Perform or perish at work
Dee Curtis and Leanne Glamuzina (in hat). Pic by: Kevin Bull
Nothing stirs up fear like an impending performance appraisal.
Dee Curtis is feeling confident. Two weeks ago, she sat down with her boss, radio station Nova promotions and marketing director Leanne Glamuzina, for a performance appraisal, to gauge her achievements in areas such as how she handles inter-office relationships, and how she performs her duties.
Curtis is a hard marker, rating herself as twos, three and fours. Glamuzina disagreed.
"I was really anxious about the whole thing, but Leanne said: 'Don't be because I am not grading you. You are not going to get sacked nor get a pay rise because of it'," Curtis says.
"But I was still nervous. There were questions like 'Where do you want to be in two years?' Do I put down where I really want to be, do I be honest about that?
"To be really honest, my goal in life is to own a pet hotel, so I put that down. It was nothing to do with radio operations.
"But I did really well, quite above what I marked myself as. I am not a super-confident person and that showed in my marks (that I gave myself). I put a lot of twos down, Leanne put out fours and five fives so I was stoked! She was like 'Mmm, you may be overdoing it in a few areas'. I was pretty happy."
Not all workers are so fortunate.
A looming end-of-financial-year for many companies means scheduling blocks of time for employee and employer to sit down and take stock of worker progress.
For some employees, performance appraisals mean a week of heartburn and heartache, of filling out countless forms and taking a good, hard look at what they do every day.
Fear is palpable in staffrooms around this time of year, as workers worried they have not lived up to all their KPIs (Key Performance Indicators), wonder if they will be sacked, demoted or diddled out of bonuses.
Employees who feel like that should know that their bosses are conducting performance reviews incorrectly, says Australian Institute of Management chief Carolyn Barker.
"The best organisations see performance reviews as a positive process and concentrate on what has been done well," Barker says.
"The worst organisations use reviews to castigate or criticise staff and this is usually reflected in their poor and negative work culture. If your boss is avoiding scheduling a review then it is your right to insist on one.
"They help management form development and training plans for staff or to recognise aspiring leaders or high performers. They help employees understand and reaffirm what is expected of them in their job role which often morphs over time. A review is also the place to address poor performance and to work out an agreed plan to rectify behaviours or skills gaps.
"Performance reviews are conducted in a wide variety of ways, from an informal conversation on an ad hoc basis - not the best practice - to a highly derived process that requires both the employee and the manager to fill out review templates.
"Most reviews are still undertaken annually, which is not considered to be frequent enough nowadays. Again, these organisations that program quarterly reviews into their annual cycle tend to build up a better, more consistent rapport with their staff and when difficult information needs to be transferred there are more credits in the 'trust bank' between parties."
Developing trust should be the ultimate aim in the review process, says New South Wales School of Business management lecturer Loretta O'Donnell.
"I have seen some done very badly and few done well," O'Donnell says. "It's a bit of a moment of truth from an employee's perspective. If people are on the edge of leaving a company and they have a negative experience at a performance review, it can convince them to go.
"They want to see if what is said is just rhetoric or if it becomes real so they can believe in management's philosophies and approach,'' O'Donnell says.
"For a performance review process to be successful it must be integrated into all of the human capital systems within the organisation. It won't work if it stands alone. It must be linked to recruitment, remuneration, the overall performance management system, promotion and training. If all this is consistent in strategy, performance appraisals become one string to bring out the best in people and leverage the human capital in an organisation.
"There has to be an authenticity to the experience. Otherwise, some people who receive a number or a letter assessing their performance will dismiss it out of hand because they don't accept it as a fair process.
"Unfortunately a lot of people have had a bad experience."
That bad experience is likely to feel like an ambush, where an employee is blind-sided by a dose of negative feedback they didn't expect. Leadership and communications consultant and author Ricky Nowak says that's a common scenario, caused when negative behaviour is not remedied by management on a day-to-day basis. Saving up all negative feedback for one appointment a year is lazy management.
"Feedback has to be timely and open, so regular that it occurs on a daily basis in some shape or form," Nowak says.
"The review session itself should focus on career development and establishing learning pathways, not to rectify major problems.
"If I am an underperformer or underachiever, do work with consistent mistakes, am not lifting the bar and don't finish work on time and don't respect the needs of others, then those are the sorts of things that I need to be driven to defeat consistently, to iron out problems.
"If they do do that, if my boss gives me coaching and extra help with learning and development, and offers support and further guidance, if I am still not managing to meet my KPIs then that is when (it should be brought up in a performance review)."
