Jul 28, 2009

Why are Performance Reviews de-energizing?

Frank Roche asks:

Is there anyone out there who looks forward to their annual performance reviews? Let’s hear it.

And I am reminded of this post I wrote some years back. 

The success of forced ranking lies in good goal planning. In fact for any appraisal system the input (goals) have to be good. Otherwise what comes out (results) is useless and gives rise to heartburn ! The problem with goals is that they are ritualistically set once a year and rarely updated as reality changes. And I would add: Not many managers know how to set good realistic goals - and goals are not calibrated within the organization, though the results are!

As employees we go out and renegotiate contracts with customers and vendors, so why do we never renegotiate our goals with our bosses?