Two stories of Christmas. Annual Performance Review (APR) unless…
Tags: Development, Career Development, Performance Reviews

You know the happy story!

Here is the horror story, rarely made into a Christmas movie.

You guess it right! Annual Performance Review (APR) unless it could highlight what an employee has done well (and not well enough) and what she should do next to make greater contributions is useless.

Think about your performance. Is it more about the process of working with others toward some goals? Or is it the product completed by an independent worker?

If your supervisor favored a yes for the latter question, your APR would be no more than a rating ritual characterized by a formal interview with eyes on the question list, which does very well in revealing less about your actual performance and more about your current relationship with your supervisor.

If you get along well with each other to the last minute before the review meeting takes place, the sitdown may get you some short-lived breeze you will definitely enjoy many days later. Otherwise, you will become a miserable victim to your direct report line’s whim and whip. She will get even with you no matter how convincing facts and figures you brought to the table.

For several old-school organizations that prefer the workplace model as the 19th century factory, there’s one big player you need to consider for the outcomes of the performance appraisal. The planning scheme requires your supervisor to tag a fixed price for your performance long before the appointment is set. In this case, you have little to nothing to do about it. Now you see the personal relationship between you and your supervisor has no impact upon the review outcomes. The review looks like a memo. Communication is a far cry. You keep your mouth shut from door-closed to door-open. Ducking out of the meeting room, you do not need to think of salary review, unless you want to ruin your day. Or worst, the first time ever you might think of leaving the organization.

Measurement done right can transform the organization. We all heard it before and we can always make it happen today and tomorrow. Here are some ideas:

First, stop turning the workplace into a battleground where more multi-sided conflicts are created and piled up year after year. No evidence of good or bad performance is strong enough and more importantly treated in a fair way. Arguments even settled down embed lasting negations. Instead, get back to the meaning of work that truthfully posits in the process of daily interactions and collaboration and engagement and support. We all are in it together. Recall any moment at work when you find your colleague perform poorly. Is it all about his or her fault and others have no participation in it? Or he planned the actions well but he needs more support in a timely manner to get the job done? Or she reached out for feedbacks and suggestions before making the call herself and still made a poor show because the situation is unpredictable? Start the reflection within your box and outside your box, you will find the performance review is more about performance. And we can do much more to improve our performance and theirs. The progress along the way is important and a lot of players get involved. The positive results should be celebrated as a team and the negative outcomes cannot be blamed on one person.

Next, try out alternative performance measurement practices that work well in successful organizations. Big-Five Conversations can be a great choice for many. A CPM platform is a great tool for ambitious businesses as they reclaim or marching to becoming the market leader. One major difference between stagnant and successful organizations is the capability of change. A serious wound demands a surgery to be cured. Transformation is not catalyst for change; transformation is change itself.

No APR please! Thank you very much. Unless you intend to cast out many more talent away from your company and send a clear message to the world that performance is poorly and badly managed in your organization. Remember, Aspirin is useful for little pain only.

We no longer send too many snail mails these days. We do not stop communication; we improve our communication with sharing our love and gratitude with video chats and dancing hearts. We can feel the pulse of our beloved people through their voice and visuals. If performance is about the results we expect to see against the goals, we may better maintain effective mechanisms that guarantee we get up to 100% of what we aim. Again, not everything can be measured should be measured, not all important things can be measured, not all the things we choose to measure add significant value to our organization success and growth.