Improving Performance Management

During a discussion with executives who were sharing success stories from their efforts since attending a Positive Leadership course together, a question came up about performance management.  They started talking about how in their system a 1 is the highest rating and a 5 is the lowest rating.  Nobody ever gets 5’s or at least it is very rare.  Most great performers get 2’s and if you have a 4 you better improve or you will get fired.  The majority of people get 3’s which doesn’t mean much because there are a wide range of 3’s when considering their level of performance.  The worry for some in the room was that they have a few 3’s that probably deserve a 2 but they know they will be questioned if they give too many 2’s.

 

There was lots of discussion around whether people were communicating consistently throughout the year so that when the 6 month review came their direct reports had no surprises.  People talked about how to approach the discussion in a way where it is not about the number but about what they are doing well and how they can specifically improve.  Others talked about setting very clear expectations of what the difference between the numbers would look like at the beginning of the year and regularly checking in with each other around those expectations.  Those were all good responses but there was one that was a lot different than what I normally hear from most executives around this kind of a discussion.

 

A fairly senior retail person said that she often gives a lot of 2’s and never gets challenged for doing so.  She said that she has asked her direct reports to share in an email whenever they have done their job really well or accomplished something outside of the ordinary.  The retail executive also asked them to pass along any positive feedback they received from others outside their team in the organization or those external to the organization.  Along with collecting feedback she received about her direct reports she would keep this feedback in their performance management folder and would regularly share these examples with her boss.  Because the person she reports to consistently heard tangible examples about what her direct reports were doing that was excellent or beyond the expected she was not surprised when they received a 2 for their performance review.  This also allowed this retail executive’s direct reports to feel good about what they were accomplishing and would go out of their way to find ways to do their job even better.