KRA stands for Key Result Area. Basically it means the areas where the work needs to focus on. KRA setting is an important process in the organisation. Even more important is that each employee understands the process and the KRA. Broadly, the KRA setting for the next year begins somewhere in the last quarter of the current year. It starts at the very top. The Board and the Managing Committee would set the organisation’s KRA. That translates into KRA of the company’s leadership. This trickles down department by department right down to the last employee. Theoretically, this works brilliantly. Practically, lack of time and sometimes focus causes the process to be disrupted. As a result the KRA setting is completed as an exercise that is a mere formality. If all is hunky dory, this does not cause a problem. However if things turn sour, these processes help the employee more than the employer. If you have set your KRA at the beginning of the evaluation period and agreed to the KPIs or Key Performance Indicators with your manager then you can quantify your achievement to a degree. These can then be used to discuss the achievement at the end of the year. Very often, the ‘mood’ toward the end of the evaluation period determines the result of the annual appraisal. If one project was botched up, you don’t want that to reflect on the entire year’s work. Setting up a KRA, allocating weightage to it and agreeing on the KPI could probably prove that you botched up something that was only 10% of your overall allocation. If you were good in the rest 90%, you can demand a good evaluation.
- Don’t ignore the KRA setting process. Make time for it and chase your manager till you agree on your KRA for the year
- It is best if your KRA are driven top down. However, if they are not then too agree on your KRA and formalise it by sending it to HR
- Review your KRA and the achievement every month for your own sake. If you find that you are spending more time on mundane stuff which does not have enough weightage, then flag it to your boss. You may end up changing your KRA or your work. Either way, you are back on track. If neither of the above happens, you have on record that you flagged it and nothing was done. This can be used as a discussion point during the evaluation
- If work that is not aligned to your KRA comes to you, then discuss with your manager. You need to inform them of all the extra stuff you do!
