Three Rules for Performance Evaluation
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Performance evaluation has gotten a bad name. But real performance evaluation may not be what you think it is.
Performance evaluation is not what happens on a form, it's what happens on the job.
Performance evaluation shouldn't happen just once a year, it should happen every day.
Performance evaluation shouldn't live in a file, it should live in performance.
Boss's Bottom Line
Performance evaluation might be what HR calls a process. But for you performance evaluation is something that's the core of your job and that you should do every day.
Wally's Working Supervisor's Support Kit is a collection of information and tools to help working supervisors do a better job. It's based on what Wally's learned in over twenty years of supervisory skills training. Click here to check it out.
Categories: Performance Evaluation
Tags: Performance Evaluation
Wally,
Good points. A lot of organizations call them "Performance Reviews" instead of evaluations. And, I think the name is great but doesn't really speak to the process that is applied as many are just done once a year and/or completed by checking off check boxes of criteria and levels of fulfillment, etc.
The name "Performance Review," if taken at his face value should mean it is a "review" and what is being reviewed are the on-going two-way discussions on performance, challenges, obstacles, help and guidance and development goals that have taken place throughout the year. And, what is reviewed is an easy discussion at year-end because the issues have already been discussed, and now are just being updated and reviewed for moving forward with goals for a new year, instead of being a surprise discussion on issues people are having brought to their attention only a "review" or "evaluation" time of year. I see it all the time.
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Good points, Skip. You're right. It should be a review of what has been going on all along, but too often it's a gotcha session. When I research great supervisors, one thing I found was that they had much longer annual (or semi-annual) "evaluations" than their peers. Not only that, the content of the sessions was different. For most of the supervisors, the focus was on the past. For the great ones, the session was an opportunity to look ahead at development opportunities and other possibilities for the next period.
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i.m agree
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While I agree evaluating what is working and what needs to be improved is important. I think the performance review process is not something that needs to be fixed but something that needs to be dumped. And lots of posts I have made on performance evaluation
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For me, John, it boils down to what you mean by "performance evaluation." If you're talking about the process as it exists in most organizations today, I'm with you, pull it up root and branch. But if you're talking about the process of bosses evaluating the performance of team members, then I think it's an essential part of the job.
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I'm fortunate to have a supervisor who's straightforward with me throughout the year, so there are not "gotchas" during my formal annual review. He is a fair and honest guy, so I almost always agree with his assessment.
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What I tell trainees and advocate in my Working Supervisor's Support Kit is that there should be no surprises at formal appraisal time. You may not agree with a supervisor's judgment, but there's no "gotcha." It sounds to me like you've got a good supervisor. Thanks for sharing.
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Wally I couldnt agree more! Performance evaluation is one way to get the most out of those you lead. I often find that many organisations are far too formal in their performance evaluation, with the once yearly reports that you speak of! It really doesnt have to be like this, a few words hear or there that constructively criticise are of huge value, they serve to inspire, empower and motivate!
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Thanks for coming by and commenting. Whether you're part of an organization that does formal, annual reviews or not, you should still be doing the short, frequent, informal ones.
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Hi Wally,
You really nailed that one. My organization spends approximately 2-3 months agonizing over these reports because of the sheer impact they have on selection, promotion etc. They get "tweaked" at every level so that the end product sometimes bears little resemblance to the actual individual its supposed to reflect.
Not my favourite time of the year. I have learned, though, that it's a much easier time of the year if you have exercised consistent feedback throughout the other 10 months!
Thanks,
Landon
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Thanks for sharing that. It's ironic, don't you think, that all that attention makes the result less accurate and fair instead of more.
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Hi Wally,
you're definitely right.
I think a fundamental form of performance evaluation is simply the feedback.
Your folks need feedback to have some orientation in the operational stress.
Effective leaders make goals with their team, communicate them openly and give feedback as often as possible.
It's a fair process to synchronize your expectations and the assessments of your folks.
Yours,
Hauke
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Thanks for adding that point, Hauke. Feedback is kind of a GPS that helps people stay oriented and on track in the workplace.
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Excellent, Wally. You have made simple and direct what many companies have purposefully complicated and made quite expensive and time intensive.
I, too, believe in the power of the 365-day/360-degree performance review. I like how Carol Bartz put it, somewhat facetiously -- the puppy approach to performance management. More on that here for those interested:
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Thanks Derek. The point of the puppy approach is a good one, that discussion of behavior or performance is almost always best when it happens soon.
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