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The Dreaded Performance
Review: There Must Be a Better
Way
Dearest:
It's time
for your annual performance appraisal. For the sake of
our relationship and the well-being of the family unit,
I want you to prepare for a discussion of your
strengths and weaknesses and the ways you have fallen
short of your goals for the year. Also, honey, I would
like for you to define some stretch goals for the coming
year.
Your Loving
Spouse
The
notion of one spouse evaluating the other in this
manner is laughable. Yet is this so different from the
presumptions made in the annual performance review
process? Organizations want to improve employee
productivity in order to grow overall business
performance and corporate value. But the tool most often
used to evaluate and improve performance—the performance
review—is based on several flawed premises.
One big strike against performance reviews
is that they are a backward look to see where the
employee has been—and perhaps failed. Since
performance reviews occur once a year, if at all, they
require us to look back over a long period of time. They
make the manager look out of sync (“I'm
not satisfied with your performance on that
project six months ago…”), and even if the
criticism is viewed positively, it's too late to change
it.
Another problem with traditional reviews is
that they are based on the assumption that the person
evaluating someone has a full and accurate grasp of the
other's performance, hence the ability to accurately
evaluate.
Perhaps the most awkward part of
performance reviews is the fact that they violate a
basic unspoken tenet of interpersonal dynamics. What
other setting would adults be expected to
formally state a judgment of another adult's
behavior and performance besides a court of law? We do
not, in normal social settings, behave as judge, jury
and impactor of someone's ability to make a living.
This alienating power dynamic does not make for
better performance or move a company closer to achieving
its goals in most instances.There
is a better way, and it does not involve waiting
for a formal performance review date to arrive.
Communicate with your employees early and often.
Early, to catch potential problems before they happen.
Often, because the continuous interest shown and
feedback given to employees through communicating and
coaching guarantees better performance.
Coaching provides counsel in real time and clearly
identifies goals in the context of the employee's job.
Good coaches understand the current reality of the
employee's world, and are aware of issues that might
prevent a worker from reaching his or her goals. Good
coaching provides the right environment for
development strategies that allow an employee to achieve
his or her goals.
A healthy working relationship, just like a
healthy marriage is built on frequent dialogue
and two-way communication. Conversely, a
once-a-year meeting may feel more like a gripe
fest to the recipient. One side lists frustrations and
shortcomings while the other side is taken aback
and either retreats or goes on the defensive. The bottom
line is that no one wins.
The presence of a
number of popular business books on revising
the performance evaluation (Get Rid of the
Performance Review, Abolishing Performance
Appraisals, Performance Conversations,
Catalytic Coaching) signals a climate shift to a
new day of performance management. The
traditional performance evaluation may be on its
way to the grave, and new, more effective ways of
motivating great performance will replace it.
For a win-win solution to managing the new
performance models, read
on.
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Hawthorne Performance
System
Have you ever wished you had
a secure, confidential system to manage employee
performance documentation that did not cost a month's
worth of revenue to install and use? Wouldn't it be nice
to have a system that is both easy to set up
and use? Hawthorne Technology Services
has developed a "cloud" application designed
to track employee review/coaching conversations. It
shifts the performance review mindset from traditional
ineffective methods to an employee driven system of
accountability and results.
The system allows
both employees and supervisors to log their
comments and observations without having to store, track
and document either individual electronic files or paper
files. It is a secure site, so that no confidential
information becomes randomly viewable by other
personnel, however there is an administrative access
by the human resources leader to the
documents.
The system approaches the
supervisor/employee relationship from the
philosophy that each employee is capable of
taking charge of their own performance and, if
given the opportunity to talk about their needs and
challenges in a supportive environment, will solve most
of their performance problems themselves. The
supervisor's role is to be a guide, coach and mentor for
success rather than a critic.
Call Hawthorne
Services today to schedule a demonstration of both the
approach and the
system.
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Hawthorne
Presents to the National Tooling and Machining
Association's Michiana Chapter
on:
Thursday,
March 10, 2011 @ 5:30pm
'3
R's of Employees- Recruitment, Retention &
Relations'
Featuring
Karen Kehr & Chuck Bower of Hawthorne
Services
We will demonstrate an intranet for
seamless communications with employees, a performance
management system that is both cost effective and that
you have complete control of who can access, a hiring
system that will allow you to quickly screen large
numbers of candidates, and an e-learning system that is
both affordable and track-able. In addition, an
affordable and proven employee engagement survey will be
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