Manage My Employees

Archive for the ‘Employee Performance Reviews’ Category

Short article #35

Many managers I’ve interviewed loathe giving performance reviews. But that can’t possibly compare to a likely overwhelming majority of employees, who think the whole appraisal process is pretty much flawed in their organization.

There are a number of signs I’ve identified from client engagements over the last twenty years which point to performance reviews that fall way short of being the management tool they could be.

Here are 5 of the most common signs:

• Managers avoid doing performance reviews, so they’re often late.
• Managers invest too little time preparing, instead they try to get them over with as fast as possible. To expedite, managers use past performance reviews to copy/paste “wording” — and to make fast modifications to scores/ratings instead of stopping to carefully consider each criteria.

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Short Article#34

I was interviewed by Kevin Gray at BNET (a CBS owned top-tier business web site) for the article: Can’t Pay Employees What You’d Like? Praise Them Instead. BNET is a great site for articles on management, strategy, marketing and more.

Personally, I’ve been struck by how many insightful comments have been posted to this article. You can see what I mean when you go to the article then scroll down and read the comments from some very well-informed readers.

Some have taken exception to the title of the article, or the article’s supposed impetus. However, I take a different view. As for "praise" itself, the point that shouldn’t be lost in the title of the article or the article itself (I hope you read it), is that more praise is generally needed in the workplace. And really, the definitive argument I’d make is that both praise and pay need to be at appropriate levels.

Too many seasoned managers, in my view, tend to follow the outmoded MBO style of managing people–where the priority focuses on projects not people, on tasks versus trust, on cost control instead of communications. In the last five years I’ve been encouraged by some progress, albeit empirical, but we’ve got a long way to go…

How do I know? I’ve personally interviewed over 2,000 employees and managers/supervisors in over twenty industries. Employees in large measure believe they are not given enough feedback, especially positive reinforcement, encouragement, appreciation.. whatever label we give it. In contrast, when they foul up or fall short they often hear about it immediately, and then it’s drudged up again and again in their appraisal.

**CASE: The employees of a retail chain I advised told me during interviews of how supervisors routinely did critical "write – ups"… which were placed in the employee’s file anytime they fouled up.

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In part 3 we’ll look at a few tips for revving up our praise or thanks to employees. Next, we’ll look at ten more ways to say Good Job.

3 Tips on Revving Up Praise:

• Be sincere. When you see something praiseworthy – praise it. On the other hand, if you don’t, then avoid feeling like you need to come up with something that won’t be in earnest.
• Don’t wait until something’s perfect before you acknowledge it with appreciation or praise.
• Be timely. If you wait to say it later…you may forget. When you see it, say it.

10 Ways to Say “Good Job”…

• You’re catching on fast, I like the effort you’re putting in.
• Super job on that report, it was exactly what I was looking for.
• Thank you! Your input was really helpful for me to hear… I like other viewpoints to consider.
• Actually, it doesn’t bother me when you challenge the status quo around here, because you do it without being confrontational. I know your purpose is to help us grow, get better.

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