QUESTION: Performance alone plays a role in appraisal.
FACT: Soft skills, too, play a role.
Sometimes, the factor called likeability plays a role in an appraisal. This factor comes mostly from the soft skills that a person possesses. You can be rewarded better if you improve upon your soft skills. That is one thing which is difficult to any manager to explain. But if this is not explained well, then people label it as ‘sycophancy’ or ‘bias’. Managers have to be very careful, as employees expect equality based on results against the objectives which are set in the appraisal process. Companies avoid this suspicion of bias or sycophancy by stating dearly the measurement criteria for the goals agreed upon with the employees; this is reviewed with the participation of, the manager, his superior, and the HR department.
Soft skills start playing a role as soon as you enter the workplace, although their impact on your appraisal starts becoming prominent when you are in mid- and senior-level positions. The appraisal process of most companies gives due regard to soft skills. Almost all appraisal tools require the employee to identify a few soft skills to be tracked in a given appraisal cycle. However, people often spend time and energy In improving their own subject-matter expertise and not in polishing their soft skills. Employees should take that seriously and work towards strengthening them: There are many books available on the topic for self-learning. Soft skills will help in understanding other people better and haw best to help them; they pave the way for any collaboration to be improved upon. Indeed, some positions in a company—sales, public relations—require only those people who have very good soft skills.
WHAT CAN YOU Do As THE EMPLOYEE? You should understand that, at each job level, there are associated soft skills which you are expected to possess, if you are not clear about this, you should ask your manager. At certain senior levels, independent thinking and the ability to guide team members to innovate are a must, At junior levels, taking initiative in solving others’ problems will be a big plus. Flexibility in moving from one project to another whenever the company requires it, is also considered a positive trait. At senior levels, promotion to the next level will not take place if you do not have proper soft skills in spite of having great subject-matter skills. Therefore, you should place proper focus and effort in enhancing your soft skills.
WHAT CAN YOU DO AS THE MANAGER? It is important that you focus on the soft skills of your employees and provide feedback to them as and when required. You should not hesitate to make it clear upfront that the appraisal rating will also take into account an employee’s soft skills. You should explain to the employee that his job level requires a particular set of soft skills. You could also pinpoint areas where he could improve. Moreover, you could identify the training courses that he has to take in the soft-skills area.
