Are annual performance reviews just a waste of time?

One of the most regular comments I have heard over the years is that annual performance reviews are just a waste of time. The reasons they give are that people hate doing them, they are just a crutch for poor managers to be seen to be doing something, there is no link to pay so why bother, they take too long, and people don’t really say what they think.

Employee performance evaluations in my mind are just tools to aid discussion, and like all tools, they can be used in a positive or negative way. In the right hands tools can help create some pretty spectacular results – in unskilled hands the results can be clumsy or damaging.

That’s why I am a fervent believer that telling managers to “go do performance appraisals” without any training, support or coaching is the same as telling a teenager to “go drive a car” without any training, support or coaching. You just know that the results will not be pretty.

Without proper training, you will get bad review results – people won’t say what they think, they will just go through the motions, managers will be stilted and follow process rather than initiate a deep dialogue and they will take a heck of a lot of time.

With proper training, managers will be able to put the employee evaluations in the context of their management during the year. They will use them as a tool to aid double loop learning – where people can stop, reflect and learn from their experiences and then build that learning into their new work challenges. They do become motivational, exciting and something to look forward to.

So are they a waste of time? It all depends on how you approach them and use them. I know the power of great employee performance reviews – I also know the downside. I believe all managers need to be set up for success – and trained in their proper use to give them the maximum chance of succeeding with their team. After all, isn’t that why we want to implement performance reviews in the first place – to get great results? Take the time to train your managers and you will get great outcomes from your reviews.

Until next time

Ingrid Cliff

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