It’s not that Time Again, Is it?

Unfortunately, I think this is most manager’s first thought when it comes time for annual performance appraisals. The annual performance review is a time for an employee to reflect on the previous year and a time for the manager to take an opportunity to explain what an employee is doing right and what they are doing wrong.

On-Going Performance Reviews

One of my best bosses once said to me, “If it comes time to do your performance review and you don’t already know how it’s going to go, I’m not doing my job.” Unfortunately, many employees walk into the annual performance review – and for whatever reason – get sideswiped with a review they weren’t expecting.

I had an employee who gave himself a 5 (on a 1 to 5 scale, 5 being ‘exceeds expectations’) on every question on his annual performance review. Todd was a below average performer who we had frequent discussions with about his performance, and yet he still came into the review session oblivious to his deficiencies. At the time I was surprised, but when I look back on the situation, I didn’t do enough to help Todd turn things around in his career. Fortunately, there was still time and Todd is still with that company and is very successful in his job.

The Purpose of a Performance Review

Companies use performance reviews for a variety of reasons:

• Evaluate an employee’s performance against a baseline
• Compensate star employees
• Address professional developmental needs
• Provide feedback and improve productivity

If handled correctly, a performance review can be a very motivating tool to help employees meet their objectives, which in turn helps meet departmental goals, all the way up to meeting corporate objectives. If handled incorrectly, performance review time can be a painful exercise in how not to manage.

Unfortunately, many managers look at performance review time as “just another thing HR makes us do.” They put the performance review off until past the deadline, then rush to finish their entire team as quickly as possible. Employees get a quick gloss over for a review and never get properly coached to meet their goals. Over time, star performers who don’t feel recognized or valued leave. Other employees realize no matter what they do, it won’t matter, so they fall into a rut of mediocrity.

It’s Time for Bad Performance Reviews to Stop

We believe it’s time for bad performance appraisals to stop. Performance reviews are not the same as performance management. This site is designed to help you increase performance from your team through the proper application of performance reviews.

Let’s learn not to hate performance reviews any longer!