What can we do to make performance reviews more productive and less distasteful? Should their objectives be scaled back to just one or two? Should they be disengaged from the determination of compensation and, if so, how?

Opinions run the gamut and I was surprised how many people favor forced ranking systems. Nevertheless, great comments…

1. Do they improve performance by employees?
2. Do they work for managers?
3. How do they affect a company’s bottom line?

I’ve found a lot of opinions and impressions concerning questions 1 and 2 above, but no hard evidence, one way or the other, related to question 3.

Right now, I’m reading “Abolishing Performance Appraisals: Why they backfire and what to do instead” by Tom Coens and Mary Jenkins (Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2000). Here’s their take:

“In the interest of honesty at the outset, let us say it is our fervent belief that appraisal does not work. It impedes the reception of feedback, and there is no solid evidence that it motivates people or leads to meaningful improvement. Due to it’s inherent design flaws, appraisal produces distorted and unreliable data about the contribution of employees. Consequently, the resulting documentation is not useful for staffing decisions and often does not hold up in court. Too often, appraisal destroys human spirit and, in the span of a 30-minute meeting, can transform a vibrant, highly committed employee into a demoralized, indifferent wallflower who reads the want ads on the weekend.

“Our harsh censure of appraisal rests on a solid foundation. Academia, industry and professional associations have intensely scrutinized appraisal for more than 50 years now, producing hundreds of studies, surveys and articles. Despite a strong bias by many researchers who favor appraisal or imply that appraisal is indispensable, these studies and surveys offer scant evidence of appraisal’s success. A survey by the Society of Human Resources Management found that more than 90% of appraisal systems were not successful. Another survey by Development Dimensions Incorporated, a leading H.R. consulting firm, found that most employees expressed ‘overwhelming’ dissatisfaction with their performance management systems. In an Industry Week survey, only 18% of respondents said their performance reviews were effective, with 48% of respondents calling them ‘second-guessing sessions.’ A 1997 survey by Aon Consulting and the Society of Human Resources Management found that a mere 5% of H.R. professionals polled reported that they were ‘very satisfied’ with their performance management systems.” (pp.17-18)

Coens and Jenkins provide a lot of information about why appraisal fails, but there’s still a problem. Performance appraisal systems will continue to be used by most companies unless solid evidence of problems are presented and a clear alternative is available. The authors only recommend processes and criteria companies should use to design alternative systems (so far, still reading…).

Maybe that’s the best answer, but it doesn’t really get the “abolish performance appraisal” ball rolling, does it?

• Approximately 90 percent of surveyed employees participate in a performance management program.
• Only 30 percent of employees believe the program helps them improve their performance.
• Less than 40 percent say the system establishes clear performance goals or generates honest feedback.
• Only 39 percent of employees see the connection between their day-to-day work and company goals.
• Only 54 percent of workers think their companies set high performance standards.
• Only 44 percent feel that people are held accountable for their performance.
• 20 percent say their companies help poorly performing employees improve.
• 43 percent of employees feel they don’t get enough guidance to improve their performance.
• Only 38 percent of employees say that their company uses technology to streamline the performance management process.

These numbers are subject to interpretation. For example, while Watson Wyatt reports 30 percent believe their company’s performance evaluation process helps them improve performance, only five percent strongly agree with that statement. Put another way, 95 percent of employees think their system could be improved! Similarly, 93 percent of employees think the connection between their work and company goals could be improved!

Watson Wyatt says these numbers present a measurable opportunity to improve financial results and productivity. Their recommendations:

1. Eliminate “HR-speak” and focus on business results in the performance management process
2. Recognize top performers and confront poor performers as soon as possible
3. Implement user-friendly automation to re-engage managers and employees

Great suggestions all. Still, it’s not clear that automating current performance evaluation processes will lead to improve a company’s bottom-line performance.

It’s hard to remember my feelings. I know I went to work that day, but specific memories and feelings all seem gone now. I remember trying to reach friends who worked in the Trade Center and in the World Financial Center across the street. It took awhile, but I was able to talk to them. Everyone I personally knew was OK. They told harrowing stories about dodging falling debris, about walking up West Street, crossing the Brooklyn Bridge, crossing the Queensborough bridge, on foot. Walking endlessly. But at least they were safe.

I remember watching the news over the next few days. The recovery efforts. About the missing. Pictures of people holding photographs of their absent family members and friends. The stories about heroic fire-fighters and police lost in the collapsed buildings. Stories about Cantor-Fitzgerald.

Mostly, I remember the sound. High-pitched. Shrill. Not sure what caused the sound. Maybe car alarms? The image on TV was gray, smoke, cloudy, hazy, nothingness. Just that sound, seemingly for days.

