Conduct Staff Appraisals & Job Interviews

Incl. Bonus – Communicate Professionally in Personnel Development, Application Processes & Difficult Leadership Situations [Checklists Conversation Guidlines Templates]

Simone Janson

• Publisher: Best of HR – Berufebilder.de®
• Year: 2025
• eBook ISBN: 9783965960114
• Edition: 7
• Topic: Economics
• Subtopic: Financial Risk Management
• Index: Economics

Also in the 7th revised and improved edition, published by a government-funded publisher involved in EU programs and a partner of the Federal Ministry of Education, you receive the concentrated expertise of renowned experts (overview in the book preview), embedded in an integrated knowledge system with premium content and 75% advantage. At the same time, you do good and support sustainable projects.

Because employee and job interviews are not easy even for managers and personnel. This book shows you how to master this challenge: How do you conduct a good appraisal interview? How do you define achievable target agreements? What do you do if your employee suddenly freaks out? And how do you ask the right questions in a job interview to find the best applicants? You can find the answers here.

With its integrated knowledge system and "Info on Demand" concept, the publisher not only participated in an EU-funded program but was also awarded the Global Business Award as Publisher of the Year. Therefore, by purchasing this book, you are also doing good: The publisher is financially and personally involved in socially relevant projects such as tree planting campaigns, the establishment of scholarships, sustainable innovations, and many other ideas.

The goal of providing you with the best possible content on topics such as career, finance, management, recruiting, or psychology goes far beyond the static nature of traditional books: The interactive book not only imparts expert knowledge but also allows you to ask individual questions and receive personal advice.

In doing so, expertise and technical innovation go hand in hand, as we take the responsibility of delivering well-researched and reliable content, as well as the trust you place in us, very seriously. Therefore, all texts are written by experts in their field. Only for better accessibility of information do we rely on AI-supported data analysis, which assists you in your search for knowledge.

You also gain extensive premium services: Each book includes detailed explanations and examples, making it easier for you to successfully use the consultation services, freeky available only to book buyers. Additionally, you can download e-courses, work with workbooks, or engage with an active community. This way, you gain valuable resources that enhance your knowledge, stimulate creativity, and make your personal and professional goals achievable and successes tangible.

That's why, as part of the reader community, you have the unique opportunity to make your journey to personal success even more unforgettable with travel deals of up to 75% off. Because we know that true success is not just a matter of the mind, but is primarily the result of personal impressions and experiences.

Publisher and editor Simone Janson is also a bestselling author and one of the 10 most important German bloggers according to the Blogger Relevance Index. Additionally, she has been a columnist and author for renowned media such as WELT, Wirtschaftswoche, and ZEIT - you can learn more about her on Wikipedia.

Personnel Development in Sales: Further Education with the Triple-A-Matrix
// By Markus Milz

Whether you call it Point of Sales or rather poetic the place of truth: In sales, company success is the key. If the sales are sold, but this does not necessarily have to be the sales. Find out in which cases what measures help.

Good companies sell even in bad times

Of course, there are successful and less strong sellers and, of course, there are changing market conditions. But quite honestly, functioning companies sell above average even a lot of products and services in bad times. However, if the warehouses are full despite innovative products and highly qualified service staff or consultants are waiting for orders, many companies react reflexively. They start a training marathon for sales and define their reporting in such a way that the salespeople hardly have any air left to go to the customer, make calls with him or make promising promotions.

Not always, but not so rarely, the result of these measures is sobering. Taking into account the immense costs involved in a qualified training of a distribution armada, the question arises of the true reasons for success. Sure, the image of a company as a harmonious and finely tuned organism may be tapped. But this metaphor quickly makes it clear that it can be affected in the body when its viability is compromised. When an organ fails or falls behind its performance, not only this organ is affected but the entire body.

Willing, able, may

These three, so simple-sounding words stand for three very important elements of operational efficiency and entrepreneurial competence:

• Want = willingness to perform
• Can = performance capability
• May be possible

At the same time, "willingness" lies entirely in the hands of the employees, who have to be highly motivated, committed and purposeful on the ball. Of course, the employer must ensure that the motivation is not artificially impaired.

