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Re: The dirty secrets of performance review

Wil — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 17:31:45 -0000

sounds like the last company i worked for, one of the bigger ones that had layoffs last year. 1000 call center employees. everything was already decided long before the reviews were due.

Re: The dirty secrets of performance review

satgarg — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 03:44:42 -0000

The story is absolute truth.
i have seen the exactly similar thing happening first hand in one of the worlds largest companies in India. It is a fact that has eluded the HR departments and they are always going bonkers why the attrition rate is going high.
Due to the alleged malpractices in the said company the management decided to have an outside agency - the world famous Gallup" do the survey to find out the way forward. As expected, the true picture emerged in the scores.

See the beauty if Indian minds!!!! It was very famously concluded twice that the participants - qualified engineers and mangers, assumed to be the brain bank of the company, one of the biggest pillars of its success were not able to comprehend the questions in the survey and thus gave faulty raitings.

And the practice continues.
Long live Indian corporate sector!!! some times we feel it is more disgusting than the government sector. Atleast they dont maintain false pretences.

Re: The dirty secrets of performance review

WilsonS — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 21:17:05 -0000

I completely agree with all your points here, however IMHO, its the immediate boss who matters the most in this entire relationship, period!

If you want to excel, do WHAT HE THINKS is right, and you will be superb or else kicked out, as simple as that.

Re: The dirty secrets of performance review

Carlomez — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 11:48:10 -0000

I've done a lot of performance reviews on both sides of the fence (as an employee and as a manager).
While it's true that the decision is usually taken before the performance review meeting, I wouldn't dismiss the meeting itself and the preparation of the perfomane review documentation as a complete waste of time: it's a good opportunity to compare your self-evaluation with the manager's evaluation of your work. If there is a good alignment during the whole year, starting with clear goal settings and following with regular one-to-one meetings along the whole year, there shouldn't be any big surprise at performance review.
Especially if you are new to the team or you have a new boss, don't rely only on the performance review process: it's super important to request feedback and to check your manager opinion/evaluation on a regular basis, and if you want to be a good manager, you should always set clear goals, always give both positive and negative feedbacks, check the goal attainement status at least every 6 months and update the goals if needed.
Also, don't rely only on the official goals in you scorecard: especially with a new manager, the actual expectations might be quite different and you don't want to wait for the performance review to find out.
Talking about ranking, it should be clear that there are two components in the performance evaluation of each employee: absolute results (missed/met/exceeded goals) and relative results, that is how well he/she did compared with other team members and, through "calibration meetings" compared also with other teams.

Carlo

Re: The dirty secrets of performance review

GeekMBA360 — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 00:33:44 -0000

Thanks for the book recommendation, Andrew! I haven't read this book yet. Will check it out.

Re: The dirty secrets of performance review

Andrew Wang — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 20:29:53 -0000

I remember reading something similar in "Career Warfare" by David F. D'Alessandro

http://search.barnesandnoble.c...

Might be a good book for you to review in a future post.

Re: The dirty secrets of performance review

BruceOlsen — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 19:35:53 -0000

I've been part of pointless review exercises on both sides of the fence.

As a manager I was part of several stacked ranking exercises--never by choice. Interestingly, the rankings were "adjusted" by each higher level of management, so even the minimal value there was to the first ranking was lost by the time the EVP got the list (each of the rankings of a couple of thousand people were merged, believe it or not).

After a much-needed management change directly above me, we created a much better evaluation system for our group of about 30 software developers. It made clear what expectations were and gave feedback to each individual how well they met expectations. But we still went through the stacking, and gave out bonuses based on that.

I've also been evaluated using very formal (computer-based) systems, with multiple categories of objectives and very detailed evaluation criteria. There was even space for the employee to "rebut" points s/he disagreed with. But the manager made it clear he was merely going through the motions, and wasn't interested in any upward feedback.

