How to Grow Part 3: Rethink Annual Performance Appraisals

It’s 1:53 pm, which means Adam has 7 minutes to prepare for his annual performance appraisal. He was so busy working on this last major report he lost track of time. As he walks to his supervisor’s office door, the butterflies set in deeper and deeper in his stomach with each passing step. Why?

Because the annual performance appraisal could mean a raise, punishment, or - heaven forbid - be the first step in the long road to being “let go”. He feels like he’s performed well throughout the last year, well above par, but he doesn’t know if his supervisor feels the same way. As Adam quickly conducts a self performance appraisal in his head, he becomes increasingly anxious about his impending performance appraisal. He walks into his supervisors office and…

Let’s be honest. Annual performance appraisals can scare employees. They are expected to understand the ramifications of their performance over the last year and prepare for their performance over the next 365 days. Considering that’s an average of about 2,000 working hours, we can assume that employees won’t remember everything they were told during their annual performance appraisal. Moreover, the infrequency of the review makes it a much more daunting practice. So, how can employers take the uncertainty, anxiety, and ultimate ineffectiveness out of the traditional annual performance appraisal? It’s time to rethink the way companies conduct employee feedback.

Frequency: Maybe lose the annual bit?

Communication is key to a successful team, right? Well, annual performance appraisals limit the dedicated opportunities for employees to have an open discussion with their supervisors about their work. Increasing the frequency of performance appraisals will broaden employee’s goals and actualize where their work fits into organizational objectives. The problem with traditional employee performance appraisals is that they spark a “fight or flight” response in the human brain. 

This fight or flight reflex causes colleagues to work against each other. In fact, it can negate the thoughtful and collaborative atmosphere needed to improve performance. Guided conversations during reviews are more effective in getting employees involved in the discussion. The active participation decreases the stress of the event and increases performance improvement thereafter.

 

Identification

How to Grow Part 1: Performance Management in 3… 2… briefly touched on performance appraisals as a key aspect in corporate talent management. To grow on that point, a primary fear facet of appraisals is simply the lack of reviewing the employee’s performance. Part 1 said:

“Is it really a performance appraisal if it doesn’t truly identify performance? The answer is no. In fact, performance appraisals are sometimes wildly erroneous and can lead to more performance problems than they actually solve. For example, two-thirds of employees who receive the highest marks during their performance appraisal are quite frankly not the organization’s top performers.”

In essence, when employees are unaware of specific points of poor or good performance, it can lead to anxiety between reviews. If employees are not given the tools they need to solve - much less identify - problems, they can’t be expected to fix performance issues. As an effort to dismiss fear from the appraisal process, remember this formula:

●      Recognize good and poor performance = Objectivity

●      Identify problems and offer solutions = Ownership

●      Tracking development and maintenance = Growth

The Road Ahead

Organizations, albeit changing slowly, have begun the process of altering their current performance appraisal programs to see better results. Currently, 39% of companies already reviewed and changed their performance management within the last 18 months. Another 31% are in the process of evaluating their system. Companies like Adobe have already changed their appraisal programs, and have seen a development in the effectiveness of the feedback.

Tweet This: 39% of companies have changed their performance management within the last 18 months. 

Employee performance appraisals don’t have to be scary. They aren’t meant to be punishment; the goal is to monitor growth and performance of each employee and augment it accordingly. Raise the number of times per year management evaluates employee performance. The results include, but are not limited to: decreased appraisal anxiety, increased effectiveness, and better communication up and down the leadership ladder to successfully reach goals. Help your employees help you. Provide better performance appraisals with guided discussion versus strict guidelines that don’t allow room for open communication. The road ahead looks promising, it’s time to get on the right path. 

Watch a demo of Reviewsnap's performance appraisal software to get started.

Don’t miss out on the rest of this series:

How to Grow Part 1: Performance Management in 3… 2…

How to Grow Part 2: Compensation Motivation

Manager's Review vs. Self-Review - Where's the Disconnect?

We've all dealt with employees who believe their performance is well above the level of performance as represented by the performance review that we completed for them. Their self-review comes in with extremely high ratings and glowing comments about their performance. Ours shows ratings well below theirs and our comments are less than glowing.

