Select one or more of the activities below to develop your skills in managing the appraisal process.

If you are registered on the site, you can write up your reflections in the ‘reflections area’. Click on the ‘my area’ link at the top of the page to access your personal pages. Please note you must be logged in to do this.

Activity 1. Preparing for appraisal

Make yourself familiar with the range of online resources available for you and your appraisee so that you can advise your appraisee appropriately on preparing for appraisal. Take a look at the Useful resources section and identify between five and 10 tasks (prioritised, with references to the relevant links or resources) that your appraisee might carry out while preparing for the appraisal.

Activity 2. The appraisal interview

Prepare an outline structure for the appraisal interview, taking into account the documentation you have already seen, the needs of the appraisee in terms of current post and future plans and the time you have available.

Pay particular attention to how you propose to structure the appraisal interview (with timings and suggested questions and prompts) and how you plan to engage the appraisee to identify elements of his or her performance.

Activity 3. Your own development and training needs

Thinking about your own experience of being appraised and being an appraiser and from the reading in this module, identify your own staff development and learning needs in this area and find out about training sessions available in your organisation.

Or ask a colleague to give you some honest and constructive feedback on different aspects, such as questioning techniques, interviewing skills, knowledge about the appraisal process and how you might improve your skills.

How might you utilise the learning from this and other modules as part of your own PDP and preparation for appraisal?