The only thing worse than a surprising performance review is for HR to resign ourselves to letting a broken model linger.
Five-point scales do not provide meaningful segmentation, yet many feel nine-boxes are too complicated. If we can discover the latest scientific breakthrough, nine-boxes are viable. Our people deserve as much attention as we provide to our golden widget and best client.
Ultimately, employees want to feel recognized and rewarded; organizations need to motivate and retain talent in conjunction with succession and strategic talent planning. While purse strings dictate much, the method matters.
Without throwing the baby out with the bathwater and for the leader without the ability to fundamentally change your performance model, what can be done? Add one small twist to your review.
The Twist
Instead of strictly framing one’s performance around outcomes – “what” was achieved, extend the “how” from the values and behaviors used to achieve the “what” to a full reflection exercise about skill development. For instance,
If not for X, I could not have done Y.
Through doing Y, I learned or developed X.
The irony of performance reviews, which are synonymous with merit increases in the minds of so many, is that the perpetual increase will follow the employee for a single year’s performance. Theoretically, one and done performance will pay off for years to come. However, this assumes the entire process results in more than a masked cost of living increase.
(Can you tell I’m a little crunchy? Having implemented traditional processes, aiming to make the resulting conversations meaningful, I’m still not in love with industry norms.)
Benefits
Many organizations relegate development conversations to mid-year touchpoints because this conversation feels far less taxed than goal setting or review conversations; however, a similar tone could and should play a role in a review’s self-assessment. In addition to saying, “I did X,” extend the phase to “I did X and learned Y.” Better yet – “I did X and learned Y, which will enable me to do Z next.”
This formula helps employees articulate personal growth and advancing professional value. This turns the merit increase from “pay for performance” to “pay for proven potential.” The former, consciously or unconsciously, makes employees feel they have to perform at a higher level before being paid for that level. The latter mimics a job interview because it emphasizes transferable skills and future value demonstrated by past performance.
This nuance has the potential to make all the difference.
When one’s development is weighted more evenly with tangible outcomes, employees recognize that the organization values it the way they do. Not only do employees see growth as a means to promotion, but by including it in the performance process, organizations can document it with due rigor and just in time for annual succession planning efforts.
This conversation also surfaces the emerging and honed skills organizations possess, which they can use to redeploy internal talent, focus future development efforts and identify where external talent is needed to round out skill sets in an everchanging, fast-paced skills market.
To the Point
The next time you write a self-assessment or discuss performance be sure to ask, “What did you learn?” It’s that simple.
Image source: Tweak Your Biz
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