There were also “there-but-for-the-grace-of-God” feelings. I’d spent a ton of time in and around the WTC. I worked in 2 WTC for one week in 1985 before moving across the street to the American Express Building. Even after moving to California, I spent a lot of time there when our NYC offices were temporarily back at WTC. Earlier in my career, I’d spent a lot of time in both towers: At the Governor’s office, Port Authority, the World Trade Institute, Windows on the World, the restaurants on the Concourse level. I passed through the WTC almost daily on my way to work for quite awhile.

I remember photographing the towers. I remember thinking about photographing them. I took them for granted. They had been there since I was a teenager. I don’t ever remember them not being there. Until 9/11/2001.

The months following 9/11 were full of minor personal upheaval. I was changing jobs. Then the new job wasn’t as promised, so I wasn’t changing jobs. I was told that, since I had been planning to leave, the board wanted me to keep leaving. So I offered to resign anyway only to have my new boss ask me to stay. Confusing, yes. So I took some time off, flying off to the Caribbean. A week of doing nothing seemed perfect. Didn’t even take my sticks. And perfect it was…

Our return trip was through New York’s JFK Airport. We heard the NYC weather was going to be in 70’s, highly unusual for December. We didn’t have cold weather clothes with us, so the weather seemed like a blessing. So at the last minute, we arranged to stay over in New York for a couple of days before returning home to California.

We went to dinner the night we arrived. Carnegie Deli, same as usual. New York seemed normal. Just like always. Maybe a little quieter. Not sure.

The next day, we took the subway downtown, and went to an exhibit of WTC photographs hosted by two or three galleries in SoHo. We’d seen many images of 9/11 and the aftermath before, but nothing like all these photographs by amateur and professional photographers. It was truly amazing. And devastating.

We continued our journey, heading south again. We got off at Fulton Street. I figured we’d head over to South Street Seaport, grab some lunch, and then try to get close to Ground Zero. The thing is, I forgot my geography. We climbed the stairs to the street. I turned around and realized where we were. One block from the Trade Center. Except, the Towers were no longer there.

I can’t begin to describe what I felt at that moment. I think I was numb. I know there were tears. Emptiness. Sadness. Anger. I felt everything, fresh, as if for the first time.

The towers were truly gone. This wasn’t a dream. There were still a few shards of the Towers standing, almost in memoriam. Those shards were what I used to walk through entering the building. They were always there, and now they were all that was left.

Devastation. Devastating.

All we could do was walk and look. At what wasn’t there. At the faces, the tears of others we encountered. We must have all looked like zombies. Nothing like the actual event, people walking through dust and debris. And bodies. But zombies nevertheless. The walking wounded.

I’m thankful I had a chance to make that visit. To just be there. One of the most moving moments of my life, and I’ve had a few.

This morning I watched MSNBC’s rebroadcast of that day’s Today Show coverage. I got to see Katie and Matt report on the attack of 1 WTC, saw the plane hit the North tower (2 WTC), saw that tower collapse. Basically, I was able to watch everything I missed that morning, almost real-time. It’s been five years. A lot has changed since then, but the feelings, at least the ones I remember, are still very real.

“According to one study by Watson Wyatt, the human resources consulting firm, only 3 in 10 employees believed that their companies’ performance review system actually improved performance. In another study by the firm, almost half of the employers surveyed thought that their managers were at best only slightly effective in helping underperforming employees to improve.”

Those findings feel right, but focus on what managers or employees think about their systems, not how the programs affect actual company performance.

Holland suggests there’s no consensus on a replacement:

“But performance reviews are unlikely to disappear. Many companies believe that a paper trail of reviews can protect them against lawsuits from former employees, and many consultants and human resources executives contend that well-designed reviews, along with frequent conversations about performance, can truly help employees improve and develop.”

50 to 70 percent of managers and employees think their programs are not working, but there’s no movement to change them. Wonder why? According to Watson Wyatt’s study:

“Many corporations view their performance management programs as ‘organizational wallpaper,’ meaning they exist only in the background and aren’t expected to add value.”

Maybe I can’t find hard data because performance mananagement isn’t expected to add value in the first place?

What do you think about performance review systems? Do they help the bottom line? How would you design a replacement?

“In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts; they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty.”

I recently had an idea. Seems like a good one. May work. Maybe not. I know I need feedback. Different points of view. Asked for some help. At first the help was helpful. Then it wasn’t. So I walked away.

Not from the idea.

From the help.

The point is, again, I don’t know whether my idea has legs. Like most ideas, you have to:

• put some life into them
• give them some space
• let them breathe
• let them float around a bit

Time will tell. Not too much time. You may have to walk away. Just not now, not at the beginning.

Don’t let your own thoughts get rejected lest that ‘work of genius’ (or workable solution to a small problem) get crushed way, waaaaay too soon.

So I’m looking for help that’s, well, helpful.

That’s all I’m saying…

Consider this a corollary to this misquote of H.L. Mencken: “For every complicated problem, there’s a simple solution—and it’s wrong…” (visit QOTD for the actual quote and some discussion about how it’s often misquoted)