Sample Negative Letter

From: Megan Palmer

To: Inez Anders
Subject: Performance Evaluation: Kyle Houston
Inez,
After reviewing the performance evaluation and asking 15 of his peers to reflect
on his performance, I would like to recommend that Kyle stay in his current position for
more experience and to illustrate his leadership skills. His overall score on the
evaluation had a mean value of 2.42 out of 3 but his specific behaviors and each
category had varying scores that led me to believe he needs improvement before being
sent to Dallas.
His highest category score was 2.83 in a range of 2-3 in the contributing factor.
He is very helpful in offering up ideas and suggestions in meetings, which he
consistently attends. The meetings are very important to the company and attending
them is something that every employee should strive to do. Kyle is one employee that
sets an example for others to show the importance of these meetings and how they can
contribute and have their voices heard. He also succeeds in meeting all deadlines in
contributing to the plans and work orders in the company.
Kyle also does well as a problem solver. His score in the facilitation of group
problem solving was a 2.18 in a range of 0-3. Though is a higher score than could have
been evaluated, it still shows he has some weakness in this department. He does well in
asking questions to get the discussions going and clarifying what hes asking in order to
keep everyone on topic. He still needs to work on his ability to give others the floor and
let other people contribute some ideas, as he is dominant in that aspect. His evaluation
by his peers showed that he encourages suggestions from other team members, but
also selects the criteria for evaluation of ideas, which illustrates his need to back down
and give others a chance to speak up and be heard.
His lowest rating in the evaluation was in the listening category, with a 1.96 on a
scale from 0-3. Though none of his ratings were very low, this one along with his score
from the group category show he is not performing at his best, yet. He shows promise,
but within this category, he could use a little work before becoming a team leader.
There is evidence that he succeeds in listening well to others and lets other members
talk, but he also may be feeling like he has superiority over other team members, as he
can sometimes try to summarize other peoples thoughts. While trying to clarify other
peoples thoughts is sometimes helpful, I feel that he should give the team members
the option to ask questions and get or give clarification on their own, before jumping in
and rewording the ideas to his own thoughts.
I am very glad you have given me this opportunity to give my thoughts and ideas
about Kyle and the other team members. It is nice to know my opinion is valued and I
hope my evaluation and recommendation were helpful to you in your consideration of
Kyle for the Dallas position. Though he isnt ready for this position yet, I believe Kyle
could be ready after a little time in a new, more involved leadership position in our
office. Have a wonderful day.
Thanks,
Megan Palmer, Team Leader