It’s well documented that employees, managers and HR pros believe that the annual performance review is a waste of time – they’re too generic and vague, not timely enough, and in the end they’re often simply seen as an admin task that doesn’t add any real value to either employees themselves, or the organisation as a whole.

In a recent article for HBR, Eric Mosley notes the problems with the current state of annual performance appraisals, and suggests a different model for performance management that is socially driven:

Of course, in this particular situation, ‘crowdsourcing’ simply refers to the idea of each employee gathering information and getting feedback from multiple people who they work with on a regular basis. These are the people who can really see how hard the employee is working and what they are achieving. In traditional performance management, where the review is conducted by the manager (or HR) alone, there is just a single, narrow view that the employee’s performance is being based on, and this can often be inaccurate.

But perhaps the main question is: how can this be done effectively from a practical perspective? There are many tools and applications available for tracking employee progress and performance, one of which is Engage, which specifically allows for the gathering of feedback in realtime, which is of course the key to continuous improvement for employees.

And it’s not only managers that have access to provide feedback – anyone can be asked to provide feedback, from team mates, to colleagues in a separate department, to customers and clients, so the idea of ‘crowdsourcing’ performance management is covered.

Click through to read Eric’s full article, ‘Crowdsource Your Performance Reviews‘, where he also discusses several business and managerial benefits of gathering recognition and feedback from multiple sources.

Social technologies are a dominant aspect in our daily lives, and the workplace is no exception. FastCompany had an interesting interview with Dion Hinchcliffe, co-author of ‘Social Business By Design’, on the topic.

Hinchcliffe talks about how there are many great opportunities for companies to use social tools to connect better with their customers, but also to optimize communication and connections within a company, amongst the employees. And such tools can be used for a variety of purposes – project collaboration, regular information sharing, recognition, and the list goes on. To use Hinchcliffe’s words:

Aside from using these tools to collaborate on every-day work, it’s apparent that using social technologies is the way forward when it comes to managing employee performance and careers. Systems like Engage, that track and monitor goal progress as well as provide a platform for giving feedback on performance, can add value in a number of ways:

• Employees have continuous access to review their goals, and make sure they’re on track with their work and careers.
• Managers and employees can give each other feedback in real-time, instead of waiting until the traditional annual performance review by which time it’s often too late. Read more here on why real-time feedback is essential.
• Higher lever managers are able to view how well middle managers are managing their teams – something that is often overlooked, or not easy to determine.
• A history of each employee’s performance is recorded and everything (feedback, ratings, general comments and so forth) are all kept in one place. Each person and their manager can easily see how well they’ve progressed by looking back at their previous reviews over time.
• Employees have the opportunity to share their vibe – how they’re doing – in a discreet way. Having this outlet available, and knowing that your manager is listening, can go a long way in making employees feel valued. Managing performance is not only about the work itself – issues that are not work related can also impact on a person’s performance and it’s important to have a way to share and acknowledge them.

Using social tools provide a great way of collaborating and communicating on work-related projects and goals, but also on the ‘softer’ side of the employee-manager relationship – which is often equally important as the work itself. Social technologies can also give managers a great overall picture of what’s really going on in their teams, and Hinchcliffe talks about the value of this in the interview.  Take the time to read the full post on FastCompany.

Unless you’ve been living in a hole over the last several years, you’ll know that social media and social tools are a significant part of our daily lives.  They have certainly impacted on how we communicated with each other in various ways.

But it’s not only having an effect on the social, non-work side of our lives, it is impacting on the work side of the equation too – in the area of performance management in particular:

1. We’re willing to share how we’re doing virtually. We are becoming accustomed to sharing how awesome or bleak we’re feeling with our friends via Facebook, Twitter, our blogs, etc.  Millennials in particular feel more comfortable doing this, and the situation isn’t any different at work. Employees are likely to feel a bit more brave about sharing how they’re doing through an online tool, rather than having to approach their manager to bring up something that’s concerning them.  Social tools that allow for this open more transparent communication channels between employees and their managers, so these tools become a great starting point for having those conversations that are difficult to have.

