What are the most common mistakes people make in performance evaluations in Construction?

In my opinion, Failing to establish SMART objectives ( specific, measurable, achievable, relevant), and time-bound goals can lead to confusion and misalignment. Ensure that performance expectations are well-defined and aligned with project objectives and also linked to the organisational goals/ mission. These objectives should be further measured on QCDIPMS parameters ( Quality, Cost, Delivery, Innovation, Productivity, Morale and Safety ) and monitored on real time basis at Plan versus actuals ( P/A). This will avoid vagueness and will be able to meet / exceed customer expectations.

I think a lot of employees have some vision of where they want to go with their career, but their employers haven't provided them with a career path outlining the requirements to take the next step. I've appreciated employers who took the time to create realistic job descriptions/requirements for roles within the organization, so that employees can see the training and skills required to achieve the next level and lay out their goals and training plan based off that.

In the construction industry, failing to set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals is a significant oversight. Not setting SMART goals can result in misdirected efforts, wasted resources, demotivated teams, and ultimately, the failure of construction projects. It's a foundational mistake that undermines the potential for success from the outset.

A goal is a statement of desired achievement or destination and it does not encompass how it is achieved. The project objectives which are clear outcomes that an organisation aims to achieve by a certain date whilst utilising finite resources are formulated by SMART methodology. In other words project objectives must be SMART in order to achieve the stated goal. Specificity of the project objective is based on responses to the 5Ws (who, what, why, where, which). Measurable outcomes are required based on quality, costs, time among others. Achievable, Realistic and Time-specific objectives will translate into a favourable outcome in achieving the required goal. SMART project objectives are part of the project scope and they minimise variation

The most common mistakes in performance evaluations in construction include focusing solely on quantitative metrics, neglecting qualitative aspects like teamwork and communication. Another mistake is providing feedback only during formal evaluations instead of offering continuous feedback. Additionally, overlooking the importance of employee input and failing to tailor evaluations to individual roles and responsibilities can hinder accuracy. Lastly, not setting clear expectations or goals at the outset can lead to confusion and dissatisfaction.

It is a valid point where I feel giving feedback should not be only limited to negative feedback where positive feedback can be a driving force for a lot of people. This will also help a negative outlook on feedback will be looked upon differently. Regular feedbacks also keep the work momentum going on among the team which also helps to reduce appraisal period anxiety among employees. Also, trust will be constructed within a team which can be a performance enhancing factor.

This is so true, in fact I just wrote a blog article on giving effective feedback. Feedback should be fast, frequent and fair. Fast: Promptly give positive feedback for behaviors that support the project and constructive feedback for behaviors that do not align with the organization or project. Frequent: Be sure you are providing feedback on a regular basis. What gets rewarded gets repeated and what gets reinforced gets compliance. Fair: All team members should receive feedback that is fair. Don’t play favorites when it comes to feedback. Also, be sure your feedback is accurate.

feedback where positive feedback can be a driving force for a lot of people. This will also help a negative outlook on feedback will be looked upon differently. Regular feedbacks also keep the work momentum going on among the team which also helps to reduce appraisal period anxiety among employees. Also, trust will be constructed within a team which can be a performance enhancing factor.

La Retroalimentación tiene que ser regular y positiva, las criticas deben ser constructivas al desempe?o del equipo de trabajos, la negatividad derrumba equipos de trabajo que también empezara aprendiendo de sus errores convirtiendo a estos en habilidades y destrezas.

Performance evaluations should be viewed as a tool for employee input, recognition and improvement. All to often these are only used to highlight the improvement areas, turning the review into a negative experience. A performance review should be something the employee looks forward to, instead of dreading it. I often have the employee fill out his own self assessment, so we can compare the two, in order to have his/her input as to strengths and weakness, developing a plan together for the next goals. If improvement is needed, make it part of the employees goals, instead of a demand for improvement.