As other commenters have said, one needs to understand the political structure and work within it. Not "play politics", since those who live solely by politics most often (though not always) die by politics, but be sure you reflect your genuine accomplishments upward (more than 1 level). Take on key projects and put in extra time on them, but don't grandstand.

But if (as at some places I've been) it really all comes down to "who you know", think about jumping before you get pushed. Even if you do get into the inner circle, it may well not save you (I've seen it), and you'll be shown the door without having had any big accomplishments to trumpet to your next employer.

With apologies to the late Walter Cronkite,... "That's the way it is".

Re: The dirty secrets of performance review

GeekMBA360 — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 16:27:00 -0000

The particular story I wrote in the blog post didn't take place in Nortel. :-) But, based on the overwhelming feedback I received from fellow hard-working professionals, similar stories are happening in a lot of corporations, big or small!

Re: The dirty secrets of performance review

DinahMoeHumm — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 15:04:20 -0000

Sounds to me like the author worked for Nortel!

Re: The dirty secrets of performance review

GeekMBA360 — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 16:49:42 -0000

Maybe there should be a reality show about office politics. :-)

Re: The dirty secrets of performance review

calw — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:13:57 -0000

Sounds like your company's HR group have been watching too many reality TV shows. Many times the biggest A-holes deliver the best results and need to be coached off their pedestal to be a more connected member of the team. It is a pity that Big Boss did not yes get his peer / subordinate review yet.

Re: The dirty secrets of performance review

GeekMBA360 — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 20:44:53 -0000

But, how do you "make visible what you do and get other people to request your presence"? That's the "million dollar" tricks that a lot of people would like to do. It seems that you're quite good at it. Any tips to share with fellow readers of this blog? :-)

Re: The dirty secrets of performance review

Vakhtang — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 20:30:29 -0000

Excellent story, thanks for sharing.. I personally have never took Perfromance Reviews seriously because I have never believed in them anyway. I believe it is always important to make visible what you do and get other people to request your presense and expertise on their projects - that is something people always remember, especially when it is coming from your key customers. Thanks to that I was a SuperAchiever @ AAPT (Telecom NZ) and Best Comms Consultant.

Re: The dirty secrets of performance review

janetpalma — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 15:07:47 -0000

California is an at will state and companies can do any dirty things they want to to get rid of people they don't like. Just ask EDD.

Re: The dirty secrets of performance review

GeekMBA360 — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 15:00:49 -0000

"Keep it all verbal"? That's pretty extreme. I'd think they still need some written record to justify promotion/review ratings/etc.? I'm not a HR professional, so I'm not sure if this will get an employer into trouble.

Re: The dirty secrets of performance review

janetpalma — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 14:37:29 -0000

A good example of how companies are simply getting out of performance reviews altogether. I am convinced that it's all politics and how much you've kissed the bosses butt. My former company dispensed with performance reviews altogether and a friend told me they now say they "want to keep it all verbal." This way there is nothing in writing to tie the company into saying they ever thought you did a good job when they decided to let you go.

Re: The dirty secrets of performance review

GeekMBA360 — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 14:19:01 -0000

Great comment, Ted. I like your idea about getting feedback 1-2 months earlier than the deadline, and get them in front of the decision makers. This will make the review process easier for the manager, and also give the employee more control over the process, and hopefully get a more objective review based on actual facts.

Re: The dirty secrets of performance review

TedHoward — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 13:08:51 -0000

My take on reviews and ranking/curve are exactly as you describe. At good companies, it's less about how much people like you and more about your work ethics and results. The volume of text created by reviews is too much for any upper manager to read. Such decisions are inevitably made quickly based on less objective metrics.
If you want to influence ranking/bonus/etc then basically do your self-review and get peer-reviews 1-2 months earlier than the deadline and get them in front of the decision makers.
However, those reviews can be very useful. They are a way to get feedback on your performance. You can ignore it or use it to improve yourself. I vote for the latter.

Re: The dirty secrets of performance review

Eric Shannon — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 08:53:28 -0000

great story! thanks for sharing...