You have worked really hard. You volunteered for the toughest project in the office that no one else wanted and although it should have failed, it didn’t. But, it also was bumpy along the way. You had to extend the timeline and it went over budget. So, when you meet with your supervisor for your annual evaluation, they mention it, but not as an accomplishment.
The supervisor feels there was more you could have done. So, you didn’t get an “exceeds expectations.” Maybe you just got a “meets expectations.” Or, worse yet, you got a “needs development.”
What?! You just stuck your neck out when everyone else played it safe. No bonus points for assuming the risk?
Urgh! Performance evaluations! No one likes writing them, giving them, or receiving them. When was the last time you thought to yourself, “Wow, that was a great use of my time. I just provided feedback to one of my employees and they totally turned things around the next day.” Or, if you were on the receiving end, did you think, “Wow, I’m totally prepared to do better now.”
There are so many things inherently wrong with performance evaluations. Here are just a few issues I’ve seen first-hand.
Timeliness Point-in-time feedback is so much more powerful than an annual or even semi-annual review. Think of it this way, if you were playing a sport and your coach only told you new plays a few times a year or gave you feedback on your performance at the end of the season, would you find that valuable? Or would you almost resent it?
Intent What are you trying to accomplish by sitting down with your employees and “grading” their performance? Why keep looking in the rearview mirror?
Consistency Do annual or biannual evaluations give you consistent performance or do you find people tend to “fix” themselves prior to evaluation time only to slide back into behaviors that may be damaging your organization?
The Big Picture Ultimately, what are performance evaluations not measuring? Risk! Agility! Adapting to changes! Creativity!
In your experience, what’s a better way to develop staff or work with underperforming staff? I’d love to hear from you and get your take on performance evaluations. What’s worked? What hasn’t? What have you tried and what’s been successful?
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