The "allowed" lies within the sphere of influence of the executives and the company itself, for example in the form of job descriptions and organizational charts. Often, sales managers set high hierarchical hurdles and put on thumbscrews, where free hand would be the better choice. When companies cut through selling time with unnecessary bureaucracy - such as oversized reporting or redundant headquarters meetings that require longer trips by field staff, they need not be surprised that more is written and held instead of sold.

The responsibility for the "ability" is a shared duty of both parties. Every employee, for example, has to meet the requirements of his job and be always capable of learning, competent and reliable. Among other things, the manager has to recognize these competences, to steer suitable tasks and to organize an adequate further education. This increases the proportion of management tasks at the expense of doing with each step, which is climbed on the career ladder.

Chefs do not work. They lead

Bosses who "do too much" and lead too little do not just fulfill their leadership duties inadequately. They also demotivate their teams because they feel blocked and patronized. In addition, many executives are too easily involved in doing so, allowing the back delegation of tasks of the employees to them. If someone can not do something, they do it themselves instead of guiding the ignorant to the light through further education. Anyone who steps in or out of the leadership should always take heed that the proportion of specialist and methodological skills on the one hand and social and personal competence on the other is changing. In terms of time spent, managers are more socially and personally at work, while their employees act more professionally and implement methodical. However, "more" and "more" do not mean exclusively here.

So if there is a traffic jam in the sales department, first of all it has to be analyzed not only in the form of hair-clips, but also in the face of the true bottleneck. Nowadays, experienced salespeople are filled to the brim with knowledge that their fifth qualification training simply does not benefit. If you still believe that it is the ability to select the most suitable further training, its people must know very well and should rather individually as a general education. But as already indicated: far more rarely is it the assets of the employees than one suspects. Frequently, either the wanting is frustrated or the need to be restricted unnecessarily. Only a clear position determination makes it possible to find the best and most promising measures.

The Triple-A Matrix

So far, however, the terms "willing, able and allowed" are still quite empty of content. They have to be filled with life in order to get from the theory to the ground of the practice. However, this "life" does not simply mean a description of the content that can hardly be qualified or quantified. In order for the terms to really come alive and shape the operational processes, a matrix that allows the greatest possible objectivity in the assessment is helpful. The three "A" of the Triple-A matrix stand for

• Wishing = ambition
• Ability = Ability
• May be = Accountability

What sounds simple at first glance is in reality a very complex mixture of management and staff tasks and the associated instruments and methods. The best practice, that is, the state where everything runs perfectly, is provided with tools that ideally help to maintain this condition or restore it in the case of underachievement. A systematic procedure along the matrix makes it possible to translate rather diffusely formulated tasks into specifically formulated to-dos and to control their solution. So companies know at any time, where they are already successful and where there is still catching up to do.

The deficits to be diagnosed result along the best practices as their negative. But beware: since in almost every human being self-image and external image are a bit apart, the deficit determination might prove to be difficult, particularly in the case of executives. After all, no one likes to give his construction sites - if he can manage them at all. Here the addition of an external and thus objective consultant can be useful.

WANT = AMBITION

Let's get to the first A of our matrix - the will. It should be emphasized that this does not necessarily mean that employees refuse to work. Should this be the case for individuals, of course you have to part. "Not wanting" means that there is a lack of a partner or both that maximizes the drive or, conversely, states that limit motivation. Sometimes this happens barely noticeably, because employees, for example, still bring in 100 percent in a bad working climate - just the maximum that is possible in this atmosphere. If the mood were better, they would still be at 100 percent, but then relative to the new realities. And so they make 115 percent compared to the pre-situation. Squeaks bosses who believe that their employees must be as good under their knout as the philanthropic competitor, are seriously mistaken. Wanting is also about resources that can not be tapped without specific measures.

