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OPHTHALMOLOGY BUSINESS 54 June 2018 by Corinne Wohl, MHSA, COE, and John B. Pinto and improvement goals. An exam- ple would be, "Be able to accurate- ly work up a routine patient in 20 minutes or less." Subjective mea- sures allow you to acknowledge enthusiasm, effort, insight, and allow for discretionary feedback. An example would be, "Patients should report that you answered their questions in a friendly and informative manner." 3. Set three specific goals for each employee, listing the highest of priorities. Include examples of what it will take to achieve each one. For example, rather than stating "We need you to be a better biller," say, "You are cur- rently posting 100 charges daily. Your goal, to be accomplished by September 30, is to be posting 150 charges daily." 4. Avoid these common weaknesses found in personnel evaluations: a. A manager scores everyone exceptionally high, in compari- son to their management team peers. This scoring method, while it makes staff happy, will limit you in future years regarding each employee having appropriate goals to reach. b. The written details do not include the "what and how" to improve the weaknesses listed. c. Specific feedback is not provid- ed, particularly if there were previous issues addressed. If you do not know the details, discuss with the employee directly and complete the form. d. Goals or opportunities for improvement are not includ- ed. Even the best employees can improve something they already do well. It's OK for goals to include going from good to great. 5. Inexperienced managers and managers who have been poorly supervised can be understandably wary of evaluations. With such staff, explain in advance of the review session why your practice performs reviews and that they are not a "gotcha" session, but a formal opportunity for two-way improvement. 6. If everything is a priority, then nothing is prioritized. Establishing communication and goal-setting requirements via the evaluation process helps keep managers and staff aligned with chief practice appointing for those best staff who are looking for feedback that helps them grow professionally. If your performance appraisal process tends to generate a lacklus- ter response, with the exception of "And now do I get a raise?" you have room for improvement. Here are nine ways that your management team can tune up the evaluation process. 1. Tailor your performance evalu- ation forms to corroborate with each position description. This helps to focus employees on what you are specifically prioritizing within their job duties. By clearly listing how you will rate their duties and functions, they are prepared in advance for the skills the practice will be evaluating. 2. Effective evaluations include both objective and subjective compo- nents. The objective components must be measurable to clearly communicate the current status ing employees to be increasingly productive with fewer monetary re- wards, and you must find additional ways to retain the best employees. One chief contributor to employee retention is to set clear expectations for job performance up front, and subsequently provide the feedback necessary to recognize achievement or skills gaps. How can you accomplish this in your practice? Thought-provoking, meticulously detailed, goal-orient- ed performance appraisals will add value to your practice. Staff pro- ductivity and job satisfaction can be improved when each employee has access to and understands the expectations you have for them and how their personal success helps the practice flourish. Perfunctory performance ap- praisals are boring and unsatisfying for your managers and employees. "Appraisal lite" can be viewed as a discouraging waste of time and dis- "When you can't see someone all day long, the only thing you have to evaluate is the work. A lot of the petty evaluation stats just melt away." —Jason Fried "When we make progress and get better at something, it is inherently motivating. In order for people to make progress, they have to get feedback and information on how they're doing." —Dan Pink F or those of us who are old enough, we remember a time when managers and employees could look forward to "evaluation and raise time." This was before reim- bursements shrank, profit margins tapered. It was a time when salary increases were generous and the performance appraisal process was less precise and less diligent. Fast forward to our leaner times and the challenges of encourag- Adding value to your employee performance appraisals To the point: Simple practice tune-ups for complex times

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