All team members must evaluate one another’s performance as well as the overall performance of the team. Peer evaluations are a key component of the assessment stage because they lead to higher levels of workload sharing, cooperation, and performance. Also, team coordination and feedback improve when peers monitor the performance of all other members in the team. This leads to the recognition of errors and to taking actions to correct these errors quickly.
Peer evaluations can also include team members nominating someone else as the review period’s most valuable performer (MVP). In addition, the team leader evaluates the performance of each team member as well as the team as a whole. Involvement of each team member in the performance assessment process increases the members’ ownership and commitment to the system. Self-appraisals also provide important information to be discussed during the performance review. Without self-appraisals, it is not clear to team leaders whether the team members understand what is expected of them.
When the team has a meeting to assess its own overall performance, it is helpful to include a person from outside the team as part of the performance discussion. This helps team members to be as objective as possible when they evaluate their performance.