Identification of Documentation Procedures
The major responsibility for collection of documents lies with the employee being assessed. Although she may receive considerable help from the portfolio consultant, the employee herself is given the task of demonstrating her own effectiveness by assembling a series of documents that relate to the specific categories developed by her review committee. Questionnaires are the most obvious and frequently used form of portfolio documentation. Customer satisfaction rating scales are common. Activity reports on employee performance are also often used for portfolio documentation. An employee might keep a weekly or even daily diary of job-related activities.
Interviews are another rich source of information about an employee’s performance. These interviews can be done with other employees, customers or other people who have observed the employee in action. An effective and appreciative portfolio interview should be at least one hour in length and should focus on the strengths of the employee and the opportunities for the employee, especially in the category areas.
An appreciative interviewer will also attend to those areas of expertise that the employee is not now using. In addition, the interviewer will focus on the external forces that seem to help or hinder the employee—particularly with regard to the goals, objectives, competencies or functions that are the focus of the portfolio. If each member of the review committee, or two or three colleagues not closely involved with the employee, were to agree to conduct only two appreciative interviews, a considerable amount of useful, first-hand information could be collected for the portfolio.
Another source of documentation, letters of recommendations and endorsement, is rarely useful in isolation; the accumulation of a large number of recommendations or endorsement usually reflects the popularity or persistence of the employee rather than his competence. If recommendations or endorsements are used, they should come from a diverse population. They should be descriptive rather than heavily evaluative and should be supported, if possible, by direct and specific evidence.
Yet another source, archival documentation, is much more impressive that letters of recommendation, given that these documents were not generated specifically for the portfolio process. Archival documents accumulate every day as part of the basic operations of an organization. These documents can be rich in information, especially if selected in a thoughtful manner. Data on program attraction and attrition, for example, can be useful in assessing the impact that an employee has had on internal or external customers.
