Performance Reviews Can Kill Your Culture
fs.blog
fs.blog
In ideal world perf reviews should not degenerate into this. In real world, it is a zero-sum game. One example is that the budget for giving increments/hikes is always limited. To reward one individual means giving less to someone else. Second example is that of promotions. As you go up the ladder, there are fewer positions and competition is more. I can't see any other way but to stack rank the employees. The criteria used may be flawed, but that does not mean that ranking is not needed.
Talking about criteria: if its too objective people will game it, if its too subjective then all sorts of human factors come into the play.
Finding a solution for this has always been a holy grail and every now and then a company claims that "they-do-it-differently". Even if a company does this really well it only says about that point in time. It is a different thing to sustain that year over year. All companies have issues in their perf review. They only differ in toxicity.
a) asymmetrical
b) biased and subjective even when they're framed in terms of metrics
They are essentially a star rating of how compliant an employee is and how much the employer likes them.
Good management doesn't enumerate how you suck. Good management tells you your priorities, helps you eliminate blockers, cheers you on, and tells everyone that will listen how awesome their team is.
This article talks a lot about forced ranking - I agree that is a pox on humanity. But actionable feedback is the lifeblood of improvement.
Frankly, management that doesn't give actionable feedback and instead just tells you to keep doing precisely what you're doing is a sign you need to move on, because they don't care about your future.
When your manager puts a negative word on paper, you know it's over. Or, put from the other direction, if you're a manager, don't crap on your people and expect them to stay.
Depending on how much money is at stake you will see all kinds of toxic behavior. On the other hand if you don't aggressively send signals for poor performers you are left with a bunch of unmotivated people.
One of the better ways I've seen it work is to reward employees through quarterly bonuses depending on their performance. You'll quickly know where you stand in your boss's and organization's eyes.
I never understood this rationale... It's lacks accountability all the way back to the beginning of the employer-employee relationship. Why did you hire these folks in the first place?
[1] https://blog.deming.org/2012/10/dr-deming-called-for-the-eli...