Most local governments know their appraisal process needs improvement. The challenge is figuring out what actually needs to change.

In LeaderGov’s recent workshop, we spoke with Ms. Stacey Inglis, Deputy City Manager for the City of Milton, Georgia, about how her team redesigned their performance management approach—and what others can learn from it.

The biggest issues aren’t what you might expect

During the session, participants identified their biggest challenges with appraisals. Two issues stood out clearly:

• 48.7% said their biggest problem is a lack of periodic coaching
• 25.6% pointed to poor integration of employee goals

Together, those two issues made up nearly three-quarters of all responses (74.3%).

That’s a powerful insight.

For many organizations, the problem isn’t just the appraisal form—it’s what happens (or doesn’t happen) throughout the year.

Why Milton decided to make a change 

As Ms. Inglis described it, Milton’s old system had become a “check-the-box ex...