Darby Conley should have a corner office at SHRM – or at the very least, a cool certificate of completion. He is the author of one of my favorite comics, “Get Fuzzy” and routinely makes me snort-laugh out loud as I’m reading his daily strip.
Not familiar with the strip? Allow me to break it down for you. Bucky (typical demented feline) routinely torments Satchel (watch-wearing, lovable pooch) with comments like, “You’re a Beatles record and I’m a hillbilly with a match” and “You’re Michael Jackson’s hair and I’m a Pepsi commercial.”
A recent interaction between Bucky and Satchel hit me as particularly relevant given that it is PERFORMANCE REVIEW time for many of us.
Unfortunately, most Managers, unlike Bucky, don’t pursue the route of direct communication pre-evaluation time. Something tells them that ignoring issues or waiting a few months to recognize accomplishments will be much more beneficial for themselves…err, the Employee. This approach essentially leaves the Employee clueless most of the year; hence the need for some type of release to help them deal, when they finally get that moldy feedback.
Since we can’t promote anything too unhealthy, the idea of an “idiot letter” smacked on someone’s head is intriguing. It would be a useful option for the Employee comment section, don’t you think? Seriously, how many managers out there likely deserve a great big ol’ “I’m an Idiot” sticker on their body for how they mangle the review process?
Scenario A: Manager decides Employee’s absenteeism and propensity to send out client emails without using spell check FINALLY deserves to be brought to his attention via the review process. Mind you, Manager rarely sees his desk before 10am and did not win any Spelling Bee awards.
Scenario B: Company ABC needs to reduce heads and one of the criteria is performance. Manager rushes to revise his Employee’s evaluation dropping him a few ratings and erasing the proposed 5% merit increase – after all, what an opportune time to get rid of this so-so performer! This of course is AFTER the Manager has presented the evaluation and increase to the Employee.
Why is this review process so tough to figure out? I’d argue that it is all about interest level and communication. Just like the election, or for me – professional baseball, it only gets interesting every few years. Most managers don’t have an interest in evaluating bad OR good performance at the time it occurs, nor do they take the time to communicate how things are playing out during the year. Nope – much easier to check a few boxes and email it out a few minutes before taking off on holiday, essentially dodging any type of meaningful discussion.
So, the call to action for all Employees out there is not to sit idly by – YOU need to take an interest in your career and openly communicate before, during and after the conversation (or the email)…AND if you are faced with another monotone, empty Lumburgh (yyyyyeahhhhh) review, feel free to pull out your Idiot Stamps and get smackin’…
kathy rapp! nice post. the call to action on the part of employees is great and i agree wholeheartedly with taking things into one’s own hands rather than sitting around and waiting… it’ll be interesting to see how performance management changes over time though, don’t you think? given millennials and their need for constant feedback and/or affirmation as some might say, coupled with the web 2.0 ADD we all have, you know, this desire for short snippets of info to crunch and munch on and the inability to digest too much at once… how will managers engage in meaningful discussions given those two dynamics? will their staff even want to sit down and have that meaningful conversation? or will their millenial prefer they just tweet back and forth via twitter?
i can’t wait to see how the web 2.0 starts to infiltrate performance management tools and discussions.
JL: Thanks for the thoughts and I agree – stale performance review discussions are soon to be a thing of the past. I think the challenge will be getting EVERYONE on board with the new mediums to deliver those timely nuggets of feedback, but given that we ALL hate our part in the yearly process (writing, delivering and/or receiving)I would think less painful alternatives would be embraced.