"Meets" ≠ "Sucks"
Karen Wright, Master Coach
CEO Coach, Coaching Company Founder, Member - 100 Coaches
It is performance review season for many, and with it comes my annual soapbox speech about how to use the ratings.
In most of the organizations my team and I work with there has been a bloat of the performance ratings over time, such that now pretty much everyone expects to be rated "Exceeds Expectations."
The problem is, few people have actually done that. Exeeds, I mean.
Most people deliver on their agreed annual objectives. Guess what? THAT, my friends, is worthy of a "MEETS Expectations" rating.
In addition - and this was offered by a CEO client of mine - if the organization has not achieved extraordinary results, VERY FEW IF ANY of the employees will have delivered at an extraordinary level.
(On the other hand, if the organization has indeed hit its results out of the park, feel free to distribute the "Exceeds" ratings generously!).
Add to this the fact that managers have generally (and I know there are exceptions but go with me here) not learned how to have difficult conversations, so they're reluctant to deliver what's sure to be received as unpleasant news and we have a confluence of circumstances getting in the way of real, useful performance management and talent development.
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Breaking news - the way to avoid "hurting someone's feelings" is NOT to inflate their rating. Rather it's to provide regular, ideally real time feedback throughout the year such that the calibration at annual performance review time contains zero surprises. Zero. Then the path forward is not in managing an emotional response - well, not entirely anyways - and more on agreeing on and supporting a plan to ensure the individual grows commensurate with their ambitions and interests.
For those of you receiving ratings different than you'd hoped - the ideal response is not to complain, deflect or make excuses. Rather it's to either request specifics about what you do well and where you can do better, or to prepare a business case supporting the fact that your rating should have been different. A business case. With data, not just on the "what" you accomplished, but on the "how" you went about it.
I'm not a fan of the annual review process, although I understand its application when it comes to assessing compensation and doing organizational planning. I'd rather see you keep the communication channels open all year long, set annual objectives that make it clear what constitutes "meets" and where "exceeds" kicks in, and focus on how to support your people in their learning and growth in support of the organization's success.
It's not easy, but it can be simple.
The Teamwork Doctor. Helping people achieve amazing things together. Advising CEOs. Facilitating strategy and team effectiveness. Sharing broadly as a best-selling author, YouTube host, and keynote speaker.
10 个月YES!!!! One other possibility. If the individual contributors “meet or exceeded” and the company didn’t meet it’s targets, that says that the leaders set the wrong objectives. So tell the leaders you’re fine to give all their people “meets or exceeds” but they we will getting “did not meet.”
I coach, train, and advise global leaders on how to be authentic, relational, and exceptional.
10 个月“Having conversations throughout the year to (minimize or) eliminate surprises” - completely agree Karen Wright, Master Coach . In working with executives, I also encourage them to make distinctions between effort/intention and impact/results. Some team members rate themselves on the former while their manager rates them on the latter. It’s also important to acknowledge not every team member has the same power and privilege in the organization even if, on paper, they have the same role. It’s nuanced, and a lens leaders need to account for when it comes to performance, reward and recognition. Thanks for welcoming us to the soapbox.
Possibility Farmer. Chaos Wrangler. Facilitator. Organizational Change. Coach. Social Marketing Program Manager. Parnassian
10 个月To embrace "meets" is to accept "needs development" and serves to build the foundation of "exceeds" and then a pathway to "stretch". It's a challenge to discuss performance, as it is so very personal. I know that my greatest achievements have been because my leaders trusted me enough to tell me when I was not meeting expectations and needed to adapt. I was uncomfortable of course and through it, I have grown and deepened my awareness. Great read Karen.
Workplace Mediation, Investigation, and Restoration
10 个月This is great advice. Performance ratings should never be a surprise.
Executive Coach and Facilitator. Co-founder and Principal, Spark Ideas Inc.
10 个月Nicely put Karen. Through my discussions this January I see A LOT of leaders having 15 minute review meetings, cancelled review meetings or no meeting at all - just an email or letter (truly!). If VPs and up are being treated this way, what message does this send and what behaviour does this model for the rest of the team?