From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:

This is the time of year when I’m expected to conduct annual performance reviews on my engineering staff. For the most part it’s a positive experience because I have a good group. It’s a part of my job that I really don’t look forward to though, since there are some people who will be disappointed with my evaluation. I’m looking for ways that would make this process more objective to eliminate any perception of personal bias. Do you have any suggestions or procedures for conducting these discussions that could help?

Response:

Before you can determine an appropriate format for a performance appraisal, you first must determine your purpose.

Temper your consideration with the research findings of Dr. Edward Deming related to performance appraisals. “Those efforts that focus on improving the attentiveness, carefulness, speed, etc., of individual workers—without changing the systems, processes, and methods–constitute a low-yield strategy with negligible short-term results.”

I would concur with Dr. Deming, that if you are conducting annual performance appraisals “just because,” then it is likely a waste of your time.

So, over the next couple of days, we will explore this slippery slope. Here are some purposes we will talk about.

• Reviewing a team members participation in the systems, processes and methods to identify improvements to those systems, processes and methods.
• Establishing the scope of a role, both the required elements and the discretionary elements.
• Personal effectiveness related to the established role.
• Capability assessment related to Time Span (for the purpose of additional responsibility or promotion).

Each of these purposes is a conversation, but a different conversation, with a different format to get there. -TF
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