The end year is coming, and the performance reviews are just around the corner. We live in a moment when employees have to deal with multiple disruptions, continuous challenges, and uncertainty. With the increasing cases of burnout, disengagement, and employees quitting, we now have to make a stop for the performance reviews.
Many studies found that traditional performance management is outdated and ineffective. A Gallup research shows that traditional approaches to performance management leave many goals of performance management unachieved. Some of the findings are that: only 2 in 10 employees strongly agree that their performance is managed in a way that motivates them to do outstanding work. And only 14% of employees strongly agree that the performance reviews they receive inspire them to improve.
Some main reasons employees feel their performance reviews are inaccurate or unfair are infrequent feedback, lack of clarity, manager bias, adverse reactions to evaluation and feedback, and too much focus on pay incentives. Because annual reviews make employees feel disengaged and less trusting of their company, many businesses decided a few years ago to replace traditional reviews with different performance evaluation processes. Do we have the right process now? I doubt it. But the good news is that more companies are open to reviewing it, adapting it, and making changes to improve it.
Now more than ever, the world demands us to focus on team results rather than individual performance. We need to promote strong collaborations and global connections to resolve issues that it is more clear we can't do it alone. We need to create an environment where people feel safe to take risks, giving them autonomy and empowerment to respond with agility to the market. Most of the things that the economy demands are hard to measure. If we focus on the job that has to be done and declare that we will evaluate employees for those results, we could leave the most important things unconsidered.
The things we believe are important and can make a real difference are not always related to the metrics we define for the performance review. A remarkable job is often related to a personal commitment, values, integrity, daily positive interactions, caring about your customers, and willingness to go further because it is personal, because it is who you are.