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Dave Polacheck
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1 year ago
in Performance Reviews Poo-Pooed by High Performers on KnowHR Blog
Let's face it review time is almost no manager's favorite time of year, but their resistance and/or resentment comes for so many different reasons. For some, they struggle to lead and communicate, so offering thoughtful feedback to their people is a real pain. For others who maintain an ongoing performance conversation throughout the year, it feels redundant and arbitrary to choose 1 time of the year to formalize their feedback. Regardless I think judging the whole process based on the individual appraisal event is missing the full breadth and value of a performance management process.
In our organization we talk about the 3 "D"s: Direction, Dialog and Discovery. The 1-on-1 performance discussion is just the middle D. Direction is about defining the vision (both the "what" and the "how"), so we know what results to measure and what behaviors to assess for. I'm not a big fan of standard competency libraries or forcing x positives and y negatives for this reason -- what we assess should tie directly to our vision. Plus a top performer is only a top performer in the context of this vision. "A rose is a weed in a cornfield" as a wise mentor once told me.
Discovery is whole the roll-up process that follows the individual review, where managers discuss their teams with their business leaders -- who's ready for bigger challenges, who's struggling, re-org plans, etc. So much gets uncovered in these sessions, as much about how our people are being led as how individuals are performing.
Sorry for evangelizing... There's so much credibility to be lost by letting it atrophy into standardized form with no context, but much to be gained by a thoughtful, challenging process!
In our organization we talk about the 3 "D"s: Direction, Dialog and Discovery. The 1-on-1 performance discussion is just the middle D. Direction is about defining the vision (both the "what" and the "how"), so we know what results to measure and what behaviors to assess for. I'm not a big fan of standard competency libraries or forcing x positives and y negatives for this reason -- what we assess should tie directly to our vision. Plus a top performer is only a top performer in the context of this vision. "A rose is a weed in a cornfield" as a wise mentor once told me.
Discovery is whole the roll-up process that follows the individual review, where managers discuss their teams with their business leaders -- who's ready for bigger challenges, who's struggling, re-org plans, etc. So much gets uncovered in these sessions, as much about how our people are being led as how individuals are performing.
Sorry for evangelizing... There's so much credibility to be lost by letting it atrophy into standardized form with no context, but much to be gained by a thoughtful, challenging process!
1 year ago
in HiPo or Hippo? on KnowHR Blog
This one's near and dear to my heart. For me the way to engage your hi pots is through the opportunity and challenge of their roles, and the forward view of what might be coming next. Yes to training, yes to comp, but give them a shot at solving the tough problems of your business and you've got their engagement.
The bigger challenge is identifying them imo, especially when they're out in the field or deep in one of your corporate functions. I'm not a big fan of arbitrary "promotability" ratings or hipot flags assigned by their manager or HR... to much of a crystal ball approach for my taste. So we've developed a process where promotability is "calculated" from how they've been rated on their business results and the various competencies we're assessing for. As with anything in this process it requires discussion and can't be purely a data exercise, but using a system to drive it and the calculation I described, we've been able to flush out great potential talent from the four corners of our organization.
Happy to discuss it further if anyone's interested.
Dave Polacheck
The bigger challenge is identifying them imo, especially when they're out in the field or deep in one of your corporate functions. I'm not a big fan of arbitrary "promotability" ratings or hipot flags assigned by their manager or HR... to much of a crystal ball approach for my taste. So we've developed a process where promotability is "calculated" from how they've been rated on their business results and the various competencies we're assessing for. As with anything in this process it requires discussion and can't be purely a data exercise, but using a system to drive it and the calculation I described, we've been able to flush out great potential talent from the four corners of our organization.
Happy to discuss it further if anyone's interested.
Dave Polacheck
