Let’s ditch the annual performance review, shall we?

The economic climate today offers business and individuals a great opportunity to step back, review and consider how they spend their time and money.  Painfully, we’ve finally realized there are not unlimited resources or time at work or in our personal lives. How we make changes today may certainly impact where we wind up tomorrow.  It also seems that “just because it’s always been done a certain way, therefore we should continue doing it”  doesn’t apply to much anymore.

So many of the “old ways” just aren’t working anymore.  So, why not change things up a bit?  One of those processes is the much maligned, dreaded and for the most part, poorly done “performance review and evalaution process”. This annual ritual has been handed down for generations from one manager to another.  Rarely do companies ask “why are we doing these annual reviews and is there a better alternative?” I’ve spent a good portion of my career designing or refining processes to improve the performance management outcomes. I think it is time to ditch the annual performance review–the form, the judgment, and the annual performance evaluation meeting!  For several reasons. One—everyone hates them. Period.  Doing them or being on the receiving end and feeling judged.  Two, they are biased, the reviewer is too subjective, distracted and rushed to get them out in the required time frame. Three, the feedback is useless because it is too late. If it’s more than a week old, then it’s like the daily news—it’s simply too late!

I propose some simple, useful tools woven into the team and the roles everyone plays.  When you think of any high performing team in the world outside of the workplace, the annual performance evaluation form isn’t a factor.  Think of Super Bowl winners, Stanley Cup winners, the American Ballet Company, or any Olympic team—no annual meetings, just fabulous performances!