Should We Ditch “Traditional” Performance Reviews?
Performance reviews can turn into the bane of one’s life either as an appraisee or appraiser.
As leaders, part of our job is to encourage our team to be the “best they can”. Equally, anyone with ambition wants to improve their performance and make themselves more valuable. Yes, there are people who are “happy where they are” but others want to see how far they can push their personal boundaries.
The problem with performance reviews was that they’ve been through a cycle of being:
- Annual events to…
- Quarterly events to…
- One-on-one periodic sessions
To make things more complex, there’s a feeling that the more complex the performance review process is, the more “scientific” it must be. From performance metrics to behavioural trait assessments to 360° peer reviews, everything is thrown into the proverbial pot. This makes them an ordeal for both appraisers and appraisees.
What finally seems to matter in most cases is whether the appraisee “gets on” with their peers, their juniors, their bosses and their bosses’ bosses. The risk here is that competence becomes less important as people spend more time “fudging” their results and playing politics.
The move now seems to be more towards a more organic, practical process of on-the-spot feedback positive and negative), acknowledging success in team meetings and through company email or private check-in when needed. Some feel that this makes them faster, more honest and connects them more as a team whilst at the same time freeing them up for more actual work.
How the process described above operates, I don’t know. I suspect there still must be a degree of “getting on” with others but, at the very least, one doesn’t have to wait until the end of the year to receive a potentially “nasty surprise” when one thinks one has done well but it turns out that nobody else (for whatever reason) is of the same opinion.
Is the “traditional performance appraisal” a relic of the past? In some ways, perhaps yes. However, appraisal is still very much a live topic. My view? If the team enjoys working together and produces results, they’re effective and that deserves a good appraisal.
I’ve spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email.
Labels: Career, Leadership, Strategy, Teamwork
Is "Ageism" Real?
“Ageism” can be defined as “bias or prejudice against people over a certain age who are treated unfairly as a result”.
The problem is that individual views on what constitutes and “older” person differ. Nowadays, people live longer, generally retain their physical and mental health longer and can be productive workers for longer than in the past thanks to advances in technology and medical science.
We’ve seen examples of ageism: “humorous” birthday cards mocking older people which impact others’ views come to mind in particular. The disparaging “OK Boomer!” response to anyone older giving advice is also common. This results in a number of consequences including job prospects for all the people
Examples people have experience include:
- Being patronised.
- Losing or not being hired for a job because of your age.
- Being refused credit, car insurance, travel insurance.
- Low quality of service in shops or restaurants.
- Being refused membership to clubs or associations because of age.
Some employers won’t hire people over a certain age on the grounds that they’re “too old” and may require more time off, more healthcare, more pay, may be slower and a variety of other reasons. In some cases, this may be true, but perhaps no truer than for younger counterparts with the new diagnosed medical conditions that require special consideration or allowances. These seem to have impacted less on their ability to find work.
The proliferating number of “conditions” requiring special care or conditions of work is increasing. The case for discriminating against older people however they’re defined, is at best, weak.
Let’s consider some of the advantages of hiring an “older” worker:
- They have life experience that their younger counterparts lack, enabling them to solve problems younger ones can’t.
- They have “human skills” that again many of their younger counterparts lack.
- They’re likely to be more patient when confronted with adverse situations.
In short, discriminating against older people because of their age is just as unacceptable as discriminating against people based on gender, race, religion, orientation, political views etc.
Wouldn’t it be ironic if “reverse ageism”, where people discriminated against younger people again because of their age, suddenly made an appearance?
As business leaders, it’s our job to ensure we hire only the best, no matter their age. "Inclusivity" starts with us!
I’ve spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email.
Labels: Career, Leadership, Productivity, Social, Strategy, Teamwork
Telephone Queues
A posting appeared in LinkedIn about the newly installed ATM on the island of Tuvalu. Whilst the author could imagine delighted bank customers no longer having to queue for cash at the bank’s counters, she highlighted one of the problems of technology’s impact on our society.
Her concern revolved around “customer service” and how, in an effort to save costs, companies are turning more and more to technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to provide for customer needs. I’ve been using ATMs for longer than I can remember; supermarkets now have self-service checkouts (which often seem to have a problem one way or the other, requiring a supervisor to still be in attendance) and other organisations are now "training up" AI to answer customer telephone queries.
The point? Face-to-face, human interaction is becoming less frequent. For some, their weekly trip to the supermarket may be the only chance they have to talk to a “real person” when they pay for their goods at checkout.
More frustrating however, were the author’s experiences of calling a “customer helpline” only to be faced with a myriad of button press choices in order to locate the service they wanted and then either waiting “on hold“ for ages, being cut off or forced to go back to stage one to repeat a menu which didn’t seem to cater for their particular issue.
Despite the hype, human interaction is still critical and AI is not the solution to a business’ financial woes.
Despite the efforts of technology companies, humans still need human interaction and the intuitive leaps that only a human can make to solve their problems.
I’ve spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email.
Labels: Customer Care, Productivity, Social