WANT for executives:

If everything is perfect, executives are characterized by:

• the team spirit,
• communicate business objectives and visions,
• motivate their employees and prevent demotion,
• Success appropriate and transparent reward,
• Self-awareness,
• Radiating optimism,
• Make decisions quickly and enforce them
• and inspire the members of their team.

Is sand in gear, are the effective measures:

• Executive coaching,
• Leadership training,
• Motivation workshops,
• Team building events,
• Optimized time management that separates "Doing" and "Leading", as well
• the installation of regular target-finding discussions.

WANT for employees:

Strong employees:

• follow the goals set for them,
• work motivated and committed,
• feel recognized,
• act innovatively,
• are aware of their value and contribution,
• fit seamlessly into the team,
• enjoy the working environment and are
• always ready to change.

Absence of one or more properties are the appropriate measures:

• the establishment of a profit culture,
• a key figure-based monitoring of the employee's contribution to the company's success,
• the implementation of employee activations and
• the implementation of motivation systems and performance-oriented remuneration.

CAN = ABILITY

As mentioned in the introduction, what you can do is leverage, which is where companies are most likely to start when business falter. A combination that not only promises a lot and keeps little, but even aggravates the situation is particularly fatal: expensive training on topics that everyone already knows, coupled with excessive control and extensive reporting. The first one costs unnecessary money and the second motivation. The ability does not increase, but the desire for it - and especially in sales, the sales-active time is additionally curtailed. However, if any deficiencies are properly diagnosed, follow-up assessments can help navigate the jungle of skills and development opportunities.

CAN for leaders

Ideally, executives have the ability:

• Competencies to recognize,
• to promote these competences accordingly,
• methodical feedback,
• Strengthen strengths and weaken weaknesses,
• Competence planning,
• Employees in processes and
• to ensure comprehensibility of the management action and its instruments.

If something is wrong, recommend to the executives:

• the creation of meaningful requirements profiles,
• the implementation of assessment centers and a profiling,
• targeted seminars, trainings and coachings,
• the development and a CIP of profile and evaluation systems,
• the creation of a standardized feedback system,
• a reset and higher level of recruiting policy and a
• Employer branding that attracts and ties strong executives.

CAN For Employees:

Outstanding employees, however:

• correspond to the required requirements profile,
• work at any time competently,
• have development opportunities,
• participate in the Continuous Improvement Process (CIP),
• know and master the daily business,
• are always up to date in their field and their industry,
• experience and prove to be capable of learning and
• have high social qualities.

The skills of the employees benefit from:

• individually tailored seminars, trainings and coachings,
• cyclical employee development,
• Audits and competence-enhancing Gap-to-close,
• Development needs determination,
• systematic personnel development and
• targeted application to qualification profiles

CAN = ACCOUNTABILITY

In the experience, owners, managing directors, sales chiefs and department heads are difficult to analyze clearly and to present themselves to correct analyzes. Your employees are equally struggling with this problem. After all, many of the deficiencies that interfere with the allowance touch on areas of personality in which one would be reluctant to attribute weaknesses. In addition, the clear view of the status quo frequently contradicts the feeling that "it has always been this way and has always worked". For these reasons, many responsible and affected stagnate in the insistence that can not be what should not be. And because that is so human and emotional, there are often hidden huge potentials in this field that are usually negated. But if it succeeds in opening up these sources, the profit for everyone is enormous.

MUST be for executives:

Successful, fully developed executives:

• delegate tasks professionally clever and comprehensible,
• pay attention to the areas of competence of employees and colleagues,
• show and prove confidence in their team,
• encourage to take over responsibility,
• tie their people into decisions,
• present responsibility,
• appreciate and reward constructive cooperation and
• provide generous and reasonable room for maneuver.

Suitable development measures for managers are:

• the proactive promotion of process, rather than silo and departmental thinking,
• a flexible allocation of responsibilities with a documentation system,
• a symbolic reward system for taking over responsibility and
• the visualization of career perspectives.

