The Pocket Mentor series offers immediate solutions to the challenges managers face on the job every day. Each book in the series is packed with handy tools, self-tests, and real-life examples to help you identify strengths and weaknesses and hone critical skills. Whether you're at your desk, in a meeting, or on the road, these portable guides enable you to tackle the daily demands of your work with greater speed, savvy, and effectiveness. One of your most sensitive duties as a manager is conducting performance appraisals. How do you objectively evaluate another person's performance? What guidelines are there for talking to your direct reports about both their strengths and their weaknesses? How can you address a weakness to help an employee develop into a stronger member of your team? This book teaches you how to prepare for, conduct, and follow up on performance evaluations in ways that link employee performance to your company's and group's goals. You'll learn how to: - Document employee development right from the start - Set the appropriate tone in a performance review - Address a performance problem - Follow up on next steps with your employee