Life isn’t just an end of day quiz
Being a manager means making decisions all the time. That’s what it takes to be a successful manager with a motivated and productive team. The Managing People online course series is like real-life. Each elearning course is based on an episode in a soap opera. In this episode, we put the appraisal skills training learnt in episode 6 to the test. The learner plays the manager, leading a virtual team. Along the way their knowledge is topped up with what they need to know. They make a whole series of choices on the best thing to do and when in various scenarios. That’s what they’re measured on, just like real-life.
Have a go at just one of the decisions in this course
Here’s just one of the scenes from the appraisal skills training course, to give you an idea of what’s in store for our virtual manager. Before you make your choice, have a look over the backstory to this situation:
Appraisals at Rise and Dine have not been carried out effectively over the past few years. New manager Charlotte is determined to make sure that everyone has a proper one. Kerry has an unexpected outburst during her appraisal and Charlotte needs to think quickly.
The episode focuses on these key skills:
plan, engage and handle challenges
Watch the scene below then decide how you’d respond.
How should Charlotte respond to Kerry in this meeting?
Answer 1
This appraisal is an opportunity to discuss your performance. I assessed you as needing improvement on attitude based on my observations, but you think you should be scored higher. Without making comparisons to others, do you want to explain why you think your attitude should be rated as exceeding expectations?
Answer 2
You think my assessment is ridiculous and the appraisal meeting is a waste of time. I’d like to hear why you feel this way. I can back up my assessment with evidence of things I’ve observed, but I’d like you to justify why you think your attitude should be rated as exceeding expectations before I go through these.
Answer 3
The appraisal isn’t a waste of time. In fact, you saying this is a good example of how your attitude can let you down. I think I fairly assessed you as needing improvement. Most of the time, you are very pro-active but on occasion, people have asked for your help and you have refused to give it.
What would you say next?
Scroll down to see what we think…
Answer 1!
We think this is the best answer. This is the most appropriate response to the point of disagreement (CHALLENGES). Instead of getting into an argument with Kerry, Charlotte calmly re-states the purpose of the appraisal discussion, and gives her the opportunity to state her side (ENGAGE). She shows she’s prepared for the discussion (PLAN).
Ready to upskill your people?
That’s just one of the many decisions from the Appraisals course. The stories develop and become more challenging, just like the real-world situations your managers experience.
Put practical skills in your teams’ hands. Starting now.