5 Reasons Why My Opinion on Performance Reviews Has Changed

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Throughout my career I have looked after several teams of people working in many different cities around the world. As a manager (and I like to think I’ve always been a pretty good one!), I have always been a strong advocate for running a thorough performance review process.

I attended a Betterworks Goal Summit in San Francisco and during the course of two fantastic sessions, my opinion on the entire performance review process changed dramatically. Here’s why.

Key Takeaways:

• Performance reviews can often be time-consuming and reduce employee morale without bringing enough benefits to outweigh the disadvantages.

• Instead of performance reviews, real-time, ongoing feedback for employees can be much more effective.

• Consider making feedback more of a two-way process between you and your employees. In addition to just giving your employees feedback, ask for feedback from them as well.

Reasons to Reconsider Performance Reviews

1. 94% of people believe performance reviews are a waste of time. On average, managers spend 200 hours on the performance process every year. And yet 94% of people (let’s face it, that’s pretty much everybody in an organisation – employers and employees alike) don’t believe their current performance review process is valuable or worth the time.

   The process is described as time consuming; extremely subjective; demotivating; unhelpful and some people have described their performance review as being worse than a visit to the dentist.

   I’m not necessarily suggesting you should ask everyone in your company what they think of performance appraisals, but you may want to think about how many of them (managers and staff) actually enjoy the process.

2. People prefer real-time feedback. Sitting down and being rated or ranked once or twice a year has been described by hundreds of employees as “a real buzz-kill” when it comes to performance and motivation. Employees would much prefer to have far more regular authentic 2-way conversations.

   I have personally always made sure I’ve been thoroughly prepared for every performance review I’ve ever run. I also always gave my team ample time to prepare for their reviews and I sincerely hope our conversations were meaningful.

   Employees today don’t want to look back and reflect on the last 6 or 12 months. They want to be operating “in the now”.

3. Ongoing feedback is key to employee happiness. Dr. David Rock from the Neuroleadership Institute has talked about some of the most common conversations held between managers and employees.

   By having more frequent discussion around goal setting, project feedback, compensation and career aspirations, this can actually transform performance.

   Ongoing feedback is a far more energizing approach that keeps the discussion going. The process is far more open, collaborative, measurable, frequent and light-weight.

4. One in three companies is moving to a continuous performance management model. Many of the world’s largest companies are transforming their approach to performance management.

   In an inspiring session, Donna Morris – EVP Customer and Employee Experience at Adobe – talked about how she was instrumental in completely dismantling the performance review process at Adobe, moving instead to a “check-in” model where employees participate in their own success and goals and expectations are living and breathing throughout the year.

   You can read all about how Adobe retired performance reviews and inspired great performance here.

   In the spirit of open-sourcing, Adobe is happy to share the story of its journey as well as the tools and resources to help other companies start Check-in programs of their own.

5. Asking for feedback is more important than giving it. What happens to your biology when someone says, “hey, can I give you some feedback?” David Rock explained how people have an intense physiological reaction to feedback and how we should stop giving feedback and start asking for it.

   He then went on to highlight how a number of common perceptions about feedback are wrong. For example, do we really hate feedback? Or is it more that we just don’t like it when it comes unsolicited from other people.

   By abandoning the formal (more often than not) one-way performance appraisal process, and moving to a more regular open “check-in” model (like Adobe), both sides feel far less threatened.

   David Rock’s top tip was to ask for feedback first and give it if you have to. That way you get the feedback more quickly and regularly; you can ask many people thereby reducing bias; and you can get the specific feedback you need when you need it as opposed to waiting for months by which time the feedback could actually be irrelevant.

Performance Review FAQs

1. Are performance reviews objective?

   No, performance reviews are generally not objective. Performance reviews are inevitably subject to biases and other forms of human error. This is another reason why moving away from the traditional performance review process can be helpful.

2. Do performance reviews improve performance?

   No, performance reviews do not inherently improve performance. In fact, studies have shown that performance reviews can do more harm than good by causing stress and anxiety among employees, which can actually harm performance.

3. Why do employees dislike performance reviews?

   Employees dislike performance reviews because they often have negative connotations. Even if they are scheduled or part of a standard procedure, employees often associate performance reviews with negative perceptions. They might assume that an upcoming review means that there has been a problem with their performance.

4. How can you replace traditional performance reviews?

   You can replace traditional performance reviews with a recurring “check-in” process. The “check-in” process allows you to open dialogues with your employees without the pressure and baggage that comes with a traditional performance review. This can also be more of a two-way process to help you hear how your employees think things are going.

Final Thoughts

It’s worth taking the time to consider whether traditional employee performance reviews are productive or destructive. Many companies are moving away from traditional performance reviews in favor of updated employee feedback models.

Moving to a new performance management model might make the entire process more effective on both sides, both for you and your employees.

Author

Paul Slezak

With over two decades of experience in the recruitment and human capital industry, Paul Slezak has established himself as a transformative force in the realm of leadership and career coaching, group facilitation, and talent acquisition. His unique perspective, drawn from his early career as a leader in global recruitment firms and his entrepreneurial success with his own start-up, has enabled him to make a significant impact on leaders, teams, and organizations across the world. Paul's passion for helping others achieve success and high performance is evident in his commitment to transforming leaders and their teams at local, national, and international levels. He specializes in promoting the importance of human-centered intelligence, focusing on soft skills such as authenticity, transparency, and trust to complement business-centered acumen and drive better workplace outcomes. As an impartial facilitator, Paul brings his expertise to team offsites and strategy days, ensuring alignment on goals, values, and culture while keeping participants on task. His engaging and energetic presence, coupled with his unique "entertraining" and "edutaining" delivery style, enables him to connect with audiences both large and intimate, sharing personal and professional anecdotes that inspire and energize.