She says many firms are now turning to new review methods, such as online surveys, 360 degree feedback, personality testing and team goal setting exercises.
"The best key is to focus on giving 'feed forward', not feedback," she says.
Dee Curtis agrees, saying regular performance-based discussions with her boss is the reason she did so well in her performance review.
"I do think it comes down to the personality of the manager," Curtis says.
"My promotions director (Glamuzina) has amazing management skills and we catch up on a daily basis about how we are feeling and what the workload is. Honestly, if I was at a different workplace I might not be as satisfied. As much as a review is fantastic, I feel in some ways it's not necessary because she is so on top of how I am feeling and she makes sure I know where I fit in the scheme of things. I just can't ask for more."
Tips
AIM's Carolyn Barker says . . .
Employees
Prepare, prepare, prepare: Take the time to consider what you write and do so in a logical, rational manner . . . don't wing it.
What to say: Use positive language, ask clarifying questions to better understand what the organisation and/or the boss expects of you.
Negative feedback: If you do not agree with elements of the discussion, don't get carried away in the moment. Take notes and then ask for another appointment thereby giving yourself time for reflection and strategy.
Employers
Communicate: Understand that performance reviews "give space" for the employee to be given a clear view of their strengths and weaknesses and for both parties to discuss any challenges or hurdles that may be limiting performance. A good manager will also ask what they can do to improve their performance as a boss.
If it involves a salary review: Both parties should be very clear about the performance versus the pay sequence.
Evaluating performance
Traditional:
Yearly or quarterly reviews. Worker asked to fill in survey of their performance, usually relating to previously derived Key Performance Indicators and rated with letters or numbers.
Supervisor does same survey on employee performance. Two parties meet and talk about results. Work out way forward to improve KPI performance, may set out new KPIs for next appraisal cycle. Results may determine future pay rises or level of monetary bonus or other reward.
360 degree feedback:
All members of the working team are asked to fill in survey about a particular worker or team's performance. Usually conducted on a regular basis and linked to pre-determined performance indicators. Can determine bonuses or other rewards.
Online or consultant assistance:
Suite of computer programs or physical services offered by consultants to help employers conduct regular employee assessment. Ranges from one-off survey forms to full-service cultural change campaign design with targeted employee counselling and training.
The Courier-Mail, May 10 2008
Dee Curtis is feeling confident. Two weeks ago, she sat down with her boss, radio station Nova promotions and marketing director Leanne Glamuzina, for a performance appraisal, to gauge her achievements in areas such as how she handles inter-office relationships, and how she performs her duties.
Curtis is a hard marker, rating herself as twos, three and fours. Glamuzina disagreed.
"I was really anxious about the whole thing, but Leanne said: 'Don't be because I am not grading you. You are not going to get sacked nor get a pay rise because of it'," Curtis says.
"But I was still nervous. There were questions like 'Where do you want to be in two years?' Do I put down where I really want to be, do I be honest about that?
"To be really honest, my goal in life is to own a pet hotel, so I put that down. It was nothing to do with radio operations.
"But I did really well, quite above what I marked myself as. I am not a super-confident person and that showed in my marks (that I gave myself). I put a lot of twos down, Leanne put out fours and five fives so I was stoked! She was like 'Mmm, you may be overdoing it in a few areas'. I was pretty happy."
Not all workers are so fortunate.
A looming end-of-financial-year for many companies means scheduling blocks of time for employee and employer to sit down and take stock of worker progress.
For some employees, performance appraisals mean a week of heartburn and heartache, of filling out countless forms and taking a good, hard look at what they do every day.
Fear is palpable in staffrooms around this time of year, as workers worried they have not lived up to all their KPIs (Key Performance Indicators), wonder if they will be sacked, demoted or diddled out of bonuses.
Employees who feel like that should know that their bosses are conducting performance reviews incorrectly, says Australian Institute of Management chief Carolyn Barker.
"The best organisations see performance reviews as a positive process and concentrate on what has been done well," Barker says.
"The worst organisations use reviews to castigate or criticise staff and this is usually reflected in their poor and negative work culture. If your boss is avoiding scheduling a review then it is your right to insist on one.
"They help management form development and training plans for staff or to recognise aspiring leaders or high performers. They help employees understand and reaffirm what is expected of them in their job role which often morphs over time. A review is also the place to address poor performance and to work out an agreed plan to rectify behaviours or skills gaps.
