Performance Management

Performance Appraisal Discussion: The dreaded topic for many.

Why is it dreaded you ask? Mainly because individuals are called out for their lacunas, and it’s not a pretty sight for anybody to see their dirty picture or hear the negatives.

As human beings, we are all tuned to get defensive when anything or anybody attacks us or puts us in spot, calling out our areas of improvement. This is years of human evolution at play and nothing wrong with that. We are all fighting for survival, right? And anything / anybody hurting us are confronted. The issue per se is not the ‘calling out’ part, rather, it is the manner in which it is done.

• People attack people, but only a few (the matured lot) attack issues.
• Character assassination is a 'go-to' mantra for people with low 'Emotional Intelligence'.
• This is where sensitivity must be adopted.
• But what if the person is the issue?

Feedback when given appropriately, should also be taken constructively. For instance, if you’re walking on the pavement and bump into somebody by mistake, and that person shouts at you for the incident let’s say. Will you doubt your ability to walk, or your ability to venture outside of your residence? If you do, you need help. In most cases you’ll apologize; and will probably just shrug this incident and watch your next steps. In extreme cases, it may lead to a violent physical exchange, and we aren’t discussing that here :)

• Feedback shouldn’t impact the individual’s self-worth.
• Feedback should be taken in with a pinch of salt.

Prior to the appraisal discussion, people managers invest time with subordinates over a period, and observe their deliverables, behaviour, aptitude, proactiveness and many other skills/competencies at play among others. A very interesting observation here is that:

• People managers think their subordinates understand what they say. We cannot be further away from the truth if this is believed.

Usually, experiences evolve people. You wouldn’t talk to a fifth grader the way you would to a toddler, right? There are fundamental differences in age, experiences, and comprehension. Similarly, a people manager deals with a set of individuals with different demographics, and handling all of them in the same manner is detrimental not only to the individual and team, but also to the relationship and overall organization.

• People managers need to invest time in each of their team members to understand them and provide customized guidance.
• If the manager is unable to garner time, it’s a systemic issue that needs to be addressed.

Problem areas are seldom heard. Managers either don't care to hear the other person's side of the story, or don't find time for it. Either way, managers think that the team member's problem is a perceived problem and not an actual one in reality. For the lack of a better word, subordinates fear their managers due to communication barriers. Either a carefree attitude attributed to intent issue, or an inability to communicate effectively by either party, which is a skill issue. This is where:

• The individual at the receiving end tends to go into a negative spiral of behavioural traits.
• For instance - further lack of communication, loss of confidence, doubting self-capabilities, negative perception of the people around (imagining everyone out there is there to get you) and believing the entire system is against the individual in some form or shape.

How do we counter this?

• Get the team members to trust the people manager.
• People managers should work to preserve the trust of team members, both in words and practice.
• Individuals should recruit their managers as their career coach.
• People managers need to schedule independent time with each of their team members and vice versa.
• Perform a SWOT analysis of the individual, understand where the problem areas are and offer support to address them.
• In places, roll up the sleeves get hands on and show how it’s done – Servant Leadership.

?

If an individual believes that managers should schedule time with them for their own development – Wrong!

YOU are responsible for your own career, and YOU should schedule discussions to achieve your aspirations.

If a manager believes that their team members will get the job done after a brief discussion – Wrong!

Frequent handholding and showing the team the way while leading it is the way to go.