Seriously, If You Have Ever Used a Canned Performance Appraisal You Should Be Fired
Posted on Monday, August 31, 2009 by Frank Roche
SHRM’s leadership shines bright again with this offering of the week at the SHRM Bookstore: Ready-To-Use Performance Appraisals.
I can’t make this stuff up, folks.
If you’re a manager, there’s nothing more important than managing. That means giving guidance. It means telling people what you know. It means hiring people who are smarter and more talented than you. (The A Team hires the A Team, and the B Team hires the C team. Remember?)
One thing being a manger isn’t? Being a color-by-numbers, manager-in-name-only job. If you’re too “busy” to give an honest performance review, get out of the business of being a “manager.” If you have ever used a canned performance appraisal, you should be fired. If you’re an HR trainer and think it’s okay to teach “managers” to use pre-populated, canned performance phrases…well, you should exit stage right, too.
Great managers know what I’m talking about. If your performance management system is broken, fix it. But don’t think for a microsecond that it’s okay to do performance reviews by rote. It’s not.
tlcolson
Aug 31st, 2009
I’m still a firm believer in ditching PMs and doing weekly/monthly strategy/feedback sessions.
Do companies really find value in waiting a year before they decide to get rid of an underperforming player or even tell them they are failing?
Do annual raise meetings if you must keep the archaic system in place, but people need to know they are doing a great job NOW.
Sarah Chambers
Aug 31st, 2009
Maybe there should be a revolt where people write “see what we talked about the other 364 days this year.” Then, maybe the system will get redesigned?
Frank Roche
Aug 31st, 2009
@Tammy I so much agree with you. I become a broken record over here about getting rid of annual performance reviews…it is, to me, the single worst process in business. And I’m trying to do something about it.
tlcolson
Aug 31st, 2009
I’ve started that conversation with the PTB here.
They hate doing PM’s, and that is where I’m starting.
We all know its a broken system, but its almost as if everyone is afraid to move.
Bill Strahan
Sep 1st, 2009
Cyrano de HR
Frank Roche
Sep 1st, 2009
@Bill I always wanted to be a swashbuckler.
Lindsay
Sep 2nd, 2009
Oh, Frank! Talk about throwing the baby out with the bath water! Phrase books aren’t evil! People who misuse them are.
There’s a reply to your post on my blog, (http://gneil.blogspot.com/2009/09/you-can-go-buy-book-and-not-go-by-book.html) but here’s the skinny.
Books are tools. Some people think everything needs a hammer and they go around smashing things. Some people think every performance review needs an “official” sound so they go around quoting phrase books. But it’s foolish to throw away all the hammers — or all the guidebooks!
Using it or any other tool the right way — that’s the sign of a really good manager (or at least it says that on page 134…)
Frank Roche
Sep 2nd, 2009
@Lindsay I’m not advocating book burning.
What I’m railing about is lazy managers who think it’s okay to populate performance reviews with stock phrases. Here’s my take: If you’re not good enough to think up your own evaluation for a subordinate, then you suck at feedback all year. And a book won’t help you.
I don’t like performance management in its current form at all. The system is broken. And using prepopulated phrases is part of that.
Thanks for the chuckle about page 134. That is good.
Brian Jensen
Sep 5th, 2009
Couldn’t agree more on canned performance appraisals– or any forced, structured appraisal for that matter. Definitely recommend like-minded readers to review great post on this utterly ridiculous HR Worst Practice! Funny too!
http://www.streetsmarthr.com/2009/08/19/workplace-worst-practice-performance-management/
Joh Hunter
Sep 10th, 2009
If you use performance appraisals your system is broken. Get rid of them. Posts on problems with performance appraisal and what to do instead http://management.curiouscatblog.net/category/performance-appraisal/