"Performance reviews are conducted in a wide variety of ways, from an informal conversation on an ad hoc basis - not the best practice - to a highly derived process that requires both the employee and the manager to fill out review templates.
"Most reviews are still undertaken annually, which is not considered to be frequent enough nowadays. Again, these organisations that program quarterly reviews into their annual cycle tend to build up a better, more consistent rapport with their staff and when difficult information needs to be transferred there are more credits in the 'trust bank' between parties."
Developing trust should be the ultimate aim in the review process, says New South Wales School of Business management lecturer Loretta O'Donnell.
"I have seen some done very badly and few done well," O'Donnell says. "It's a bit of a moment of truth from an employee's perspective. If people are on the edge of leaving a company and they have a negative experience at a performance review, it can convince them to go.
"They want to see if what is said is just rhetoric or if it becomes real so they can believe in management's philosophies and approach,'' O'Donnell says.
"For a performance review process to be successful it must be integrated into all of the human capital systems within the organisation. It won't work if it stands alone. It must be linked to recruitment, remuneration, the overall performance management system, promotion and training. If all this is consistent in strategy, performance appraisals become one string to bring out the best in people and leverage the human capital in an organisation.
"There has to be an authenticity to the experience. Otherwise, some people who receive a number or a letter assessing their performance will dismiss it out of hand because they don't accept it as a fair process.
"Unfortunately a lot of people have had a bad experience."
That bad experience is likely to feel like an ambush, where an employee is blind-sided by a dose of negative feedback they didn't expect. Leadership and communications consultant and author Ricky Nowak says that's a common scenario, caused when negative behaviour is not remedied by management on a day-to-day basis. Saving up all negative feedback for one appointment a year is lazy management.
"Feedback has to be timely and open, so regular that it occurs on a daily basis in some shape or form," Nowak says.
"The review session itself should focus on career development and establishing learning pathways, not to rectify major problems.
"If I am an underperformer or underachiever, do work with consistent mistakes, am not lifting the bar and don't finish work on time and don't respect the needs of others, then those are the sorts of things that I need to be driven to defeat consistently, to iron out problems.
"If they do do that, if my boss gives me coaching and extra help with learning and development, and offers support and further guidance, if I am still not managing to meet my KPIs then that is when (it should be brought up in a performance review)."
She says many firms are now turning to new review methods, such as online surveys, 360 degree feedback, personality testing and team goal setting exercises.
"The best key is to focus on giving 'feed forward', not feedback," she says.
Dee Curtis agrees, saying regular performance-based discussions with her boss is the reason she did so well in her performance review.
"I do think it comes down to the personality of the manager," Curtis says.
"My promotions director (Glamuzina) has amazing management skills and we catch up on a daily basis about how we are feeling and what the workload is. Honestly, if I was at a different workplace I might not be as satisfied. As much as a review is fantastic, I feel in some ways it's not necessary because she is so on top of how I am feeling and she makes sure I know where I fit in the scheme of things. I just can't ask for more."
Tips
AIM's Carolyn Barker says . . .
Employees
Prepare, prepare, prepare: Take the time to consider what you write and do so in a logical, rational manner . . . don't wing it.
What to say: Use positive language, ask clarifying questions to better understand what the organisation and/or the boss expects of you.
Negative feedback: If you do not agree with elements of the discussion, don't get carried away in the moment. Take notes and then ask for another appointment thereby giving yourself time for reflection and strategy.
Employers
Communicate: Understand that performance reviews "give space" for the employee to be given a clear view of their strengths and weaknesses and for both parties to discuss any challenges or hurdles that may be limiting performance. A good manager will also ask what they can do to improve their performance as a boss.
If it involves a salary review: Both parties should be very clear about the performance versus the pay sequence.
Evaluating performance
Traditional:
Yearly or quarterly reviews. Worker asked to fill in survey of their performance, usually relating to previously derived Key Performance Indicators and rated with letters or numbers.
Supervisor does same survey on employee performance. Two parties meet and talk about results. Work out way forward to improve KPI performance, may set out new KPIs for next appraisal cycle. Results may determine future pay rises or level of monetary bonus or other reward.
360 degree feedback:
All members of the working team are asked to fill in survey about a particular worker or team's performance. Usually conducted on a regular basis and linked to pre-determined performance indicators. Can determine bonuses or other rewards.
Online or consultant assistance:
Suite of computer programs or physical services offered by consultants to help employers conduct regular employee assessment. Ranges from one-off survey forms to full-service cultural change campaign design with targeted employee counselling and training.
The Courier-Mail, May 10 2008
