The Elements of Great Managing: 11 - Regularly talking about individual progress
[Part 11 of a 12 part series exploring the concepts in 12: The Elements of Great Managing
Page 155 includes the following story, submitted by "Don", that describes how his annual performance review went one February:
"'I happened to be entering the men's bathroom at the same time as my boss,' he wrote. 'Standing side-by-side at adjacent urinals, he remarked that he hadn't had a chance to go over my review with me, but now was as good a time as any.' Don's manager told him he and others in the company were pleased with his work. The setting didn't quite convey genuine appreciation for Don's work. 'All of this was bad enough, and a bit humiliating since we were not alone in there, but the summation was really priceless,' he wrote. 'Walking away from the urinal, he told me to 'keep it up' in the new year.' Don doesn't work for that company anymore."
The eleventh element of great management is most definitely not about systems like the one Don described!
This is not about the formal, written, metrics-driven, annual or semi-annual form-filling exercise that so many organizations call Performance Appraisal. Such systems just don't seem to work as well as regular two-way coaching. Gallup has studied traditional performance appraisal systems, 360 degree systems and self-assessment systems and found flaws in all - at least when it comes to increasing employee engagement. In fact, it appears that most formal systems actually decrease employee engagement - sap the energy out, rather than putting it back in. They may not all be as bad as Don's, but the results are often similar.
Rather, this element is about regular, personal, two-way discussions of an employee's progress. My monthly one-on-one coaching sessions are an example of this element in practice. Those who strongly agree with the statement, "In the last six months, someone at work has talked to me about my progress" are more likely to feel their pay is fair, to stay with the company, to recommend the company to potential employees, and are more productive and safer than those who disagree with the statement.
Gallup's data show that one size does not fit all in this case, and that formal appraisal systems do more harm than good. Instead, those managers who regularly gave feedback, especially when focused on employee strengths, were much more likely to have engaged employees than those who focused only on negatives. And both types of managers were more likely to have engaged employees than those who ignored feedback until HR sent the appraisal forms.
And yet, we seem driven to make our performance appraisal systems better and better, and ever more "scientific." A Google search on the phrase "performance appraisal" yields more than one million links. A quick glance at the first three pages suggests that most links are to firms that will upgrade your performance appraisal system, or provide the forms you need, or collect the data for analysis. A similar search of the blogosphere yields links mainly to people talking about how to do a better job of performance appraisals or how to get a better rating on your performance review.
Doing a better job of a bad thing isn't going to make our organizations better. Quite the opposite.
I've seen the power of regular performance feedback and coaching in action. At Carter Holt Harvey, we developed a monthly one-on-one coaching format (which is the basis of the system I shared with you last August). Those managers who embraced the process showed bigger increases in employee engagement than those who did not. In the ten years since I was lucky enough to be part of this change, I have used the tool consistently. I have yet to be disappointed in the value of regular coaching discussions.
For more information:
- Fred Nickols proposed throwing out performance appraisals in this 1997 article. Read the article for a great list of the hidden costs of formal performance appraisals.
- "Performance Appraisals Don't Work" is Susan M. Heathfield's passionate explanation of what's wrong with the traditional approach.
[Photo: "Cable TV Signal Feedback 03" by Henry Faber.]
