Annual Performance Appraisals - It's time to call the Ghostbusters!
The transformation occurring in Performance Management is a search for relevancy. People and organizations are tired of useless, check the box exercises that only satisfy some administrative requirement and are demanding something more. No one has time for processes that don’t align with our fast paced, ever demanding and constantly changing work environments. It is time to reach for your Proton Pack and vaporize this daemon once and for all.
For years, organizations have been held hostage to an HR practice that many acknowledge was more formality than value added.
I’m not completely sure why it has taken so long for anyone to listen, but technology has opened up a new world of possibilities.
Rather than an internal focus, it’s time to focus Performance Management externally.
In fact, Performance Management only matters when the real customer, the ones buying your products or services, is touched in a meaningful way. If you aren’t making that kind of difference, it’s time to reconsider the time and effort spent doing anything else.
To test the value of your current Performance Management process, ask yourself the following:
- Does it improve sales?
- Does it increase the quality of our products or services? Does it reduce waste and/or cost?
- Does it increase customer satisfaction?
- Does it help us get new products to market more quickly?
- Does it help us accomplish critical projects on time?
- Does it ensure people are properly equipped to tackle new challenges?
If the answer to most of these questions is no, and I suspect that is true in many cases, then it’s time to reevaluate what you are doing.
This is a much higher bar than simply reporting the number of reviews that are completed on time, the completeness of data entered into a system or the number of development plans that get created.
If you are in HR, suspend your current bias and perspective and embed yourself in the real issues/opportunties facing your organization. Begin to think of performance management as a way to solve real business problems. If you are in Management, refuse to waste any more time on an HR practice that is now being shown to destroy more value than it creates. Demand a solution that generates rapid learning and improvement and helps you achieve greater success.
Bill Fitzgerald is the Co-Founder of 1000 Trees LLC, the creators of Two Minute Performance Management, a revolutionary approach to performance management.
Organizational Psychologist | Organizational Learning, Design, & Development
8 å¹´" Demand a solution that generates rapid learning and improvement and helps you achieve greater success." - It's hard to argue with this statement, but HR will want to know how we are going to measure performance if we don't do it the 'old' way. Our company is moving to Agile so I'm thinking this is the perfect opportunity to pitch a more rapid performance appraisal process as well. Anyone tried any alternatives to the tradition 6 month/annual process.
Measure and monitor what matters most to make management more meaningful and motivating. Mpowement lives outside the box. Stop checking and start moving. Mmmm that was fun.
Leader who delivers on the promise of the power of engagement and high performance directly and through others regardless of business type, size, or circumstance.
8 å¹´I always appreciate Bill Fitzgerald's thoughtful insights...and it may be worth underscoring here that performance criteria (including results) need to be meaningful if the process itself is to have real value. Thanks for highlighting that oddly overlooked fact.
Award-Winning Designer, Plastic Surgeon for Websites
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