How would you feel if your father said to you,”You performed well in January, June and April but failed to achieve the same in February, March and May so instead of 2 pieces of chicken you get none”. Sounds terrible, doesn’t it? That is the typical way appraisals go.
Everyone hates and fears appraisals and with good reason. It’s that once/twice a year, conversation where your boss focuses your lack of performance in some instances and issues you a penalty that doesn’t take into account the variables of your work environment or the times you actually performed outstandingly. The outcomes usually leave everyone involved unsatisfied and research actually shows that appraisals are ineffective, unreliable and time and money consuming. But despite this, companies continue the tradition, rarely coming up with better alternatives.
The Problem With Traditional Appraisals
1. They are very one-sided. Why doesn’t the boss get appraised? Aren’t employees the best ones to assess his management? Wouldn’t it be more effective to hold the manager to a similar if not higher standard?
2. They are seen as a judgment. Rather than a fair assessment, employees see this as their punishment for any offences committed during the year. This is the result of being untrained and unaware of what is required of them. Simple problems turn into complex issues that leave bad spots on employee’s records.
3. They are only conducted once every 12 months. If we only made a sale once every 12 months, we would interpret that as a sign that something needed to be fixed to improve sales. Appraisals, which determine the future of companies, are conducted once every 12 months and we are oddly comfortable with that. How are we assessing this system’s effectiveness?
The Shift
In 2015 an article was published in Harvard Business Review detailing how 51 large firms were moving away from doing traditional appraisals. Heads of companies and HR reps were openly admitting to where their performance management strategies fell short and how they were working to make it better:
- “The organization is replacing this system with a more fluid system, in which employees receive timely feedback from their managers on an ongoing basis following assignments…Within the new system, employees will receive ongoing feedback following assignments.” – Pierre Nanterme Accenture’s CEO, stated in a Washington post interview.
- In lieu of the previous system, Adobe has implemented frequent “check-ins”, during which managers provide coaching and advice. The objective of the “check-ins” is to help employees gain clarity about what is expected from them, guide them through performance improvement and assist in their professional growth and development.
- General Electric ditched its formal annual reviews and its performance management system and replaced it with an app which provides more frequent feedback.
- IBM’s HR department turned to its 380,000 employees in 170 countries to crowdsource the process. Diane Gherson, IBM’s Chief Human Resource Officer, asked employees to share their ideas. The end result was a new app-based performance review system called Checkpoint.
What Can We Do On A Smaller Scale?
Perhaps you do not have all the resources it takes to do a huge overall of your strategy, or you are a small business with a much smaller staff looking to make positive changes. Here’s how you can do it:
- Increase the frequency of appraisals from yearly to quarterly or more.
- Check in with employees via one-on-one meetings where frequent feedback and updates are exchanged.
- Embrace technology. Use social media, applications and internal communication to engage the employees in discussions that benefit the company.
- Encourage productivity: Not everyone works best at the same time or the same way so encourage employees to effectively reach goals the best way they can.
- Provide rewards for targets reached instead of punishing them for those missed.
- Coach sales people to be confident, trustworthy and capable of problem solving and decision making.