Effective Feedback for Improved Performance Presented by Christina Campbell and Belinda Musick

Why reinvent the wheel?  Hear about the process that was used to create the rubric being implemented to evaluate staff. The purpose, process, and final product will be shared. You have been given a copy of the evaluation form and supporting rubric.

Why this project was done.  To clearly define each area of the evaluation form.  In the classroom, a rubric is used to let students know how they will be graded. This rubric provides the employee guidelines on how they will be evaluated.  This rubric will also support a manager to provide guidance on areas that need improvement.

How was it done?  The task was not to change the evaluation form, but to provide definition for each area.  The process to define each area of the evaluation took 15 meetings held over a nine month period of time.  Management asked staff to volunteer to participate in the evaluation rubric committee.

How was it done? The committee consisted of the following: 1.Assistant Superintendent, Administrative Services 2.Administrator, Instructional Programs 3.Manager, Transitional Services 4.Executive Assistant, Human Resources 5.Senior Administrative Assistant, Educational Services 6.Administrative Assistant, Tech Services 7.Administrative Assistant, Instructional Programs 8.Office Assistant, Culinary Arts 9.Student Information Technician 10.Accounting Assistant 11.Program Specialist  Of the applicants, 11 staff members were chosen to participate on this committee. Various areas within the organization were represented.

Challenges in the meetings Meeting Norms  Be on time  Follow agenda topics and honor time limits set  Positive humor is acceptable; have fun  Pay attention to the speaker without interrupting or over speaking  It is okay to leave the room “as needed”  Put cell phones on “silent” mode  Establish break time  Come prepared to participate  Respect diversity of opinion  Use positive language  Present a united front on team decisions  No positions, just “people” during the meeting  Snacking is okay  Feel free to share our discussions once you leave and gather inputs for the next meeting  First step, set meeting norms. The committee came up with 15 meeting norms to keep the group on task and focused.

Challenges in the meetings  Second step, set common language to be used throughout the document. Discussion was held on several occasions about the subjectivity of using the words sometimes, occasionally, rarely, often, routinely, etc. At times throughout the process many resources were used; such as, paper thesaurus, the internet using electronic devices, and personal knowledge. Terms and definitions were agreed upon for certain words to be used as a guideline. Evaluation – To ascertain or set the amount of value of. Performance – The manner or quality of functioning. Outstanding – Marked by superiority or distinction; excellent; distinguished. Strong – Especially able, competent, or powerful in a specific field or respect. Adequate - As much or as good as necessary for some requirement or purpose; fully sufficient, suitable, or fit. Needs Improvement – A bringing into a more valuable or desirable condition. Unsatisfactory – Not satisfying or meeting one’s demands/ inadequate. Any statement that is completely unbiased is called objective. On the other hand a statement that is characterized by the thoughts and the views of the speaker is called subjective.

Challenges in the meetings  Third step, choose a spot to start. The rating scale consisted of five areas: Outstanding, Strong, Adequate, Needs Improvement, and Unsatisfactory. This committee chose to start with the Adequate rating for each area; clearly defining each time what the adequate expectations are. This made defining the other areas easier.  Fourth step, choose a method of voting. Before starting, the committee agreed to use a thumbs up, thumbs down, or thumbs to the side vote. Thumbs up … I am all for it 100%. Thumbs Sideways…I can live with it and I will not get in the way. Thumbs down…I cannot live with it. Each vote had to have 100% thumbs up or sideways consensus to be carried.  Consensus went faster over time.

All Staff Input  Once the committee was content with the rubric it was sent out to staff for review and comments. A deadline was given for it to be returned.  The committee read and discussed all comments, good, bad, or ugly.  The committee took all comments under consideration and did make some changes based on the suggestions.

Finalizing the process  The rubric was then sent to the Leadership/Management team for final review and approval.  The rubric, as with all processes and documents, is open to change in the future.  The Rubric committee agreed to convene annually to review any new proposed or necessary changes.  No changes will be made mid-year. Any new changes will have to wait until the fall for introduction and implementation.

Final Steps  The committee introduced the finalized document at our annual Fall In-service on August 21,  Each staff member was given their own copy and instructed to become familiar with it.  Staff will begin being evaluated using this new tool on March 1, 2014.