How can there be such a disconnect? Let me count the ways:

The Manager

• The manager subscribes to the notion that no employee should be given high ratings because they need something to strive for or the infamous "no employee is truly outstanding on a consistent basis".
• The manager doesn't have a good handle on the employee's work and level of performance and hasn't been diligent about journaling (documenting) performance "events" during the review period
• The manager is a victim of "central tendency bias" whereby they are hesitant to select ratings on either end of the rating scale.
• The manager, for whatever reason, doesn't like the employee and lacks the maturity and professionalism to rate the employee based on work behavior and performance.
• The manager hurriedly completed his employee reviews and didn't put enough thought into any of the employees' reviews.
• The manager is measuring performance against poorly constructed goals and expectations for the employee.
• The manager has a great handle on the employee's performance and work behavior, has done an excellent job of documenting performance "events" during the review period, is very objective and thorough and carefully thought through the review and rated the employee according to sound logic and reasoning .

The Employee

• The employee is a narcissistic egomaniac.
• The employee is completely out of touch with reality.
• The employee has a bad attitude and is out to make some sort of odd point.
• The employee lacks a sense of self-awareness.
• The employee has an entitlement mentality.
• The employee is measuring his/her performance against goals and expectations that differ from those used by the manager.
• The employee is making mental comparisons to co-workers who are known underperformers.
• The employee knows his/her performance falls below the ratings placed on the self-review, but he/she is hoping to place seeds of doubt in the manager's mind thinking it could sway a change in the manager's ratings.
• The employee is truly performing at levels well above those perceived by the manager and is, for the most part, accurately reflecting his/her performance.

Okay, so this probably isn't a complete list for either the manager or the employee, but you get the point. In a perfect world, the manager and the employee are very objective, very professional and have a great handle on the actual performance of the employee leading to a lot of agreement on the performance review for the employee. But we all know this isn't a perfect world.

The good news is that most employees and most managers try to be as objective and honest as possible when doing reviews. It isn't all that common that a wide gap exists between the two. But it does happen.

To minimize the impact of a disparity of any significance between the self-review and the manager's review, it is important that the manager do, at a minimum, these five things:

Document all positive and negative performance events hat are of any significance for each employee over each review period. Discipline yourself to take time to make performance journal entries as the event of significance occur. This documentation will prove invaluable in preparing the review and in supporting your ratings.

When goals and expectations are being established, meet with the employee and make certain you are both on the same page in terms of what each really means. The employee should have a crystal clear understanding of what is expected of them over the upcoming review period or longer.

Carefully complete the performance review and be able to substantiate ratings with sound and logical comments.

Forget as best you can any unfair biases you might have about the employee. Rate them based on their work behavior/performance for each competency and not on things that are irrelevant to the review itself.

Based on the review as it was prepared, anticipate questions or arguments the employee might raise during the review session and be ready to respond logically and rationally to those questions.

Obviously performance reviews are a valuable component in measuring and elevating perfomance in any organization. Make sure you've done your homework so that on those rare occasions when there is a wide gulf between your ratings and the employee's ratings you can skillfully present a strong case to support.

Secret of the Day - Avoid the Surprise Review

Okay, it's definitely not a secret, but it can't be stressed enough that feedback about employee performance is not a once a year event. Performance feedback needs to be well placed and timely particularly when there are performance issues.

When an employee gets to his or her review there really shouldn't be any surprises in terms of issues related to their performance. The concerns of the manager should be well known to the employee well in advance of the actual review unless the performance problems arose just before the review is conducted.

Surprise reviews that are full of concerns and issues previously unknown to the employee simply means that appropriate and timely feedback isn't taking place. And the employee is not being coached to higher levels of performance and hasn't been given the opportunity to correct performance issues. Yes, there are the "lost causes", so to speak, but they generally don't get to a formal performance review unless an interim review is completed to support termination or final disciplinary action. But we're really talking about those employees who can be coached and seem to have the underlying potential to fill the job they hold.

When a review is completed after 6 months of poor work quality, for example, and the employee has not been coached about this issue, yet ratings related to to work quality are low, a fairness issue comes into play. Had the manager discussed the performance problems months earlier, the employee may have corrected the problems and the review would likely have reflected the improvement....or at least should have. Of course, it's entirely possible that the employee would not have made the necessary corrections in performance levels and in that case the low ratings on the review would accurately reflect performance after attempts by the manager to assist the employee in correcting the issue. But the employee needs a chance to understand exactly where deficiencies exist and what they need to do to correct the deficiencies.

