solved Week 8 – Evaluating staff This week the discussion question

Week 8 – Evaluating staff
This week the discussion question focuses on evaluating staff or conducting performance reviews – another key director responsibility.  Evaluations or performance reviews help determine if the goals of the center are being met.  All evaluations should include self-assessment with a focus on strengths and the development process as well as clear goals for the identified area of growth.
Some standard evaluation instruments or strategies include: observations, samplings of behavior, and questionnaires or checklists.  Read the following questions and respond in a short paragraph.
Discussion Questions

As a director, what are two important outcomes of conducting performance evaluations?
What strategies will you use to conduct performance evaluations?
How will you incorporate self-assessment into performance evaluations?

Responses to 2 peer’s postings 

POST 1
Evaluations is a valuable tool for program managers who are seeking to strengthen the quality of their pograms and improve outcomes. In my job we have evaluations once I year. I love to get evaluated by my leader because she helps me and points out were I’m having difficulties and my good strength. We also set goals for my classroom and she helps me achieve by the end of the year. Also when having a evaluation is the time to feel free and talk about anything we want to ask our leader, is a one on one time to express ourselves.
To have a successful evaluation the leader had to define and communicate goals and performance objectives. Also prepared good feedback, and the leader needs to to hold multiple evaluations throughout the year.
Leaders should keep a file of every evaluation, that way they can go thru each year and see if workers achieve their goals. Leaders should mention results to their workers.

POST 2

Two important outcomes of conducting an evaluation is to make sure that the employee and director are communicating and understand exactly what they are talking about. Communication is key between a director and her/his staff. This is the time where the employee should fill free to express how they are doing and where/if they need help with anything. If the director explains to the employee about the goal they are setting however the employee doesn’t quite understand it then it’s not going to work. Another important outcome is giving feedback. If a director is being negative the entire time then expect your employee to leave the interview feeling unappreciated. Yes you can tell them the areas they need to work on but also tell them what areas they flourish in.
One really important to use during an evaluation is to make sure that you are presenting performance appraisal and not just telling them what they need to improve on. People are already nervous going into an evaluation but it makes it worse when the director only tells them what they need to improve on and doesn’t mentioned the areas where you have grown and are doing a good job in. Another strategy that is important is setting goals. Together set up goals for the employee. These goals could be anything, between short and long term or different ways to improve your education, whether its more classes or training.
As much as I don’t like doing self-evaluations, I do think it’s important. It allows the director and the staff member to know whether they are on the same page or not when it comes to the staff’s work performance. I would let the staff know, with plenty of time, that staff evaluations will be happening soon. I would also hand out a self-evaluation forms to the staff members about a month prior so they have enough time to fill it out. The form will be made up of questions where the staff member rates their performance from 1-5. At the end there will be some short answer questions relating to what they think is their strong area and what they think is the most challenging part/what they need to improve in. The last question would be about what they have accomplished since the last evaluation.