To formally develop behaviorally-anchored rating scales, organizations must first invest the time (and money) to gather critical incidents of job behavior, and then do statistical analysis to develop sophisticated rating scales. Instead of taking this route, which most companies are unready and unwilling to do, there is an alternate solution.

Determine the categories for which you want to measure employee performance, usually no more than seven competencies. You may already have them listed on your performance appraisal. If you do, use them.

Identify examples of typical job behavior you’d expect to see employees perform to earn a low, medium, or high (or unsatisfactory, satisfactory, outstanding) rating on each category. You could even involve employees in identifying typical job behaviors that they thought merited these ratings.

Use this rating scale, anchored in behavior, to guide employees away from inappropriate behavior and toward the specific type of performance you want.