{"id":7456,"date":"2021-11-11T06:13:52","date_gmt":"2021-11-11T14:13:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/knowyourteam.com\/blog\/?p=7456"},"modified":"2024-07-12T10:51:39","modified_gmt":"2024-07-12T17:51:39","slug":"how-to-give-better-employee-performance-reviews-dont","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/2021\/11\/11\/how-to-give-better-employee-performance-reviews-dont\/","title":{"rendered":"How to give better employee performance reviews? Don\u2019t."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Our take on how to give better employee performance reviews \u2013 and what to consider instead.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"how<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

“How to give better employee performance reviews?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a question I’ve consistently received over the years, and becomes more pronounced as we enter performance review season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s a particularly<\/em> salient question given that, from our August 2020 survey of 1,087 managers and employees, 86% said they hold performance reviews \u2013 but only 23% of those people said they were “satisfied” with their performance review process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In short:  86% of us are doing something that only 23% of us like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s worse than you think.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Not only are a majority of us implementing a process that we’re not satisfied with, but the utility<\/em> of the process itself is dubious:  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A 2019 study by Mercer<\/a> found that only 2% of companies believe feel their performance process delivers exceptional value. In fact, Gallup shared<\/a> how “traditional performance reviews and approaches to feedback are often so bad that they actually make performance worse about one-third of the time.” They further discovered that “only 14% of employees strongly agree their performance reviews inspire them to improve.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, we still do performance reviews. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We do them even though we feel like we’re twisting people’s arms to complete them. We do them even though we dread filling them out, ourselves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How did we get here? And, most importantly:  Is there a better way?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\nLooking for more detailed guidance on performance reviews?<\/strong>\nMake sure to check out our Training Program.\n<\/div>\n
\nLearn more<\/a>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

A long and winding road.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

How did we get here? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around World War I<\/a>, performance reviews were first introduced as a rating system to help the U.S. military identify and dismiss poor performers. It was a tool to help with succession planning that was not shared with the soldiers and officers being evaluated. The original intention of performance reviews was to help the organization<\/em> \u2013 not to help the individuals<\/em> themselves grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fast forward to the present and our thinking has changed. Today, many companies want their performance reviews to be a tool used to give feedback and to an employee, so they can know how they can get better. In our survey with 1,087 managers and employees, we found 70% believed the primary purpose of reviews in an organization is to help a team member develop.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, traditional performance reviews are oftentimes simultaneously used to determine promotion, compensation, and raises. Other companies use them as a tool used for legal protection and to justify future firings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No wonder we can’t quite seem to have performance reviews that feel good or are useful:  It’s unclear for many organizations what the original purpose of the performance review \u2013 let alone what we should try to optimize for \u2013 is in the first place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result, we’re left with a system with gaping problems when we think about how to give better employee performance reviews. Here’s what those exact problems of performance reviews are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A broken process, with 6 distinct problems.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Here are the primary problems of performance reviews…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“So, what’s this really for?”<\/strong>
Performance reviews try to do too many things at once<\/a>. Many teams will use performance reviews to do some mix of the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n