Managers who are engaged in the process of employee development understand that immediate and appropriate feedback is the best way to correct performance issues. Doing so also helps avoid the surprises on reviews that can end up causing more harm than good. A general rule of performance management is that performance reviews should reflect largely what the employee has already been made aware of.

Employees deserve a manager's attention and effective coaching. Stress this in your organization and don't allow surprises of any significance to crop up during an employee's performance review. For those "lost cause" employees, don't hesitate to cut your losses and terminate as needed.

It's Here! Download ReviewSNAP's Benefits-Based Performance Management White Paper

ReviewSNAP has developed an innovative approach to conducting performance reviews and ongoing feedback in a way that clearly conveys to the employee the benefits that accrue to them when they embrace workplace behavioral changes. This new, innovative approach is called Benefits-Based Performance Management™ (BBPM™). We have created a white paper on BBPM and you can now download that white paper by clicking on the image below. If you have any questions or would like to discuss this approach or performance management in general please don't hesitate to contact us at 800-516-5849 or email us at info@reviewsnap.com

Extension to a Good Post on Performance Management

This morning I read a good post on Renegade HR called "Create a Performance Management Culture The Ghandi Way" and I want to extend my thoughts on this approach. All too often companies do their reviews once a year and forget about the employee's development until next year's reviews come around. Then when it comes time for next year's reviews the managers rate the employees similar or identical to the previous review and their development plan looks no different than the previous year's.

To avoid this situation, managers need to journal and discuss with the employee where they stand on their performance and how they might improve their skills. This is beneficial to the company in a couple of ways. First, this will help maximize an employee's production by ensuring that they will work to improve their skill set. Second, this ensures the most accurate reviews and helps avoid unnecessary or overly generous compensation increases.

It's okay to do official reviews only once a year, but it's important that communication is strong between the manager and employee along the way. Only positives comes out of strong, accurate, and ongoing communication, so why avoid it?

Cosmetic Changes to ReviewSNAP

Have you been to ReviewSNAP lately and wondered if you were at the right site? No need to worry........you were at the right place. Recently we made a few cosmetic changes to our site giving it more of a dynamic, fresh look. The site was simplified with more image links and buttons. We've added the new buttons below and you can feel free to sign up for a free trial, watch the demo or request a live demo.

Latest ReviewSNAP Additions

Recently, based on requests from some of our clients, ReviewSNAP has added the capability of attaching documents such as job descriptions as well as attaching documents to our feedback area. Clients wanted to know how they could add job descriptions and other documents into the system and still avoid a lot of scrolling? To address this question, it was decided that we would allow clients to attach job descriptions in their current document form. Another area that this capability was added to was the "Create/View Feedback" section. Now you will be able to attach any past reviews to be viewed when it comes time for the upcoming review. You can also attach other documents such as disciplinary documents and emails. This function will prove quite helpful in making a smooth transition to an automated review process.

Spellchecker and Format Editor Added to ReviewSNAP

Everyone at some point questions whether or not they spelled something correctly or they used the correct grammar. Well you no longer need to worry about that when adding comments/suggestion, development plans or adding job descriptions to the ReviewSNAP Performance Management System.

Not only did we add the ability to spell-check your content, but you now have the ability to format it as well. As part of the spell-checker addition we have also added a What-You-See-Is-What-You- Get (WYSIWYG) editor allowing you to add bullets, numbering, bolding, underlining, italicizing, and more.

Annual Subscription or Licensed Software

Currently ReviewSNAP is offered as a annual subscription Web-based performance review system. However, we are considering offering ReviewSNAP as a licensed product as well. So, rather than subscribing on an annual basis you will pay a one time fee and ReviewSNAP will be hosted on your server. Our question is which option would your company prefer? We would appreciate any feedback you have to offer.

