2 minutes
After spending 20 years in corporate HR, Gary Markle became disenchanted with the staff review process and its inability to foster meaningful change. Markle, founder and CEO of Energage, Ellijay, Ga., and author of Catalytic Coaching: The End of the Performance Review, answers questions about employee performance reviews:
Should a review incorporate an employee’s career growth?
Allowing this discussion is critical to the success of a good coaching model, but it only works in the context of having an adult-to-adult conversation about the state of the company and availability of career growth. This type of frank conversation can strike terror in the minds of some managers. Catalytic Coaching provides talking points and tools to help managers and employees alike navigate these difficult conversations so both emerge feeling good and empowered.
Are reviews strategic in nature?
At many organizations, they’re typically not. Often, the only strategy behind the performance review is the legal protection of the company. Unfortunately, it can produce the opposite results. For example, any time you reduce an employee to a number or a grade, it puts the company at risk for accusations of a discriminant impact.
Delta Air Lines, Walmart, Coca-Cola and other major corporations have been successfully sued because of this grading or labeling. In response, they have attempted to alter their approach to the review process by using new technologies or offering different incentives, yet they persist in using some form of a grading system. Changing the tread on a tire does not reinvent the wheel.
What should a company NOT assume during the review process?
If you’re using any form of a grading process, throw it away post haste. In the words of W. Edwards Deming, “If your system does more harm than good, just stop doing it. That alone would be an improvement.”
How about pay to perform incentives?
It’s essential to give up the myth of paying for performance. There are few greater fallacies in business than the notion that last year’s performance directly impacts this year’s base salary adjustment. Executive and mid-level managers know that market factors and company budgets have the biggest impact on base pay adjustments, and performance matters only slightly.
I’m not there yet, but as an employee, I want to be an influencer…
Every company is looking for more influential people. If you, as a credit union employee, are not getting the coaching you need, talk to your supervisor or even the CEO. Let them know what help you need to better contribute to the organization and, in turn, attract more influencers.
With 25 years of marketing and communications experience, Stephanie Schwenn Sebring established and managed the marketing departments for three CUs. As owner of Fab Prose & Professional Writing, her focus is on assisting CUs and industry suppliers with their communications needs.
