The annual dance

  It's that time of year again!  Yes, it is Thanksgiving and the start of the Christmas season, but it's also the start of the performance appraisal season.  Manager's everywhere are starting to get the dreaded forms from their HR departments.  They will soon be dusting off last year's performance appraisal forms to see how many goals from last year have been completely forgotten.  Many are even starting to develop that knot in their stomach about having to go through the arduous process again. 

     It is also the season for all the articles about how bad the performance appraisal process is or how to make it at least somewhat effective.  I have had at least twelve people email the link to the latest Wall Street Journal article: Performance Reviews Need Some Work, Don't Meet Potential.  Every year there are a series of articles published lamenting the fact that we seem to be stuck in this trap with no effective alternative.

  I have a novel idea.  How about we stop appraising performance and start managing it?!

The problem is that their are many programs out there that claim to be performance management programs but are really just the same old performance appraisal process dressed up to look better.  How can you tell the difference?  An effective performance management process has several characteristics:

1. The most important element of performance management is communication.  So the process should facilitate frequent progress meetings and feedback between manager's and employees.  If there are less than 4 progress meetings per year, then you have a measurement/appraisal process.
2. The emphasis should be on goals that are linked to initiatives and not on competencies linked to training and development.  Performance management is about leading and guiding groups and individuals toward the accomplishment of organizational initiatives.
3. Goals should be linked directly to corporate initiatives thereby creating direct line of sight from the strategic plan to the initiatives and down to the individual goals within the organization.
4. Employees should enter their own data; managers should never enter the data for employees.
5. Core Values should be infused throughout the process.

     Why not set a New Year's resolution to change from the antiquated performance measurement/appraisal systems to a true performance management system? 

     Yes, we can help you with that.

Happy Thanksgiving!