Annual Performance Reviews

I have always dreaded the annual performance review – as a boss and an employee. As an employee I always wondered what shoe was going to drop that might preclude the raise that I was expecting. As a boss I always felt that that no matter how well an employee performed, the review needed to show areas where improvement was needed. Consequently, as do many small business people, annual reviews were not at all annual – often not happening at all.

I know I am not alone. Yet the corporate ritual persists!

So I was delighted to see the refreshing article in today’s Wall Street Journal by Samuel A. Culbert titled Get Rid of the Performance Review.

After discussing all of the reasons why the performance review does not work, Mr. Culbert suggests an alternative. His advice is to replace the boss-administered performance review with a collaborative performance preview. The preview would enable boss and employee to mutually discuss both their performances and negotiate ways for both to improve. For example, where an employee who might be deficient in some aspect of the job performance, the employee and boss would agree upon a plan where the boss would provide additional mentoring and support.

Mr. Culbert says, “Holding performance previews eliminates the need for the boss to spout self-serving interpretations about what already has taken place and can’t be fixed. Previews are problem-solving, not problem-creating, discussions about how we, as teammates, are going to work together even more effectively and efficiently than we’ve done in the past. They feature descriptive conversations about how each person is inclined to operate, using past events for illustrative purposes, and how we worked or did not work well inidvidually and together.” Rather than being annual, the performance preview would be held whenever the need might arise.

A preview would require a change in attitude by the boss. Rather than being one to mandate, the boss would need to learn to to inquire and to listen! It requires discussion about how boss and employee can work best together as a team. This does not remove authority; it removes intimidation. But the potential for improved productivity is immense.

Mr. Culbert concludes: “Keep in mind, of course, that improvement is each individual’s own responsibility. You can only make yourself better. The best you can do for others is to develop a trusting relationship where they can ask for feedback and help when they see the need and feel sufficiently valued to take it. Getting rid of the performance review is a necessary, and affirming, step in the direction”.

How innovative.

Will Limkemann
Limkemann Business Advisors
440-871-0976