for this because this is actually one of the key components of my job at UNH. I would consider evaluation and risk management the two major things that I do on a day to day basis. Being so young in my career I do think it is unique that I am in a position where I am constantly evaluating and providing feedback to employees. My job is to evaluate referees as they officiate games in broomball, ice hockey, and floor hockey. While I am allowed to do it in regards to any sport, these are the sports I usually run and feel the most competent in and therefore can give the best feedback. I am excited to learn more about what makes an evaluation effective because I have also received a promotion at my job. I will now be at the highest position that a student can reach in my organization. It will almost be an administrative position where I will deal with scheduling employees, event scheduling, some data entry, ordering all of our supply needs, etc. In my interview, I was asked what one thing I most wanted to change if I was given the position. This is something I have been thinking about since then. What can I do to leave the program in a better place than it was when I came in? I think there is always room for improvement and I wonder if the evaluations we have now are the best that they could be. Our assigned pre-work for the class is as follows:
1. What characteristics do you think would make a good performance evaluation?
2. What characteristics do you think would make a poor performance evaluation?
3. What type of categories do you think would be found on a performance evaluation? 
4. If you have any experience with performance evaluations, come prepared to share in class. 
When researching performance reviews, I found this cartoon that I thought was funny:

I understand why some people might find performance evaluations awkward. I think because I have been exposed to it for a while in a somewhat low risk environment, they do not bother me at all whether I am on the receiving end or giving one. Evaluation is a key component for growth. I think that a good performance evaluation is fair. It must be well thought out and detailed enough to encompass what is expected of a position but not too nit-picky to create an environment where employees are set up to fail. They also should contain a portion that is dedicated to comments so managers can leave ideas in their own words. I think poor evaluations are very vague. I also think if the person giving the evaluation is uncomfortable, as shown in this cartoon, it will not be effective. The categories found in our performance evaluation are mostly focus professionalism, productivity, and competency. I think that this would be similar to what you may find in a professional setting. Ours rank various categories on a scale of 1-5. I don't have any specific situations about performance evaluations that come to mind. All experiences that I have had with it have been extremely positive. I have never received a bad evaluation. Any time I have ever had to deliver one, I feel that I did it in an effective way while still considering the employees feelings. One thing we often talk about at work, in the context of officiating, is first asking "What did you see there?" and giving the employee an open ended question to explain what they saw in their own words, and why they made the call that they did. I have found this to be extremely effective because a lot of the time they even realize what they missed before I even have to bring it up. Instead of just telling someone they are wrong, we should understand why they were and how to improve that. We are also extremely encouraging and do not shower employees with criticism. Creating an environment where employees expect feedback and know that even if they are critiqued, they are still supported has been really effective for our program. Our organization is much different though. We are much more lenient than a professional career will be.