Donna Flagg

Performance Reviews: Making the Most Out of Evaluating Employees
November 20, 2007

For some reason in business, the knack for cultivating human performance has been less successful than other performance-driven professions such as the sports and arts industries - but not for lack of trying. Businesses have long been investing resources that attempt to maximize employee performance by providing training, reviews and incentives. Meanwhile, it’s the kind of feedback, instruction and practicing-to-advance (until it hurts) that is inherent to sports and the arts which has eluded organizations since the birth of bureaucracy. 

So why doesn’t the same kind of performance management on the stage or field translate into the workplace? In a word? Perception. In two? It’s hard.

In professions where people “perform” for a living, coaching is not seen as a bad thing, nor is feedback. Criticism isn’t even considered negative. In fact, the performers rely on it, appreciate it, crave it and apply it. Why? To become better at what they do.   

On a cognitive level, businesses get that. But in practice, it’s another story entirely.   While companies send a message to employees that performance is everything, it’s a mixed one at best, because they don’t know how to execute a strategy that aligns what they say with what they do. So when it comes time to actually confront what it will take to drive talent and shape skills, organizations by nature, shy away. 

Think about it. For every move an athlete makes, scrutiny is attached and corrections are made when necessary.  Or, take a ballet class for instance. Dancers are told when they execute something well and also when they don’t, not to make them feel bad, but to help them perform better the next time. The instruction itself is the bridge to achievement that produces results that please everyone; from the performer, to the teacher/coach to the audience. It’s a simple and straightforward story of improvement, progression and reaching the next level that leads to the kind of optimal performance that most businesses want, but only a few obtain. Instead, feedback exists in corporate America today as something to fear, dread and hate. 

The best thing organizations can do is start to dispel the myth that feedback is bad by ceasing to tippytoe around it, because continuing to subscribe to an avoidance model will ensure that both individual and organizational potentials are never met. So the key is to borrow from the handbooks of the pros and create cultures where employees want to hear the truth about how they are doing, not only for the good of their own performance, but also for the good of the “game.” It is no small undertaking, but one well worth the “sweat.” 

A three-pronged approach:

1. From an individual perspective, it is critical that people don’t take feedback personally. Take it as a means of learning.
2. From the team perspective, managers need to provide coaching in the spirit of improving performance, not naming flaws or faults or trying to change what makes someone who he/she is. Use it as a means of instruction.
3. From an organizational perspective, companies need to recognize and reward people who have the courage to remain open to giving and receiving constructive performance feedback.  Exploit it as a way to develop talent and manage performance. 

Posted by Donna Flagg on November 20, 2007 | Comments (0)