Question: I’m trying to help an employee improve his performance. Would you suggest using the performance appraisal for this?
Answer: The appraisal is just not suited for improving performance. The appraisal assumes that the employee needs to be coerced to comply. Negative motivation is short term at best and does not produce good or lasting results. The appraisal may bring more negatives than positives. Why not just pull the person aside and discuss it?
Q: Are there other drawbacks with the performance appraisal?
A:Yes. No one enjoys being judged from above. It’s like going to court. It’s a lousy feeling and causes resentment. A prosecutor and defendant cannot be on the same team. The appraisal is only a tool. The real issue is leadership. The tool that the manager selects is a reflection on his awareness of what his role is.
Q: If it doesn’t work, why do we use it? Is there a better way?
A:There is a better way. The traditional performance appraisal process is really a Band-Aid. It’s an instrument that was meant to evaluate something like a car, rather than motivate, develop and inspire a human being. Look at it this way: An employee is most valuable when he is engaged, enthusiastic, creative, self-starting, loyal, solving problems, and takes responsibility for producing results for the organization. This is a leader. Developing these leadership attributes in his people is what makes a good leader. It is during the actual process of creating this team that the problems disappear. Thus it is not a matter of solving problems, it is about building a team that operates without problems. Everything starts with this new paradigm.
One of the key fundamentals is motivation. A good leader’s prime objective is to make it known that his No. 1 job is to make his people successful, because he realizes that his success is determined by his team’s success. This makes them partners, rather than adversaries. High trust, collaboration, close teamwork and high achievement are the result.
Q: How do I address an employee’s performance with this system?
A:The difference between the two systems is night and day. With the appraisal the manager is dealing with damage control. Stakeholders and the employee have been adversely impacted. With the new paradigm, the manager creates high-trust relationships which result in both being invested in the success of each other. They collaborate on defining success in the context of the organization. The manager has changed the context from fixing someone to creating a powerful partnership. Thinking and direction is aligned. Many times more productive, the collateral effects are even more startling: Happiness and high morale replace contention; values such as patience, caring, courage appear; and chronic problems disappear.
Q: What are the steps for implementing this system?
A: The single most important step is being able to change one’s understanding about what leadership really is. It’s about developing the team and not about telling or correcting. It is not leadership courses, degrees, strong personality, executive position or intelligence. It is available to all. Some steps:
>> Focus on building relationships of trust, insisting on integrity in yourself and others.
>> Creating partnerships and being committed to the success of your team, rather than judging them.
>> Once that is done, collaboration can begin. Defining success in terms of the organization, and the team, not one’s own benefit.
>> Employees will feel success by their achievements, pride of accomplishing big things, taking responsibility for more functions, solving more problems.
>> The manager ends up cloning himself, as his team uses tools like mission, vision, values, goals and new systems to create a team of independent leaders.
