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Consultant opinion
Why Do Performance Appraisals Mostly Score "Below Expectations"? |
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More and more companies start practicing employee performance management in a formal way - once or two times a year. And, paradoxically, more and more persons come to doubt it has any value - employees as much as managers. Then why do they go on using it? Just because management books recommend it? Or because this is company policy?
Probably most of you have a performance management system running in the companies you are working for. The question is: how many of you do believe in its effectiveness?
Why does a model of which theory says it is so useful fail so often in practice? Below you will find some of the most common reasons:
1. Because the purpose of the appraisal is not clear.
We all rationally acknowledge that it is good to have a performance appraisal, but few of us deeply believe that it has any practical use.
It is a pity to start this chore - because it asks for a real effort in time and resources - of communicating the appraisal process, learning about how to perform it, preparing the meeting and the necessary information, printing, copying, distributing and filing the forms - if you don't know why you do it. Do a small exercise and find out what the performance appraisal can do for you.
2. Because the appraisal is looking towards the past.
Maybe the name that this process inherited has something to do with this too. When you say "appraisal" or "evaluation" you are normally thinking of something what went before, while just one part of the interview has to deal with what happened in the past and evaluate performance. What would it be like to look just in the rear mirror while driving? It is as important to see what you want to do from now on in order to keep or improve performance. During the second part of the appraisal interview you set the objectives for the next period and the measures which will help you reach them.
So - those of you who have a better idea of how we could call this process which is labeled "performance evaluation" today - please write to me.
3. Because giving feedback is difficult - and receiving it, too.
Sitting face to face and giving direct feedback, looking in the other's eyes and possibly telling him/her what he/she did wrong - is difficult and unpleasant for many of us. There are few people who know how to reveal to somebody that their performance is weaker than what is required and what he could offer or that his attitude or behavior at certain points negatively affects the group.
The other side isn't much comfier either: listening to what the boss has to say about you often is rather embarrassing. Many feel awkward when they have to show how good they were, plead their case or justify their actions.
Both parts feel that the situation is rather artificial, and understandably tend to avoid it.
4. Because the performance appraisal is always postponed or cancelled.
It is awkward, it is artificial. Which better reasons can we find to say "business comes first" and cling to anything which keeps this unpleasant moment away? Postponing is a clear message that the performance appraisal is not important and that there are other priorities. How should employees believe their management when it states that they are a valuable resource - their most valuable resource - when the process which serves for developing this resource is shown no significance?
5. Because the focus lies on forms.
It is normal to put down what is decided during a performance appraisal. Nevertheless, when you pay more attention to filling out the form than to the actual purpose of the appraisal, then you are wasting your time and energy. If all you are asked to do is give back the filled-out form, than this is what you will do, you will return a form.
6. Because you haven't prepared for the appraisal.
The person going to the interview without having thought of what happened during the evaluated period will have more difficulties defending his point of view. To come unprepared means not to have your reasons ready. Whether you want it or not, your position becomes passive and you get defensive. For those having a manager role it is therefore useful to write down various comments during the year, which will be helpful at the time of the formal appraisal. For those who will be evaluated it is the same: make sure you keep track of things that you did well and which bring you closer to your objectives. Settle your objectives for the next period yourselves so that during appraisal you will only discuss and validate them with your manager.
7. Because what was settled during appraisal remains mere words on a sheet of paper.
The paper gets in the personnel file and there it stays. Many of us have heard or even spoke things like this: "Whenever I had an appraisal, there was no result whatsoever. I was not rewarded if I did well and I had to bear no consequence if I screwed it." If performance appraisals have no impact on one's professional life during the following months, it follows quite logically that those involved lose their faith in its validity as a process.
8. Because the performance appraisal is deemed to be an isolated event rather than an ongoing process.
Feedback which is given once in a blue moon and which comes late loses its credibility. Many managers complain about not having time to offer constant feedback all along the year. If we think it over, a manager who has no time for tracking and encouraging the performance of his employees is like a teacher who no longer has time to deal with his students.
This is why ideally a performance appraisal only formalizes a process which went on during the entire year. There are no surprises when an ongoing communication exists between manager and employee, and the final evaluation is easy to do and comes naturally. If communication functioned seamlessly, formal evaluation systems would probably become superfluous.
9. Because objectives are not SMART.
It is a cliche, you will say; everybody knows that objectives have to be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound. Nevertheless this is the no. 1 mistake, having the strongest impact on the outcome of a performance appraisal. When the objective is something like "The successful completion of the project", defining success can be very different for the one performing the appraisal and the one who is being evaluated. In order to avoid arguments and frustrations during appraisal, make sure you agree a performance indicator for each objective before moving on.
I have written about several reasons for which the performance evaluation system becomes inefficient, and all people involved lose their trust in the whole process as such.
The biggest challenge is a fundamental one: convincing those who have been repeatedly disappointed by the performance evaluation system that it is worth existing at all.
What's your experience? Write to me at sandra.jitianu@ensight.ro.
Sandra Jitianu
Ensight Consultant
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