CLIP
Sean:Elizabeth, thanks for, for coming in.     Annual appraisal, of course we’ll have a chance to talk a little bit later and to look at objectives specifically for the, for the next year but I want to spend this time really looking back over the past year. How do you feel it’s been?
Elizabeth:It’s been up and down, yeah.  It’s been…on the whole it’s been quite a good year, but up and down - 
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Manager: As you know this is your annual appraisal that we’re going to go through today, to have a look back at the year to see how things have gone for you.   But first of all how’s your year been generally?
Ruth:It’s been okay actually.  The restructuring（构造转化，重组） hasn’t been easy.   Staff morale has been a little bit low at certain points because of the uncertainty.  But I think personally I’ve had quite a good year, in terms of my own development and my own job satisfaction.   

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Carmela:Those two appraisals started off in a very similar way. David, what was the key question that was asked in both of them?
David:Well,  I think a lot of people running appraisals -  like to begin with a very open, very general question. So, if it’s an annual appraisal, a question like “How’s your year been?” is a great way just to get the conversation going.  The person being appraised would then say something like - it’s been a good year or it’s been a difficult year.  And then the person doing the appraisal can take that as a cue to talk about - achievements, talk about problems, talk about challenges.
Carmela:So,   after a general start, appraisals become much more specific, focussing in on particular incidents（事件，插曲，事变） at work.  Have a listen to this.     
CLIP

Sean:Ok , let’s start with a couple of the downs, if you like, the less satisfactory areas for you.
Carrie: Yeah,  I had a few problems with other team members, I am feeling a bit that I am not getting a lot of support and that’s caused a few problems.
Sean:Ok.  I think, I think that’s important that we look at what we can do to resolve that situation.  And whether there is some specific systems or whether I need to reinforce（加固，增援） a few points that have already been made.
Carrie: I think that’d be good

Sean: What about the highlights?
Carrie: Obviously the big thing that’s happened this year is the new finance system that’s been introduced …
Sean: … sure… Carrie: … and I just feel that you know I am coming to terms with it now and beginning to cope with it which is good
Sean:Yeah, that is certainly something that I would have picked out I think that you have managed particularly well over the past few months, I’d certainly like to congratulate you... for…
Carrie:… yeah..

Sean:… the way you handled that.
Carmela: So we heard talk there of the ups and downs of the past year for this particular employee. What specific questions did the manager ask?
David:  Well, he began by asking about the downs and I think his question was what were the less satisfactory areas for you - I mean perhaps a simpler way of saying that would be - just to say -   what have been the low points. Then having talked about the low points the manager moved the appraisal along and asked about the more positive aspects of the person’s year using the question,  What have been the highlights.  
Carmela:         And of course when you are talking about the highlights that’s a good moment for the manager to actually say to their employee that they have done something well. 
David:  Yes, it’s a great opportunity for some positive feedback .And I think we heard the manger there say I’d like to congratulate you on the way that you handled that. So again emphasising the positive and making sure that the other person realises that their achievements have been appreciated.  

Carmela: Support from colleagues…     This is a very common issue. 
Have a listen to this:

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Michelle: And through this difficult period, how do you feel that you’ve been helped by your team.   I mean do you think that you’ve had the support of your line manager and your junior colleagues.

Ruth: Yes, I do feel I’ve been supported by you. It’s been a difficult year and I think
you’ve noticed when staff have felt low and when they’ve needed some words of encouragement and you’ve also kept us up to date with all the changes so  I think the team in general are very grateful for that.     And junior colleagues as well, they’ve been very very helpful and everybody’s worked really hard so in terms of support, the whole office has done very well this year.   

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Carmela: So, a classic question there and a chance for employees to be honest about there relationships with their colleagues. 
David, could you talk through some of the language there.
David: Yes, I mean obviously working in a team is quite a sensitive thing to talk about so I suppose that managers would typically use a question like Do you feel supported by …Do you feel supported by your line manager, now that’s the person who directly manages you and the question really means  -is this person helping you to do your job.  They might also ask - Do you feel supported by your junior colleagues  - these are people who report to you perhaps and again the person is asking are these people helping you achieve what you want to achieve in your work.
Carmela:  One of the main reasons for having an appraisal is to agree on things called objectives. Could you explain what these are. 
David: An objective very simply is what you hope to achieve over a
stated period of time. So, for a sales person for example, an objective might be to sell a certain number of products, for a manager an objective might be to successfully re-organise the department. An objective is very simply a target or an aim that you have over a period of time
Carmela:Let’s go back to our appraisals now.  And hear what phrases they are using to 
talk about objectives.     
CLIP 

Sean:Ok Lets move on to looking back at some of the objectives that we set this time last
year and to what extent they have been achieved. . Carrie: uh… Sean: One of them of course relates to the finance system and achieved I think. Carrie:  I think so,  too.
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Michelle: Okay, so we’ve gone through the list of competencies(能力), now let’s have a look at your list of objectives for the last year. Firstly you wanted to find out more about the marketing department by trailing them in their work.  And you did that, didn’t you?
Ruth:Yes, I did,  and it was very interesting actually,  I mean we worked very, very closely with the marketing department and  I just wanted find out more about what their needs were,  and just discover how we could improve our relationship, because there have been difficulties in the past
Michelle: Excellent! Well, we can say that objective has been achieved.

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Carmela: There was a lot of language associated with objectives.   Can you explain what was used.
David:  Yes,  we heard about a list of objectives and I think it is important to note that most people would have more than one objective over the course of a year or half a year. We also heard a number of verbs that went with objectives. We heard about setting objectives and when a manager and the person they are working with agree an objective we can say they set it. Again at the end of the period in question the manger would probably look and see whether the objective had been achieved, in other words, whether the person had been successful or whether it hadn’t been achieved.
Carmela: And in that last example we heard another interesting term. This phrase list of competencies. Could you explain what this is. 
David:A list of competencies is simply a list of the skills and knowledge that a person needs to do there job effectively. So in the case of a manager we would expect the manager to have a competency in administration, in organisation, in communication and we can make a list of these competencies for all kinds of different jobs.
Carmela:     My thanks to David Evans.   And thanks to you for listening! Hope you can join us again next week for more Business Language to Go.
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