Comments on: Overheard in O’Hare: The Why-Performance-Reviews-Are-Rotten Edition

By: Jo Harley

Jo Harley — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 20:53:01 +0000

A performance review should always be a positive experience that leaves the employee feeling energetic, enthusiastic and positive about the experience. This will increase morale and ultimately employee engagement. Saying that it is an opportunity for both manager and employee to be honest about performance and to bring anything up that needs to be discussed at the meeting. This however should never be a suprise which is why planning is essential. We use talent toolbox to faciliate our reviews. http://www.talenttoolbox.com

By: Frank Roche

Frank Roche — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 22:50:28 +0000

@Russ…I think it’s nuts, too. Tell them the good and get them to make minor course adjustments along the way.

By: Russ

Russ — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:25:10 +0000

I think that crazy that you have to have something negative to say. We all know there is always room for improvement, but to bring out the negatives is simply baloney.

How about just reinforce what great employees are doing.

By: Frank Roche

Frank Roche — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 17:53:04 +0000

@Patrick, I read your comment out load here at work. It’s so on point about not knowing what she was using the internet for, and about behaviors. Wow. That was really an excellent prompt for me. Thanks for stimulating my thinking.

By: Patrick Ahern

Patrick Ahern — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 15:26:01 +0000

Interesting commentary for sure. A few things pop out for me:

1. Seems so trivial the too much time on the internet feedback – what if the girl was using the internet to do research to help support her efforts to achieve her goals.

2. Most reviews are painful exercises for managers and employees because they don’t contain any quality feedback as a result of lack of behavioral content to measure employees on. While certainly I can’t judge from the conversation you overheard, it seems the review process is judging the employee primarily on the outcomes/results as opposed to the behaviors and activity that the employee did to achieve the outcome. Understanding the behavioral “how” that can be shared across the company is what creates the learning engine.

By: HR World » Blog Archive » Friday Links: Workplace Unity, Performance Reviews

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 15:04:46 +0000

[...] Performance reviews should be about performance … and if someone has good performance, why critique them for something that obviously isn’t inhibiting their performance? Seriously. Read about a situation like this on KnowHR. [...]

By: Frank Roche

Frank Roche — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 12:48:39 +0000

@Steve Bogner: Steve, that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. To have to go back and rewrite more criticism (I guess some call it feedback) is crazy. I'm going to see these practices go away in my lifetime...I can hope, can't I?

By: Steve Bogner

Steve Bogner — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 11:54:08 +0000

Clients have told me that they always have to have something negative, or something that needs improvement in their reviews. Just this week, an IT manager told me they had to rewrite a few of their reviews because of this. It’s crazy, but old habits & mindsets & practices die hard.

By: Frank Roche

Frank Roche — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 23:40:55 +0000

@Wally, sadly, it’s true — Theory X is alive and well and living in corporate America. That example of the police officers is really powerful. They can carry a gun, but not buy something for $5. Crazy.

By: Wally Bock

Wally Bock — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 21:14:42 +0000

Theory X is not dead, Frank. It is alive and well and hiding in our policy manuals. My favorite example is police officers. They are highly trained (most police officers write more than most teachers), required to master the practical application of health and safety, civil, and criminal law and authorized to make decisions about the use of deadly force. Yet, in many police departments, officers can not spend as little as $5 without getting approval. Go figure.