Las evaluaciones de desempe?o deben ser la mejor oportunidad para interactuar con los miembros del equipo de trabajo ver su falencias, debilidades como también sus fortalezas, también un sinceramiento del desempe?o con participación del protagonista del equipo.

In my experience, when I let employees have a say in their evaluation, and shortened the feedback loop to weeks not months or years, the results were impressive. I took this to the extreme and let the employees set the standard for the work they were responsible for (provided that we could both agree). My rules were simple, standards needed to be clear, affirmative (no negatives), and measurable. Often I found myself coaching them away from really great standards that seemed like a stretch goal by relaxing their standard and giving room for change and growth. This allowed them ownership of the standard producing better work. It also made the manager/worker role much healthier. What a change from yearly review methods!

In my experience Performance evaluations should be viewed as a tool for employee input, recognition and improvement. All to often these are only used to highlight the improvement areas, turning the review into a negative experience. A performance review should be something the employee looks forward to, instead of dreading it. I often have the employee fill out his own self assessment, so we can compare the two, in order to have his/her input as to strengths and weakness, developing a plan together for the next goals. If improvement is needed, make it part of the employees goals, instead of a demand for improvement.

Performance is a process rather than a tag, hence I would recommend regular feedback which will build the foundation for the process. You may only assess based on feedback.

One common mistake is focusing solely on the quantity of work completed or the project's timeline without considering the quality of workmanship or adherence to safety standards. It's important to evaluate both the quantity and quality of work performed.

Setting the right objective and consistent measure tools are key elements of the critical success factors of the project. Setting the criteria based on facts, data and quality of work done; equality at workplace will help you the transparency and avoiding of un-necessary claims and penalties from the key stakeholders.

Well explained. I would add something else. Excluding project completion (commissioning and handover issues) from focus is also a huge mistake. Construction teams often try to move a project to the next stage without focusing on handover, which can lead to problems later on. Focusing on a smooth handover ensures a successful project conclusion. By addressing commissioning and handover issues early on, construction teams can avoid delays and ensure the project meets the client's expectations.

Due to its hard work, complex but necessary following up and taking action process, inexperienced people tend to neglect their impact on activities. Document the results is a reactive action that will only help to record data that has to be used to forecast and predict consequences for positive and negative impacts on the project. Having this in mind, we have to proactively craft action plans to tackle issues as they occur, allowing to evaluate the performance of those accounted and responsible for some task and the task itself. This will lead to monitor progress but also to assess each one commitment in order to balance the right support for those less committed to bring them on-board for a better tesm performance.

One of the most common mistakes made, while evaluating construction performance, is holding construction accountable for being mobilized too early, with incomplete or deficient engineering. Project management teams rarely, fully, evaluate the real cost of early mobilization. Construction is usually saddled with the poor KPIs.

Over reporting actual progress is not difficult to fall in to it, you just need to have a criteria for measuring a progress and slow progress measures from moving from a phase into another phase

Falling into the myth of "Each project is unique" demotes the central level performance monitoring, analysis and improvements in the construction companies. While the proven fact is, we do the same activities, most probably the same way, in each project. So, YES, processes in the construction business are repetitive; and, YES, we can monitor each process performance in multiple projects and come out with mean, deviations and even process capability. Please, don't give up to the "uniqueness" myth and let's do our homework.

No clear objectives, consistent criteria and clear SMART methodology, if the line manager assigned a long term objective to his team members for example over one year, then most of the managers check the team member who achieves the monthly target without checking out the quality requirements for the achievements, only looking for the monetary revenues gained by these achievements, thus will lead to certain rework and more wasted time and cost, and the team member who pays attention to the quality requirements while completing his shared target, then consuming little bit time, but completed achievements, that team member usually not having the fair performance appraisal compared to the one who achieved his target with poor quality.

Construction is a rapidly evolving industry, and ongoing training and development are essential for staying current with new technologies, regulations, and best practices. Failing to address employees' training and development needs in performance evaluations can hinder their long-term success.