2. Annual performance reviews are going out the window. Today’s working environments are fast-paced and ever-changing. The need to adapt quickly is paramount, and tools that facilitate the capturing of regular feedback have become very important. Feedback needs to be given as and when an event occurs, so that people can learn from their mistakes and triumphs continuously. The adoption of social tools in the area of performance management is a great opportunity to truly develop employees on an ongoing basis.

3. More effective management of remote workers. Managers need to easily be able to keep in touch and up to date with what’s going on with their employees who are working offsite, or from home.  The virtual workforce is growing, so tools that allow for simple and efficient performance and goal-related exchanges have become valuable assets to organisations – and they also make it easier to collaboratively conduct remote performance reviews.

These social tools certainly do not replace face-to-face performance conversations, but they do stimulate them.  But most importantly, they facilitate the easy and continuous capture of feedback, which is the key element for teams and individuals to stay on top of their work, and to remain ahead of the pack through constant learning and development.

Performance review season can be seen in a negative light, especially when employees and managers are not really sure what expectations performance should be measured against.  There may be differing opinions around exactly what was meant to be done, and who is in the best position to be evaluating the employee. Often, employees have a problem with performance reviews because they believe the end result is just up to the subjective opinion of their manager. But this, of course, really shouldn’t be the case.

Here are 4 tips to make sure employees know your review process is fair:

Agreement on expectations

People can only fairly be held accountable for their performance if they and their manager are on the same page, and both agree upon the specified work, standards, and deadlines.

Strive for objectivity in feedback

As mentioned, employees may feel their performance review is too focused on the subjective opinion of their manager.  To correct this, make it clear that the onus is on both employee and manager to gather feedback on the employee’s performance from as many people as possible – that  includes other managers, peers, customers and clients. Of course, everyone will always have a subjective opinion, but combining multiple viewpoints is as close to objectivity as you’ll get. Also note that feedback can only be useful and relevant if the expectations are clearly set out, as described in the first point.

Have the right people do the employee’s performance review

Some companies arrange employees’ performance reviews with HR only, which simply doesn’t make sense. While HR may have data in the form of feedback on the employee, they do not work with the employee on a daily basis. The employee’s direct manager is the one who should drive the performance review, with HR supporting them. In an ideal world, the manager’s manager could also be involved.

Transparency

Whether you gather feedback anonymously or not, all of that data must be available for the employee to see (not just their manager) before the performance review meeting. Employees need to have the opportunity to review what has been captured about them by others, and allow them to give their own opinion on their own performance. This way, both parties are on the same page going into the review meeting, and there are no ‘surprises’. It will help to keep the review meetings from being long, drawn out debates over performance, and allow the parties to concentrate on what’s really important – the expectations for the next quarter (because hopefully your reviews are being done quarterly!).

So we know that feedback is important – we need to get told where we’ve done well or poorly in our KPAs to make sure we’re contributing something of value to our organization, and make sure we’re going in the right direction.

The main question is, “should feedback to our peers/managers be anonymous, or not?”. Let’s consider both:

Non-Anonymous

The benefit of this framework is that people must take ownership of the feedback they provide, and are automatically held accountable for what they say. It also encourages people to be more thorough and thoughtful with their feedback, because they’ll certainly need to be able to back it up if they get asked to clarify or elaborate.

But the downside here is that employees may be unwilling to be honest if they have negative feedback to share, even in the form of what may be just mildly negative ‘constructive criticism’ – let’s be honest, no one really likes to give negative feedback to someone’s face, right? So the problem is that there is the potential for these difficult conversations to be skipped over, and real progress can be hindered as a result.

Anonymous

On the other hand, perhaps people are more willing to be critical when they know that the receiver won’t find out who they are? This could be good, as it means someone may be more likely to get constructive criticism when it’s deserved.

But, what if it isn’t deserved? There are some rude interesting people out there who will take an opportunity to be unnecessarily harsh if they can.  Or perhaps they just don’t like their boss/peer – so they use their anonymity for the wrong reasons, and give unwarranted negative feedback. (Just have a look at anonymous comments on various youtube videos, or blog posts – often completely contrary and disparaging, I’m sure you’ll agree.)

