I'm with you, immediate feedback is the key. We can make course corrections easily that way…waiting until the end of the year for the gotcha talk is just no good. And no, I've never known anyone who celebrated performance review time. Ick.

This would be far more constructive than the annual dreaming-up of supposedly SMART objectives just so that both parties can get the whole annoying process over and done with. Put it this way – have you ever heard anyone say – “Yipee, it's performance review time”?

In our organization we talk about the 3 “D”s: Direction, Dialog and Discovery. The 1-on-1 performance discussion is just the middle D. Direction is about defining the vision (both the “what” and the “how”), so we know what results to measure and what behaviors to assess for. I’m not a big fan of standard competency libraries or forcing x positives and y negatives for this reason — what we assess should tie directly to our vision. Plus a top performer is only a top performer in the context of this vision. “A rose is a weed in a cornfield” as a wise mentor once told me.

Discovery is whole the roll-up process that follows the individual review, where managers discuss their teams with their business leaders — who’s ready for bigger challenges, who’s struggling, re-org plans, etc. So much gets uncovered in these sessions, as much about how our people are being led as how individuals are performing.

Sorry for evangelizing… There’s so much credibility to be lost by letting it atrophy into standardized form with no context, but much to be gained by a thoughtful, challenging process!

Here’s my take on the issue: http://strategic-hcm.blogspot.com/2008/04/innovation-in-performance-management.html

Jon Ingham

Dick Grote makes the point that managers need to step up and be managers. That is just fantastic. True…and I agree as long as the system is right.

Teresa’s story almost made me cry. How crazy is it that a review would be predicated on a budget. What do those two have to do…but that exposes the raw underbelly of the system. Wow…I never thought of that before.

Jimmi is in the boat of a lot of superstars. How crazy is that?

Rick, I’m all about feedback. I just think treating people like adults instead of like pupils works. We don’t give performance ratings to our friends or family.

Joanne, I agree about results. I should have made that more clear. The person I was referring to both stays up until 2am…and delivers. Bigtime. I’m about the results, too.

In too many places, performance evaluations are sloppily done and not taken very seriously. A lot of supervisors would rather endure a root canal than write and deliver a performance review, particularly if there are some hard, cold truths that they can’t avoid discussing.

But in spite of all the problems and resistance, I‘m a solid believer in performance appraisal. I think performance appraisal is critically important for any organization that’s more sophisticated than a mom-and-pop store—or that wants to be.

As hard as performance appraisal may be—and done right, it is hard—I’m convinced that we do it because it’s an ethical obligation of leadership. Every person on the team wants the answers to two questions. First: What do you expect of me? Second: How am I doing at meeting your expectations? The performance-evaluation process answers those two questions. So why do we do performance appraisal? Because as leaders we have a moral obligation to do so.

And we also have an obligation to put the time into performance appraisal that it deserves. Goodness gracious! Managers don’t spend a tenth as many hours assessing and developing and appraising people as they spend in the restroom. But they’ve got the gall to whine about appraisal taking too much time. That’s nonsense.

So managers hate performance appraisal. Big deal. They also hate budgeting. Grow up, get over it, and start doing it right. You’re getting paid to be a leader — start earning your pay.

Dick Grote

For the manager whose strength is budget management, he might let this objective drive the types of reviews he’ll give. Nobody gets a “1″ or “highest”, not because they don’t deserve it, but because in his budget management, he never gives “1″s. Like the college professor who prides himself on never giving anyone an “A” in class.

I know a stellar employee now at a Fortune 50 who received just such a review as a budget control. Because he’s stellar, he’s at the top of his pay range. In order to maintain his budget, the boss gave him a “3″– the first time in his 18 year career he’s ever received the “average” rating.

But the budget remains intact!!

Sad, but true.

Teresa

http://www.TeresaDay.com