RIP, Annual Performance Review!

Photo by Mark Duffel on Unsplash

Last year, Aggregage asked me to create a webinar about annual performance reviews. Ah, you just heard fingernails on a chalkboard, didn’t you?!

You can obtain the recording of the webinar that I did, either here:

 https://www.recruitingbrief.com/frs/8204107/killing-the-annual-performance-review--and-what-to-do-after-the-funeral/download

or, here: 

https://www.humanresourcestoday.com/frs/8204107/killing-the-annual-performance-review--and-what-to-do-after-the-funeral/download

I was told by Shelley Trout that this was the highest attended webinar in the history of the company (very grateful to Reflektive for sponsoring it!), and I honestly think it is because managers, globally, want to kill the annual performance review!

Author Todd Whitlock noted in his article, The History of Performance Reviews and the Future of Employee Evaluations,

“For years, employees have always grimaced at the thought of yearly performance reviews. We are judged for a year’s worth of work in a one-hour sitting, where we receive feedback based on what was documented or remembered by our manager. Seems kind of archaic, right? Well, that’s because it sort of is.”

Let’s take a look at why they exist.

In 1950, the US Government came out with the Performance Rating Act, and the categories were: Outstanding, Satisfactory, and Unsatisfactory. In 1954, the Incentives Award Act was passed, and this afforded federal employees with the ability to be awarded with cash for good performance. This ideology has been continued in perpetuity in companies large and small since that time! (Can you say ancient history?!)

If you look at any 100 job descriptions for HR Directors and Managers, they require “progressive leadership experience”. Sometimes, this translates to successfully doing the same things over and over again, consistently for years or decades. People in these roles may not have been permitted, challenged, or inspired to do things differently. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Nearly 2 million people subscribe to hr.com to learn best practices for today’s and tomorrow’s workforce. DisruptHR is another wonderful way to learn how to optimize, to make things better. We can always be learning and optimizing! They say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. Um, that was said by people who didn’t have old dogs! There are, however, reasons we don’t change things up.

·     We feel hopeless to affect change.

·     Upper management resists change.

·     We don’t know what to do/how to do it.

·     We are afraid of failure.

·     We, ourselves, are afraid of change.

Photo by Caleb Woods on Unsplash

When it comes to changing up performance reviews, the good news is that many organizations, small to large, are killing the annual performance review. So, what do you do after the funeral?

Your company may be measuring performance via OKRs (Objectives and Key Results), KPIs (Key Performance Indicators), or SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Timely). No matter the metrics, no matter if you are still stuck in “annual” review mode, you can leverage Agile methodology to engage in ongoing performance evaluations. Wut?!

Let’s take a look at how this plays out.

Agile Methodology was originally created for use in software development. The three key ingredients we will explore in adopting this methodology for performance management are:

·     Ongoing feedback

·     Shorter (WAY shorter!) timeframes for check-ins

·     Managers as Coaches

The most important thing that every person needs is feedback. In personal relationships, who has had to go for a whole year without knowing that the way you are squeezing the toothpaste tube has been irritating your partner? Would have been nice to learn that the first time, so you could change that up! And, what if your partner kept watching romcoms with you but would have preferred horror movies, and they didn’t say anything for a whole year? This is sort of the way things work with annual performance reviews.

Agile, on the other hand, makes use of ongoing conversations with regular 1:1s, touchpoints, etc. during “sprints”, which is a short period of time to review, reflect, regroup, revitalize, and re-engage. This works great with projects, but for those that are in roles that are not project-focused, minimally having check-ins every month or so will help to identify any misunderstandings so people can course-correct, and people can be recognized for staying the course or going above and beyond. At the very least, it should be quarterly, but that may not be as effective. (Longer than there’ve been fishes in the ocean…- Dan Fogelberg)

A little bit of praise and encouragement goes a very long way. Back in the day, it was an “Atta boy” or pat on the back, and today it is fist bumps and high fives. People like to know that their contributions are making a difference, that they are valued, and that they are part of something larger than themselves.

Photo by Dan Meyers on Unsplash

When was the last time you thanked your SO for ordering the take-out? Throwing a load into the washer? Filling up your gas tank? Daily tasks may not seem significant or noteworthy, but it isn’t about the deed, it is about the doer. It is the little things that count. The same for people in your company, and/or on your team. The daily things that are done routinely help things to run smoothly, and those who can be depended on to faithfully execute each and every time should not be ignored for a year. Those little things can be celebrated in an ongoing way. For a dollar, you can get something little that says a lot. Cash also works, if you have a budget for it! #ka-ching

The role of a manager as coach is not new. Traditionally, the role of the manager was to make sure everyone did their jobs. Today, they inspire, mentor, teach, hold accountable, and recognize even the smallest achievements with intangible and tangible rewards. We aren’t talking participation ribbons here; everyone has to contribute, and those contributions should not go a year unrecognized or uncelebrated.

In a SHRM article written by Dana Wilkie, the stats are staggering.

“CEB research has found that more than 9 in 10 managers are dissatisfied with how their companies conduct annual performance reviews, and almost 9 in 10 HR leaders say the process doesn’t yield accurate information. In addition, “they’re incredibly time-consuming,” said Rose Mueller-Hanson, HR practice leader at the CEB, who noted that in a recent CEB survey, managers said they spend an average of 210 hours a year in performance management activities. Managers said their employees, in turn, each spend 40 hours a year. Seventy-seven percent of HR executives, Mueller-Hanson said, believe performance reviews don’t accurately reflect employee contributions.”

That is a LOT of dissatisfied managers and HR leaders! Not to mention the time wasted in filling out these tedious forms.

In the webinar “Killing the Annual Performance Review, and What To Do After the Funeral”, I detail specific steps on how to get started, and how the process of agile performance management can be implemented. Of course, if you are not project-based, you can adapt, and the 1:1s don’t have to be daily but should be at least weekly. I am happy to engage with any company that would like to explore doing a change up of this most dreaded process, the annual review!

I have the privilege of working with start-ups and companies to optimize people operations and talent management through Exemplary Consultants. Connect with me here: linkedin.com/in/joweech and follow me on Twitter: @joweech.