Are Appraisal's finished?

Picture this, it is the final quarter of the year and a manager's mind turns towards annual ritual that is the year end appraisal. Now I don't know about you but many employees and their managers dread this event. Research I undertook in 2012/3 found that of the 30+ companies I spoke to, respondents indicated that they felt that the appraisal systems utilized in their company was disproportionately expensive to administer, overly complex and a bureaucratic box ticking exercise that often failed to deliver value.

Although it was never intended this way, too many employees found that performance feedback from their manager wasn't always forthcoming during the year and it wasn't unusual for performance issues to be raised at the year end and the conversation would deteriorate into an 'argument' over a numeric performance rating, rather than a constructive discussion on past and future performance. Interestingly this was more prevalent in larger companies, with complex performance management systems, in comparison with smaller companies with a less formal. As one respondent said, "We don't really have a performance management system, I simply review individual and team objectives with my team each week and we work on areas which need extra support or assistance."

But since then have organizations taken the opportunity to rethink the way organizations assess and manage performance?

The Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development (CIPD) highlighted that midway last year services firm Accenture decided to scrap the annual appraisal for it's employees, joining companies such as Microsoft and Gap in moving towards a more informal methodology for feeding back on performance achievement. In addition companies such as Google, Facebook and Netflix have scrapped appraisals entirely. 

However, those companies doing away with formal appraisals aren’t abandoning performance management entirely. A culture of more regular, informal feedback was often the approach being used. By managers pointing out problems as they arise, employees have the opportunity to address issues proactively to make an immediate difference to the business. In our workshop Managing the Unmanageable www.managingtheunmanageable.ca we focus on developing and supporting managers to do just this in a supportive way.

However simply getting rid of appraisal reviews won't solve the problem, as CIPD, CEO, Peter Cheese says: “If you’ve got managers who think their job is telling people what to do, and beating staff up all the time, then just stripping out the formal procedures won’t work. You’ve got to build the organization’s dynamics to create a more trusting environment.”

What's your experience of annual appraisals?

Is Authenticity as a Leader Over Rated?

I have been reading a book entitled “Act Like a Leader, Think like a Leader” by Herminia Ibarra which has raised some interesting considerations about what “authenticity” means as a leader and also what Ibarra considers to be the new rules of management, which I’ve outlined below.

People become leaders unofficially – at one time there was a distinct moment when people became leaders, an official promotion, along with a change in job title and a new office. However now, people may find themselves in a leadership role somewhat unexpectedly. The expectations of your job change, perhaps you are asked to take responsibility for other staff working on a project with you. Somehow overnight you are now responsible for managing and developing these people, without necessarily having been prepared for this paradigm shift in responsibility.

Who is responsible for your development, you or the organization? – many people interviewed by Ibarra for her book, expressed dissatisfaction with the way in which their organizations are supporting their development and are finding their own ways to develop more effective, in some cases people found that their own managers did little to assist them during this transition. In some ways I have heard echo’s of this in my own work, recently I spoke with a group of managers in an organization who on average had waited 5+ years to get a place on their organization’s Leadership Program. Obviously the need for just in time learning is as important as ever and people can’t wait for 5 years to receive the development they need. It is little wonder therefore that people choose their own developmental path.

And finally … Is Authenticity as a Leader Over Rated – Ibarra’s point here is that authenticity in itself isn’t a bad thing, but rather that people have differing opinions as to what authenticity is. As she puts it – authenticity means being true to yourself – but it doesn’t necessarily mean having to be as you’ve always been. Overtime your values may shift, you may be influenced or be inspired by others thinking. As you move into a leadership role and interacting with others who aren’t necessarily like you, to be effective you may need to experiment with new approaches and get out of your comfort zone. As a result you may act differently than you did in the past, which doesn’t mean you’re not being true to yourself.

Check out our range of Leadership Training programs at Bluegem Learning - Leadership Programs. 

10 Ways to Celebrate Learning @ Work

September is Learning @ Work Month here in Canada.

Learning @ Work Month offers an opportunity to reinforce your commitment to employee development by promoting learning activities that can range from non-work related and interest-led activities through award ceremonies to business focused sessions.

 I have experienced some great sessions as part of Learning @ Work, however one of the biggest challenges organizations can face is thinking of ideas that are affordable and relatively easy to organize. With this in mind I’ve listed below some great ideas that I’ve used myself and won’t break the bank. Feel free to adapt these ideas to your own organization.

1. Educate another department about your work area
2. Run a short session on a particular topic e.g. how to cope with disruptive customers
3. Ask the CEO to talk about their experiences as a leader
4. Shadow a colleague from a different department

1. Create a short competition to engage staff, e.g. a quiz
2. Learn a new skill, either work or non-work related e.g watercolour painting
3. Run a teambuilding exercise
4. Hold a lunch event to celebrate a notable success in your organization
5. Show a selected TED talk and have a discussion about the talk
6. Invite an external speaker to give a talk to your team

 Whatever you choose to do, get together with your work colleagues and help each other out, this way it will also be more fun and social!

If you are looking for a speaker for your Learning @ Work event, check out my Fall Lunch & Learn Leadership series