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Archive for the ‘Performance’ Category
Performance Management or Madness?
Feb 12Voltaire said madness is “to have erroneous perceptions and to reason correctly from them.” Like thinking that an annual review actually changes behavior, for example? Or that seven-good-things-you-did and three-you-didn’t is balanced? What do you think about the effectiveness of performance management programs?
We’re working on a book about performance management right now with a possible working title of How to Get Rid of Performance Reviews Once and For All. We also thought about calling it How to Build a Performance Management System You Can be Proud Of. What we call it will depend on feedback from you. We’re doing the research, but it’d be great to hear what you think about your system — the good and the bad.
We’ll reveal some early research here next week. Whatcha think about a title?
Dell: Dude, You're Not Getting a Bonus
Feb 4
Michael Dell sent an e-mail to all Dell employees announcing a number of business management and personnel changes. Quick summary: Dude, you’re not getting a bonus. Austin-based blog Translucence got a copy of the all-employee memo, which says there will be no bonuses for anyone because of underperformance. Michael Dell writes:
Last year, we worked really hard and there were many sacrifices. Thanks!
We had great efforts, but not great results. This is disappointing and it is unacceptable.
The result is that there will be no bonus this year. I know this is a big deal for you and your teams. We’re going to fix that so that our efforts translate into great results and success for our teams.
Mr. Dell did say there would be some money available for spot bonuses and they “are also budgeting for above-market raises this year.” It is an interesting time in Dell’s history. The essence of the big changes in Round Rock revolve around reducing bureaucracy. I really admire Michael Dell’s courage and conviction on this. It’s a huge decision to not pay bonuses and delivers a big message. I’ll be watching The Vault for reaction.
Technorati Tags: Dell bonuses, Dell, performance, pay
Dale Dauten on De-Hiring
Jan 31Dale Dauten, The Corporate Curmudgeon, is one of my favorite columnists. And I just spent seven minutes watching his video called Don’t Fire an Employee Until You Watch This! Super stuff. Dauten talks about “de-hiring” rather than “firing,” constantly upgrading talent while using the rank-and-yank approach to performance management. Great lessons to be learned there, especially if you think the “fire the bottom 10 percent” approach is just a little too glib.
When you’re done watching the video, you can read one of my all-time favorite columns written by anyone, bar none: What the Human Resources Department Won’t Tell You. Over the course of time, I’ve probably quoted The Corporate Curmudgeon’s “bad boss syndrome” to a thousand people. Some ideas have legs. Or I need some new stories.
Technorati Tags: Dale Dauten, performance management
What Would You Write for Your Personal Annual Report?
Jan 10
I know, two “cool” posts in a row. But I’m shunted onto a design and architecture siderail right now and I’m following that path. So, when I came across designer Nicholas Feltron’s 2006 Annual Report on Swissmiss, I thought I should share. Besides what a fantastic concept a personal annual report is, I was thinking what an HR Annual Report might look like. Then I started thinking, “Let’s stamp out bad performance review systems. How cool would it be if employees created a personal annual report instead of getting the one hour seven-things-you-did-right-and-three-things-you-did-wrong performance review?”
I’m going to start scrapbooking for my 2007 personal annual report right away. So far, I can add “two Starbucks’ cinnamon dolce lattes” to my liquid metric. And I’m going to put some more thought into this device as a performance review. I think this one has legs. Who says reading artsy sites is a waste of time?
Coming Soon: A review of Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die.
Technorati Tags: Nicholas Felton, personal annual report, performance reviews
Performance Is Punishing
Nov 19
Hugh McLeod referenced a recent Houston Chronicle article titled Star Workers Tire of Performing While Others Loaf. Huzzah. The article encapsulates what Sarah calls “performance is punishing.” In other words, the better you do, the more you’re expected to do. And that isn’t always to your benefit. Poor HR practices and bad management can converge to make it so that the best performers get the least in terms of praise, motivation, and rewards. It’s crazy, isn’t it? But consider this:
Forty-seven percent of your most productive, most creative, most valuable workers are mailing out resumes, going on job interviews, even contemplating other offers.
Even worse, many managers are actually accelerating those departures by how they treat those employees, said Mark Murphy, chief executive of Leadership IQ and co-author of The Deadly Sins of Employee Retention: Cutting Edge Strategies for Keeping Your Best People.
“Frankly, we treat our high performers worse than any other employee,” he said.
“When a manager has a tough project upon which the whole company depends, to whom do they turn?
“Who gets the late hours and the stress? It’s not the low performers, because managers want the project done right. Instead, managers turn to their handful of high performers.
“Over and over we ask our high performers to go above and beyond, making their jobs tough and burning them out at a terrible pace. Meanwhile, low performers often get easier jobs because their bosses dread dealing with them and may avoid them altogether.”
Little wonder that “high performers hate slackers,” he said. “Eighty-seven percent of (high performers) say working with a low performer or a slacker has actually made them want to change jobs. They’re really sick of having to carry the load for everybody else.”
Next up: The McDonald’s Factor
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