Invest Wisely In Information Technology

The rate of change in information technology is staggering. It seems that as soon as you purchase and install a new piece of hardware or software, its replacement is hitting the market. This is one reason why using a Web-based performance review system, such as ReviewSNAP, would be highly beneficial. ReviewSNAP requires no implementation on your company's server and changes can constantly be made at no cost to you. Because information technology can be a real help to a business in terms of providing better efficiency, better analysis of operations and marketing efforts and better customer service, it is an essential part of the business world. In fact, many businesses have learned how to gain a competitive advantage by utilizing technologies such as data warehousing and geographic information systems.

But it is critical that businesses carefully evaluate how information technology will be applied. In many cases, old systems are slow and inefficient and simply don't perform at acceptable levels any longer. Or the business has grown or changed enough that old software isn't compatible with the way the business operates. In these cases, it is wise to begin looking at newer technologies and solutions. But before you select a particular system or software package, do your homework. Major software changes or upgrades can disrupt business if not carefully planned for. Software vendors are notorious for selling product with promises that don't get met. Don't let a vendor sell you software that won't do what you need it to do. If modifications are necessary to the software, make sure they are well defined.

Gather as much input as necessary from those who perform the actual work on a daily basis. They will be able to tell you what works and doesn't work so well with the existing software or system. Develop a specifications list that defines exactly the functionality required to mesh with current and anticipated operations.

Try to avoid buying more or less technology than you will need. To approach the implementation of technology with fingers tightly wrapped around the wallet will only hinder your ability to function in the future. And, conversely, buying more technology than you will need is simply a waste of money. In terms of desktop technology, it is important to buy (or lease) equipment that will sufficiently handle the amount of work pushed through it. It makes little sense to save a few dollars and sacrifice processing speed. What little is gained in initial outlay is more than lost in inefficiency.

Also, be careful not to apply new technology to inefficient processes. Before applying a technology such as imaging to a process, work on refining the core processes so that the technology is applied to as efficient and user friendly processes as possible. See Refine Processes the Easy Way for more information on process refinement.

ReviewSNAP Price Increase - Lock In Now

ReviewSNAP™ has recently launched several enhancements and modules to our Web-based performance management system. These include:

•eSignature to help you make your performance review process completely paperless.
•Comment suggestions to help managers/reviewers find just the right verbiage to support ratings.
•Employee import feature that allows you to import your existing employee information to the system.
•Logo upload that lets you personalize the system and review templates to your specific organization.

Also, we will soon be launching our compensation recommendation tool. This enhancement will allow you to create recommended percentage increases for employees’ compensation based on overall ratings. This feature can be turned on or off at your discretion.

As you may know, ReviewSNAP360™, a complete 360 degree feedback module will be bundled with the current performance review solution. It will afford your organization the opportunity to gather important feedback from superiors, peers, and subordinates on employee levels including managers, team leaders, group supervisors, and other staff levels of your choice.

Our goal is to offer the most powerful and flexible system possible at the most affordable prices. Due to the recent enhancements and the imminent release of ReviewSNAP360™, annual subscription rates will be going up.

Since you are currently or have been a free trial member we are offering you the opportunity to subscribe to ReviewSNAP at the current subscription rates until 11/15/2008. If you do subscribe to ReviewSNAP prior to the 15th and don't exceed your initial employee limit, you will be locked in at that price for annual renewals.

Although our prices will be changing they will still remain the most affordable on the market and you will have access to the most powerful version of ReviewSNAP yet.

Are Your Performance Reviews Efficient?

Does your current review process work efficiently? Is it too much of a hassle to even worry about? Let us know what you think about your current review process by clicking on the link below and filling out a quick two question survey.

Performance Review Process Survey

Go Paperless and Automate Your Reviews

If you are looking for the simplest answer to transitioning from manual paper reviews to an automated system then ReviewSNAP is your answer. There is no software implementation or implementation costs and you will have access to the system as soon as you have subscribed to ReviewSNAP. With ReviewSNAP's recent implementation of our new eSignature and comment suggestion functions you can fully automate your performance review process and go paperless as well.

In today's world green initiatives are extremely important and by using our eSignature process you will be able to avoid having to print any paper. Your reviews will ALWAYS be stored on a highly secure server, so you will have access to them no matter what and you can have the peace of mind about your information being breached.

