Getting Rid of the Annual Performance Evaluation
Sounds outrageous doesn't it.   No more annual evaluations.  Think of it!  There's a rationale behind this seemingly over-the-top recommendation.  The rationale is that when it comes to improving the performance of employees, and after all that is what it's all about, the annual performance evaluation is not where we should spend our time and energy.  Here's why.

1.  The communication during the typical performance evaluation is confusing.  It's 50 minutes of how great the employee is doing, followed by ten minutes of,  "but there is one other thing...."  And guess what, the employee walks out only remembering the negative comment.

2.  Annual performance evaluations serve a limited instructive function.  They are a requirement of a bureaucracy.  They are not an opportunity for teaching.  They are simply a review of performance over a period of time and normally that period of time is the 30 days before the supervisor wrote the evaluation;  that's the period of time that the supervisor can most readily recall, even though the evaluation is supposed to cover a year.  

3.  The annual performance evaluation too often is not done in a context of a positive relationship between supervisor and employee.  So the entire conversation is ripe for misunderstandings to occur.  (see the YouTube video in our current Newsletter for an example of misunderstandings).  It's not a positive relationship because the supervisor has made only minimal investment in building a relationship.  

4.  Annual performance evaluations are not done on time or done at all.  Not unusual to hear about organizations where a heavy majority of employees have never had a performance evaluation.  And sometimes the more senior level supervisors are the most negligent in carrying out this responsibility.

5.  The annual performance review has too many surprises; usually surprises about their performance which has not met expectations.   This means that employees have been working with the mistaken impression that their performance was at least "ok".  

So what is the option?  What both employees and supervisors need is regular, frequent performance feedback - daily if necessary.  New employees need daily feedback, more experienced, normally, less frequently.  This requires the full range of leadership skills in order to be done competently:   time management so that time for feedback is available; a commitment to the development and success of employees;  the ability to communicate good news and bad news with clarity, to mention just a few.

Let's get good at performance feedback. Begin by having frequent 1:1 meetings.  No, a 1:1 meeting is not chit-chat in the hallway.   Let's learn about how our employees learn and improve their performance; it'll be a little different for each.    Let's learn to teach;  see what John Maxwell says about equipping employees for success.   Stop playing 'sink or swim' with our employees and then telling them at the end of the year, if they last that long,  that they are drowning.