MUST be for employees:

Employees who "allow" and are allowed to live this life:

• enjoy, use and live their responsibilities,
• are looking forward to their trust
• reward this trust with reliability and performance,
• are flexible and accessible,
• acting project- and success-oriented,
• know and use escalation regardless of personal circumstances,
• prove themselves as co-architects rather than administrators,
• cultivate and extend their expert status on their own responsibility.

Employees develop and improve through:

• a flexibilisation of the organizational structure on processes,
• the clear definition of escalations,
• a high discussion culture of work processes,
• predominantly project - related competence allocation and the
• Standardization of dif- ference-free competencies.

As you can easily see, the circumstances, laws and tools described so far do not only apply to sales and distribution management, but also to the entire company, where, strictly speaking, all departments work towards the point of sale. It is always essential first of all to have a clear view of the situation through a sometimes ruthless analysis of the status quo, not only if you overcome bottlenecks, but also if you want to implement a successful continuous improvement process (CIP). As the saying goes, "He who stops improving has stopped being good."

Thus, before a company drives its salespeople through a marathon of motivation workshops and sales seminars, it should first and foremost examine exactly where the bottleneck or the bottlenecks that provide bitterness in the place of truth lie. If this test is concluded with clear results, the design of a more successful future can be translated into targeted measures and made into a company's reality.

Staff selection via Application Interview often Inefficient: 8 Rules for better Job Interviews
// By Michael Lorenz

Numerous studies prove that the interview is the weakest instrument in the selection of staff - and still the most widely used. As good as no candidate comes without an interview in his new position. Learn how to get closer to the decision for the right candidate without listening to your gut feeling alone.

Blisters instead of x-ray

Most of us believe that in the course of their professional career, they acquire a more accurate look for employees and their peculiarities with inc...

Table of contents

• Imprint
• Introduction: How this book supports you
• Personnel Development in Companies: 3 Practical Tips for Everyday Life // By Claudia Mangel
• How to Manage Executives with Anger Outbursts of Employees: Caution Risk of Explosion! // By Henryk Lüderitz
• Interview with High Potentials: Job Interview with Generation Y // By Uta Rohrschneider
• Job Interviews that Surprise Applicants: Provoke Candidates // By Uta Rohrschneider
• Winning Applicants as Partners: 5 Tips for the Optimal Job Interview // By Dirk Ohlmeier
• Leadership Tools for the New World of Work: The Don'ts in the Employee Interview // By Anne M. Schüller
• Constructive Feedback as a Leader: 2 Times 5 Tips for Giving and Taking // By Sophia von Rundstedt
• Hurdles in Job Interviews Increase Employee Satisfaction: It Must not be too Easy to Apply // By Sonja Perry
• Career in Management - 10 Leadership-Skills: Can I (already) be a Boss? // By Mario Neumann
• Leadership Satire: Hurray, an Employee Appraisal! // By Stefan Häseli
• Job Interview - 6 Unconventional Questions for Recruiters: Finding the Perfect Employee // By Gerd Mittmann
• Leadership and Personnel Management without Staff Appraisal: People First? // By Roswitha A. van der Markt
• Personnel Development in Sales: Further Education with the Triple-A-Matrix // By Markus Milz
• Staff selection via Application Interview often Inefficient: 8 Rules for better Job Interviews // By Michael Lorenz
• How to Make the Selection of your Staff even more Appealing: 8 tips for Structured Job Interviews // By Michael Lorenz
• Goal Agreement for Employee Motivation: 2 Steps for clear Communication! // By Dr. Hagen Rudolph
• Employer Branding and Benchmarking Comparisons: Unique with 3 Questions! // By Axel Haitzer
• Recruiting and Cultural Fit: The Top 10 Interview Questions // By Marco De Micheli
• Employer Branding for More Employee Confidence: Rethink HR with 30 Questions! // By Simone Janson
• Leading Introvert Employees: 10 Tips for Extroverted Bosses // By Dr. Susanne Eckel, Uta Rohrschneider
• New Leadership in Global Businesses: Bye Staff Appraisals! // By Roswitha A. van der Markt
• Closing Remarks
• Authors Overview
• About the publisher Best of HR - Berufebilder.de®
• Notes on translation