blank appraisal form

Download our blank appraisal form for free. Appraisals are an integral part of a manager’s role in developing a high performing team and shouldn’t be taken lightly

Hi, my name is Adrian, I specialise in creating and delivering leadership, management, coaching and HR training courses to some of the biggest business names in the UK and mainland Europe. I have managed several multi-million-pound businesses in the leisure, hospitality and retail industry and have appraised 1000’s of staff.

I’ve been asked to share the blank appraisal form I use during the appraisal skills training course I deliver. I also used it for my own team members, so you know it’s been tried, tested and improved over the years. I've never used the traditional approach because it doesn't work! So I created my own procedure. 

Please feel free to look around the site, there’s plenty of cool stuff for you to download. 

So many businesses, managers and leaders are stopping the staff appraisals or swapping them for regular “Check-ins”! Honestly, you can call them what you like, they’re still appraisals. I’ve also delivered training courses to companies who have changed to “Check-In’s” and guess what, the managers still don’t find the time to do them!

Finding the time to meet with team members on a monthly basis will save you time in the long run. Done right 12 monthly one to ones (that’s 11 monthly one to one meetings and the 12th one being an appraisal) will not only save you time in the long run, they will also contribute to a high performing team.

Best uses for the Blank Appraisal Form

As a manager one of my big long-term goals was always to work myself out of a job – and the only way I could do this was to train and develop my team of staff and managers to work to the highest of standards and be accountable for their part in achieving the company vision – The monthly one to ones and the appraisal meetings are, and should be, an integral part of an effective performance management system.  

I’m glad you’ve read this far down the page because I’ve also added a blank one to one form which compliments the blank appraisal form above.

The strength of the form is in the simplicity of it. A monthly one to one lasts for just 30 minutes and like an appraisal the manager and the team member plan for it. I used to encourage my team (managers and staff) to take 30 minutes on a Friday afternoon, at the end of the day, to plan the following week and add any relevant information to the one to one form so there was no mad rush 5 minutes before the one to one starts.

The form has four boxes on the front:

  • Monthly success

  • Disappointments
  • Concerns
  • Monthly focus

The idea being the monthly focus becomes the following month’s success and on the reverse is a list for the following monthly goals. The appraisal (which you now have a copy of our blank appraisal form) is simply just a one to one on month 12.

My advice is to not hold them during “an appraisal’s month” its best to hold them 12 months after the team member starts, so you don’t have to do loads at the same time - they become a little tedious for the manager and the later ones tend to be more unproductive - just a tick box activity.

The 12thmonthly one to one (or the appraisal) usually lasts for an hour and a half. The first half concentrating on the 11 previous monthly successes and the second half concentrating on the team members personal development plan – which sets out their path for the year and the following monthly goals to concentrate on.

Some managers still believe that an appraisal is a reprimand, which again doesn't work. If there is a need for a reprimand this should done straight away. Managers and team leaders shouldn't wait for for a monthly one to one or an appraisal and if necessary during a PIP meeting which we cover in depth on our HR for managers training session 

It really is that simple – it’s just others make it so hard. The appraisal doesn’t have to be formal, it’s a meeting, a chat with a coffee.

Hope this helps

Adrian



As well as lots of smaller businesses and organisations, below are examples of some larger organisations who have received training from our director of learning at Ultimate Leadership Training:


spring care

arches
Zeelo

branded
Gatwick School

ned
catch

Nimbus
CAB

Please contact us to discuss any training requirements you have, we either deliver for you or sell you the course for your trainers to deliver to your team


Thanks for visiting our blank appraisal form page, here's a link to our homepage, we always like to recommend further reading and for improving positive communication skills for appraisals we recommend How to win friends and influence people by Dale Carnegie - here's a link