Does your company do Annual Performance Appraisals? What is the purpose of those Performance Appraisals?

Most HR people would propose that they protect the company in the event of a termination. But here is a question to ponder. If your company is involved in litigation over a termination, which side of the table is the first to introduce your Performance Appraisals into evidence?

Gary Markle, in his book Catalytic Coaching, takes most Performance Appraisal systems to the mat. For all that we would want them to do, most often, Performance Appraisals, have the opposite effect. We think they protect us, they are used against us.

In two weeks, Working Leadership Online will tackle this subject. So I am curious, what is your experience with Performance Appraisals? Are they helpful? What is wrong with them?

From Time Span 101 Online:

Question:
Is it appropriate for a Manager-Once-Removed to conduct performance appraisals, or should the direct Manager do this review?

Response:
To clarify for everyone else, the Manager-Once-Removed is the direct Manager’s manager. The Manager-Once-Removed is two strata away from the team member.

Let’s first describe the relationship between the team member and the direct Manager. The nature of this relationship is Accountability. Accountability for performance.

The relationship between the team member and the Manager-Once-Removed is not one of Accountability, but one of mentoring, centered around career goals (longer Time Span goals).

Given these two relationships, if the conversation is about Performance (shorter Time Span goals), it should be conducted by the direct Manager.

Both relationships are absolutely appropriate, yet different. -TF

“You decide,” I said. “You decide what you want to improve on.”

The class had just completed a survey, looking at strengths and weaknesses.

“You decide, if you would like to focus on and improve an area of weakness. Or you may decide to focus on and improve an area of strength.

“Correcting a weakness only creates a mediocre performance. Building on a strength creates mastery. You decide what you want to improve upon.” -TF

“I don’t think it’s me,” Marion repeated.

“You are angry at the person who gave you the negative feedback and you would like to ignore the feedback,” I confirmed.

“Besides, even it were true about me, I can’t change, that’s just not me. I couldn’t do it. Out of the question. I don’t see how anyone could do that.”

I looked at Marion. Without a word. Silence.

“But if you could change, what would you do first?” I asked. -TF

Marion’s bottom lip protruded. If she was eleven years old, I would have sworn she was pouting.

“I think I know who said that,” she announced.

“Is it important?” I asked.

“Well, I think they have a chip on their shoulder and this evaluation was just a chance to vent, to make me look bad.”

“Marion, there are positive things in this evaluation, and there are negative things here. You like the positive stuff, but you don’t believe the negative stuff.”

“Well, I think this person has an agenda. I don’t think it’s me,” she continued to protest.

“Do you think that is part of the problem?” -TF

It’s been a great week with a number of comments posted about Performance Appraisals. My bias is, absolutely, it is the responsibility of the Manager to make judgments about the effectiveness of each team member.

Many of my clients have found a 360 degree approach helpful, so much so, that we were asked to create a web-based application to ensure confidentiality. It allows for perspectives from multiple points of view and provides a platform for a very frank discussion. Here’s the way it works.

I usually allow the subject to select approximately fifty percent of the respondents to the survey, then as the Manager, I backfill the other fifty percent of respondents.

Once the surveys are collected and confidentially compiled by the website, I print a copy for subject and schedule the conversation. I use a highlighter to mark comments that are similar from one respondent to the next. An isolated observation may not mean much, but two similar comments get my attention and three or more similar comments might mark a trend.

Then we talk. At the conclusion of our conversation, I ask the subject to write up three things they commit to start doing and three things they commit to stop doing.

If you would like to see how this works for your team, you can try one out at the following link.

www.360tool.com

“Our company has adopted something called Management by Objectives. MBO they call it,” Sara reported.

“And why did your company adopt that strategy?” I asked.

“There were some who said that our appraisal system was too subjective, that it needed to be measurable. So everyone had to sit down and make up some objectives.”

“And why do you think your company made that decision?”

“Some of the managers were uncomfortable making judgments about a team member’s performance. There were squabbles, disagreements and the whole thing turned into a big distraction.”

“And how is MBO working out for you?”

“Well, it has just as many downsides as the old system,” Sara replied. “Some people get so focused on their own Objectives, they forget about the other people they work with. Cooperation gets stopped dead in its tracks. And sometimes the Objectives are not really in the control of the team member. We seem to spend more time talking about how unfair the system is than we do about improving individual effectiveness.”

“So, what makes you most unhappy about the performance appraisal process?” I asked.

Ben winced, “I really hate the whole process. It’s like my Manager gets to play God for a day and make a singular judgment about my value as a person. In many cases, he’s not in a position to really observe my behavior, and sometimes, he just comes up with the wrong conclusion. He just doesn’t have all the facts.”

“So, sometimes, your Manager is just plain wrong?”

“I have never really said it that way, but, in a nutshell that’s it.”

“Has your Manager ever tried to get your side of the story?”

Ben sat back, up straight. “You know, yes, he did, but it was almost underhanded. He came up with this self evaluation form, where I had to evaluate my own performance.”

“That sounds like a good idea, but I gather you’re not too wild about the result?”

“You’re not kidding. Here’s what he said. If I put something down and he agreed with it, then we didn’t need to talk about it. But if I put something down and he didn’t agree, then he would tell me where I was wrong. It’s almost like I was tricked into going first.”