Everyone in HR knows the squabbles over performance ratings during the annual review. Unrealistic expectations, distribution curves and unwise promises make for an unhappy mix.
Actually, an honest and constructive conversation about performance should be a leadership opportunity that’s focused on the future.
Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall have been tackling this in a project for Deloitte. As they say, the number of hours spent on this need to add value.
At the core of their excellent HBR article (link in comments below) is how to build accountability in line leaders and managers for performance – not ‘just’ for rating it, but also for grasping the opportunity, and responsibility, to develop it.
We all want an approach that’s more forward-looking and less retrospective. The truth is, it needs to be locked into a process because it’s linked to crucial decisions about pay, potential and careers – it has to be seen to be fair right across the organisation.
Evaluating performance puts a manager in a position of judgement, as they say, and is full of bias.
Check our their fresh approach to ratings: ‘We ask leaders what they’d do with them, not what they think of them.’
How well has the appraisal process worked for you?
