Quality assessments, employee evaluations, reviews—whatever you choose to call the process of evaluating employee performance—are necessary for achieving goals and obtaining desired outcomes in any business or organization.

If you cringe at the thought of these mandated reviews, then it's time to adjust your mindset and realize their value. Performance assessments are not just a time to alert employees to their faults and reiterate what you expect from them. Assessments provide a built-in, formal structure for telling employees where they stand within the company while creating plans to foster their future successes. Additionally, this time serves as an opportunity for managers and employees to align goals, develop strategies for increasing productivity, and address underlying issues. View assessments as an opportunity to improve your team's production and increase motivation, not just as a required step in reporting to your own superiors.

Without performance reviews, employees lack the guidance necessary to know where they stand within the company and have no basis for understanding how their contributions impact the company as a whole. The performance evaluation process should help employees see how their jobs and expected contributions fit within the bigger picture of the organization. Managers are able to share the overall objectives of the company and outline how individual tasks roll up into the company-wide initiatives.