One of my favorite books of all time is “Effective Phrases for Performance Appraisals, A Guide to Successful Evaluations” by James E. Neal, Jr. I have purchased many editions of this book through the years and I typically supply a copy of it to everyone in my practice who performs evaluations.
The contents of this book include:
- Effective Phrases (in 63 categories including accuracy, development, interpersonal skills, and motivation)
- Two Word Phrases (such as competing priorities, diversified approaches, fully prepared and team performance)
- Helpful Adjectives (such as adaptable, capable, perceptive, and systematic)
- Helpful Verbs (such as accomplishes, adheres, determines, and establishes)
- Performance Rankings (such as exceptional, unsatisfactory, and distinguished)
- Time Frequency (such as always, usually, rarely and seldom)
- Guidelines for Successful Evaluations (rate objectively, use significant documentation and factual examples, plan for the appraisal interview, emphasize future development, and emphasize the positive)