Performance reviews are an important process to a company's success, but many organizations use manual processes or inadequate software as their framework for managing performance evaluations. As a result most employees dread them because managers don't want to take the time to do them and most of the time employees don't know what to expect. ReviewSNAP makes your review process quick and simple and ensures the most accurate reviews with our feedback and goals and development plan functions.

Sign up for a 21 day free trial and see how ReviewSNAP can improve your company's performance and morale. We also offer live demo's, so if you would like to learn more about ReviewSNAP don't hesitate to contact us or call (800)516-5849.

Performance Appraisal Software

Capterra, a leading online destination for business software buyers, recently released a survey in which more than 1000 respondents shared what type of software their businesses are looking to buy. Performance Appraisal Software was desired by 13% of those who participated in the survey.

ReviewSNAP offers a highly flexible, Web-based performance appraisal system and was built to fit the needs of companies of all sizes and industries.

Automate Your Performance Review Process

Evaluating employee performance is an important part of providing clear feedback, improving morale and productivity,increasing accountability, and enhancing communication between the manager and the employee. Using a web-based solution to automate the process is a growing trend among organizations of all sizes and types.

ReviewSNAP™ provides an automated, web-based solution for conductingyour employee evaluations and for documenting performance on anongoing basis. It is highly flexible and allows for employeeself-evaluations and automatic notifications of approaching reviewdue dates. Check out reviewsnap today and take advantage of the freeno obligation 21 day trial.

Enhancements Made to ReviewSNAP

Hello ReviewSNAP Friends,

We are excited to announce two upcoming enhancements to the ReviewSNAP™ performance management system. The first is the addition of a summary statistics module that will allow you to view basic statistics about each employee’s performance review history, each department’s performance review history and your overall company’s performance review history. The new statistics feature will allow you focus in on each specific competency you are utilizing to assess trends, identify persistent performance issues, and develop coaching and training programs based on patterns that may be emerging. This module is expected to be released by early July 2008.

ReviewSNAP360™ is a comprehensive multi-rater feedback system that will fully compliment and augment the ReviewSNAP™ system. This powerful solution will allow you to set up feedback sessions and use automated notification processes to alert those involved. And, just like ReviewSNAP™, it will include a full library of multi-rater competencies/performance factors.

Your people are the key to your success (or failure). Why anyone hurries the hiring process is mind-boggling to say the least. Even in a tight labor market businesses want to hire the best of what's available.

Here are some tips for hiring good people:

-Be patient. Don't hurry the hiring process. We believe you are better off with a vacant position than having a marginal employee filling it.
-Develop a complete and accurate position description that details all aspects of the position.
-Develop what you feel is an ideal profile of the person that will fill the position.
-Utilize an employee assessment instrument in the hiring process. These tools are essential to uncovering a person's interests, ability and personality. The best instruments provide a profile of the individual against the ideal profile for the job.
-Spend a little extra time and money attracting as many quality candidates as possible. You will want to be able to select from as many good candidates as possible.
-Be prepared! Develop interview questions prior to any interviews. Focus on the desired traits and profile when developing interview questions. Design the questions to draw out traits and tendencies. Get at the past behavior of the candidate in the interview process. Have candidates explain situations they have dealt with in the past that are relevant to the job you are hiring for. -Put the candidates through a series of what if questions. These are situational in nature and force the candidate to think about what he/she would do in each situation.
-Once you have boiled the candidate field down to just a few people, bring the finalists back for a second round of interviews.
-Have several people interview the candidates. This allows for different perspectives and accounts for various biases.
-Examine your wage/salary and benefits structure. Are you at least competitive with the market? The best people will be attracted to the highest paying positions in most cases.
-Think long-term. Ask yourself if hiring the candidate is in the best interest of the organization. -Remember that hiring marginal employees has a devastating short and long-term impact on a business.

Establish A High Performance Culture

Your business should strive to be a high performing organization. Becoming a high performing business takes careful attention to detail and instilling a high level of accountability and discipline. When accountability for completing tasks and meeting expectations is lacking or loose, a business will have a very difficult time achieving a high performance state. Hiring good people is the first step in becoming a high performing business. Without excellent people who fit the jobs they are hired into an organization will struggle to consistently achieve at high levels. It is critical that everyone in the business understand that nothing less than high performance will be tolerated. The "bar" must be set realistically high in order to enahcne performance. At what level does your business perform?