Organizations often approach an appraisal with behaviors that are detrimental to objectives. They highlight only their best projects and services, become buried in the minutiae of sub-practices, or strive solely for level attainment. By using VSM, the focus shifts to value creation and its flow through the system. Blending approaches builds ownership of the results within the appraised organization. The organization gains insights about how work happens and problems become obvious through visualization. Process areas are lenses used to examine the value stream from various perspectives. The method is followed and an appraisal happens, but the outcome is enhanced.