To conclude…

The problem with anonymous feedback is that it has a greater capacity to be destructive, rather than constructive. Perhaps this is a cynical viewpoint, but when people are obliged to take ownership of feedback, while also being encouraged to be honest and thorough, it will surely be more valuable.

The key is to communicate the value of open and constructive feedback to everyone, and make sure everyone knows how to give it.

This post was originally published on 30 August, 2011.

It isn’t uncommon for employees to be uncertain about what is expected of them. Often, their goals aren’t clearly defined, they’re not sure how their performance is being measured, or the standards against which they will be evaluated.

Maybe some employees get their goals laid out for them once a year, at their annual appraisal. But are they given the chance to revisit these goals at regular intervals? And are they able to go over the details with ease if they get the feeling they are going off track? In addition, a lot can change in the space of a year! Things could happen that will completely alter the overall objective that a team, or entire organisation, is trying to achieve. Managers and teams should have a framework in place that will help them adjust accordingly, and with purpose.

This is where an application like Engage could add tremendous value to a company. Employees can derive a sense of security and direction from being able to access their goals, and ask for feedback on them, at any time they wish. It also concretely records what was agreed upon, so there is no ambiguity regarding expectations between them and their manager.

In a worst case scenario, employees could experience a case of ‘management by mental telepathy’, described by Joan Lloyd in this article, where expectations are not communicated to them at all:

It goes without saying that such situations should be avoided at all costs. Making a record of goals and performance expectations that can (and should be) revisited on a regular basis should be a priority for senior management at every company. Employees will feel more secure and confident that what they are doing is correct, and they can fairly be held accountable for the work they have done.

Social media is becoming a more significant part of our daily lives with each passing moment.  Thanks to sites like Facebook and Twitter, we are used to having constant interaction with one another.  People have become accustomed to sharing their feelings and ‘status’ with others through technology.

Some argue that Facebook has hindered our drive to interact with our friends face-to-face – its so much easier to just pop them a message, right? Maybe so, but it is also argued that Facebook actually stimulates the desire for interaction with our friends in person – have a look at this thought provoking article by Jenna Wortham for more on this view…

So maybe these social networking sites actually encourage interaction between people in real life (we think so anyway). What if this was applied to a work setting?

A tool designed for tracking work progress and goal achievement, that also incorporates social and interactive features, can become a great facilitator of communication between co-workers and managers. Employees feel more comfortable sharing their vibe through technology, which can act as a great conversation starter between manager and employee – the interaction starts through technology, and then continues face-to-face. The ‘social networking’ aspects of such a tool can facilitate a business’s performance management process.

We believe that a Social Performance Revolution is just around the corner!

This post was originally published on 26 May, 2011.

A recent study conducted by Cornerstone OnDemand reveals what employees really think of performance appraisals, and serves as evidence that performance appraisals are, for the most part, extremely poorly executed.

Here’s a quick summary:

Most employees feel that the feedback they receive isn’t an accurate reflection of their true effort and performance.  They also report that feedback isn’t specifically linked to what they have done, as examples of their work and behaviour are often not provided by their managers.

The systems used are also behind the times.  Most employers use paper-based reviews or simple computer based systems such as excel, and some don’t use anything to capture data at all – their formal performance reviews are verbal.

Many employees only receive verbal feedback, and a large percentage receive feedback via formally written reviews or email. But only 4% of employers use web-based systems or internal social networks for giving and receiving feedback.

This is where the problem lies, as outlined by John Hollon in his article ‘Tired of Poor Performance Appraisals? Survey Shows Most Workers Are, Too’. In the second half of his post, he goes into more detail on what employers should do to improve their performance appraisal process:

This view is shared by the CEO and founder of Cornerstone OnDemand, Adam Miller, who John quotes in the article:

Having an efficient and user-friendly performance management and appraisal system has the potential to add great value to an organisation. Web-based tools are particularly useful as they allow employees and managers to access the system from anywhere in the world, at any time – a real bonus when you consider how much people travel for work, as well as how many people are now working remotely.

