Why Your Appraisals Must Align with Strategy and Competency Frameworks

Employee appraisals are often seen as a routine HR process—something to tick off the list.

But when designed properly, they can be a powerful tool to drive business success. The key? Ensuring appraisals are not just about performance metrics but also about how employees embody the company’s core values and contribute to strategic goals.

Aligning Appraisals with Company Strategy

Every business has a vision. Whether it’s market expansion, innovation, or operational excellence, that vision needs to be broken down into strategic pillars—guiding principles that define how the company will achieve success. Your people are central to making this happen, and appraisals should measure how effectively they contribute to these pillars.

Instead of generic performance assessments, appraisals should ask:

• How has this employee contributed to our strategic goals?
• Are they demonstrating behaviours that reflect our company’s values?
• Where do they need development to have an even bigger impact?

This ensures that performance isn’t just measured in numbers but in meaningful contributions to the company’s future.

Using Competency Frameworks for Effective Performance Assessment

Competency frameworks translate values into tangible behaviours. They define what “good” looks like at different levels of the business, ensuring consistency in performance expectations. For example, if collaboration is a key company value, the framework might outline specific behaviours like:

• Proactively sharing knowledge across teams
• Seeking feedback and acting on it
• Supporting colleagues to achieve collective goals

By incorporating these frameworks into appraisals, you’re not just assessing output—you’re assessing how that output is achieved. This gives employees a clear path to improvement, helping them develop in ways that genuinely support the business

Turning Insights into Development

An appraisal should never just be a performance review; it should be a development opportunity. Once you identify where employees excel and where they need support, the next step is to provide training and resources that help them grow. If an employee is falling short on strategic behaviours, targeted coaching or mentorship can bridge the gap.

When done right, appraisals become a continuous improvement tool—not just for individuals, but for the business as a whole. Aligning assessments with company strategy and a strong competency framework ensures that employees are not just working hard but working in the right way to drive long-term success.