The Fatal Flaws of the Performance Review

Cue the scary music.  No one looks forward to them, not the boss and not the employee.  So are they even needed?  Here’s some articles that suggest giving the performance review the heave-ho… Wall Street Journal, Forbes-Kruse, Forbes-Lawler, Nelson Motivation.  While I think there’s definitely a place for the performance review in today’s Corporate America, I also think it has some fatal flaws too.

 

Fatal Flaw #1:  Standardized

While I understand and can appreciate the need to evaluate employees consistently, the fact remains that every manager, employee, and job is different.  A standardized appraisal form may overstate or understate the skills/competencies needed for any particular position.  Or worse yet, it may completely overlook other critical areas key to success.  While standardization keeps HR and Legal happy, it may not be the best for the employee.

 

Fatal Flaw #2:  Subjective

Think back to high school.  Remember having a teacher who gave A’s to just about everyone?  What about the teacher who never gave out A’s and barely any B’s?  It seemed no matter the level of your effort and performance, the potential range for your grade was mostly pre-determined.  I’ve seen the same when it comes to performance reviews too.  Also, it doesn’t help when a company’s culture predetermines that very few people may receive ‘exceeds expectations’ or 'does not meet expectations’ ratings.

 

Fatal Flaw #3:  Link to raises

Face it, the company has predetermined the level of raises to be given for the year.  Whether you are a high flyer or a slacker, most people will end up getting roughly the same raise.  Getting people to think that their performance over the past year was a primary factor in determining their raise is a crock, not to mention a morale killer.

 

Fatal Flaw #4:  Infrequent and after the fact

As we all know, for feedback to be effective, it needs to be immediate.  Getting a pat on the back or slap on the wrist for something that happened 9 months ago doesn’t work.  Managers should be continuously communicating with employees throughout the year.  There should be nothing new to present during a performance review.

 

Fatal Flaw #5:  Managerial prioritization of employees

This is less a statement about performance reviews than it is about the managerial approach in Corporate America.  How many managers with direct reports view their employees as their number one job responsibility?  If the manager has a deliverable due and an employee has a critical need, which one will the manager prioritize?  No suspense here.  The employee will have to wait.  More often than not, I’ve seen minimal managerial effort when it comes to performance reviews… spending 10 minutes with the employee, requiring the employee to write up his/her own review, providing no feedback in the appraisal’s comments section, or skipping the review altogether.

I think the much more important conversation managers should have with employees is the forward-looking goals discussion.  While the backward-looking performance review has its place, the goals discussion helps set expectations and gives employees a road map for the future.