A system such as Engage provides an excellent framework for capturing feedback on goals in real-time, as well as starting conversations around performance. When exchanging feedback is made easy, and therefore happens on a monthly, weekly, or even daily basis, there will be significant benefits for both the employee concerned and the organisation:

1: Employees’ skills development and growth will be accelerated because they are given frequent opportunities to learn and improve through receiving regular feedback. This is discussed in more detail in a previous post on the power of feedback loops.

2: The whole company will benefit for two reasons. Firstly, their employees will constantly be performing at higher and higher levels, as explained in point 1. Secondly, employees who can see that their performance and growth are taken seriously will feel valued by their organisation, which will in turn lead to greater engagement and commitment on the employee’s part.

3: Both the employee and the company will benefit from the system’s ability to track and show the employee’s performance history. All of the data is kept in one place and is easily accessible, unlike paper-based performance reviews which get filed and, in all likelihood, never looked at again.

A final note, which John also mentions in his article, is around the cost of implementing a system. It’s true that some performance management and HR systems can be expensive (even those can be worth the investment), but that is what’s great about SaaS systems – there is no cost of hardware or software installation, among other benefits (which you can read more about here).

Millennials make up a significant percentage of the workforce, so surely no one will argue with the idea that a considerable degree of effort should be put in to ensuring that they are well-managed. Here are 9 tips:

1. Provide Structure

In other words, set clear goals and measures as a framework for their role.

2. Provide Leadership and Guidance

They want daily feedback and advice on career growth and development. Considering having a mentoring or coaching programmes for this.

3. Encourage their self-assuredness and ‘can-do’ attitude

Don’t discourage their enthusiasm and creativity by putting them in ‘boxes’ to match the ‘already defined’ roles in your company.

4. Take advantage of their comfort level with teams

They have grown up accustomed to doing everything in teams, and as we know, teamwork is a fundamental part of the modern organization.

5. Millennials are up for a challenge and a change

Keep the tasks, goals and growth opportunities coming, or you may find your talent wondering over to fast-paced and exciting competitors.

6. Millennials are multi-taskers

Amazing ability for phoning, emailing, texting, IMing and tweeting all at the same time – take advantage.

7. Capitalize on their affinity for networking & their electronic literacy

The use of technology to communicate and social networking is second nature to this generation – make use of this in your organization and consider adopting an ethos of social performance management.

8. Provide a good work-life balance environment

Millennials like to be kept busy and entertained, but putting in work hours isn’t their sole focus – they have other goals and activities they want to achieve.

9. Provide a fun, employee centred workplace

Encourage a stimulating social environment, and provide a framework for networking and sharing vibes at the office.

This article by Susan M. Heathfield  provided inspiration for this post.  Susan is an experienced and forward thinking consultant in the areas of management and development, and a regular writer on the topic of Human Resources for About.com.

This post was originally published on June 30th, 2011.

A popular topic these days is the changing face of how we do business and where we do business.

It’s no secret that millennials are expecting work environments that differ greatly from the traditional ‘office of cubes’. And with good reason, because it’s true that a better working environment is correlated with better bottom-line. In addition, surveys have shown that employees feel more productive when they are allowed to work from home – there are less distractions and their day isn’t taken over by meaningless meetings.

In her article for the Miami Herald, ‘Big changes coming to future workplace’, Cindy Krischer Goodman goes into more detail on what exactly we can expect in terms of changes in our working environments and office spaces:

Different looking office spaces – essentially, cubicles will disappear and open plans will dominate.  There may even be no set working places for individuals. People will be able to work wherever they feel like it on a particular day.

Workers will make their own schedules – this is not a new idea, and has indeed been discussed previously on this blog in our post about the ultimate autonomous working environment: The ROWE.

Work arrangements will be more than just flexible – it is predicted that:

Managers’ roles will shift further – from controlling to enabling. Managers will have to learn to trust employees and let them be self-motivated, as opportunities for them to control and micromanage will decrease as work situations change to be more flexible.

Virtual connections will increase – employers will provide virtual means for employees to connect with one another, in both work related and personal areas, through the use of internal social networks. This will also affect how performance reviews are conducted.

These changes are happening within many organisations already, and other companies will need to keep up with these trends if they are to retain their best talent and stay competitive.