OPM guide gives managers tips on rating teams

Agencies are prohibited from rating employees exclusively on teamwork during performance reviews. Consequently, as more and more agencies adopt team-based organizational structures, managers have the difficult task of weighing team performance against individual achievements during evaluations.

How do managers decide how much weight to give to team versus individual achievements during performance reviews? It's a balancing act, according to OPM's guide on the topic, Performance Appraisal for Teams.

"Organizations that only measure and recognize individual performance have found that team development and performance are jeopardized because they appear to be ignored," the guide said. Instead, effective performance management clarifies individual, team and organizational goals, OPM said in the guide.

Work completed by a team can be used in performance reviews, but only as a non-critical element. Non-critical elements do not make or break an employee's evaluation. Rather, they measure things that employees cannot be held individually accountable for. Nonetheless, non-critical elements can have as much weight or more weight than critical elements in some appraisals.

The following examples are considered non-critical elements upon which teams can be appraised:

• Open and honest communication. Good communication results when team members express their opinions, when conflicts are discussed and resolved, and when team members give each other feedback on performance.
• Effective meetings. In good meetings, designated team members take notes of key subjects, main points raised and action items, and then set an agenda for the next meeting.
• Decision-making procedures. Good decisions result when teams reach consensus, when data is used as the basis of decisions and when a team can support a decision once it is made.

"There are no prohibitions in law or regulation against using a variety of sources of information for performance appraisals. A team environment lends itself to including team members in the appraisal process," the report said.