Everybody talks like they hate the annual review by their boss. We all hate rating ourselves and are nervous that when our boss sees how we rated ourselves he will think we're either arrogant and cocky or lying and self-deprecating.
Our company currently does annual reviews of all of its salaried employees. It is a 3 page document with approximately 50 words. For each word (i.e., "Tenacity"), we are required to rate ourselves on a 1 to 5 scale, with 3 being average, 4 being above-average, and 5 being outstanding. In the past life, we would have considered this review the behavioral review. In simple terms, how you get it done. Are you kind, gracious, honest, hard-working, etc, as you get your job done? This is by far the more subjective piece of a complete evaluation.
In the above chart that I showed here yesterday, my past life also included a second axis in the review for performance. This measured how many set goals were met. In other words, what you did get done.
Both are critical to be measured. Most people hate the anticipation factor waiting for the results. When the results come, some people are angry because they get a poor behavior review, even though they closed a majority of the new business for the company (like person B in the chart.) But in reality, that person probably causes turmoil at the company and that needs to be addressed. See those curved lines? Each curved line out from point 0 marks another level of success an employee has made in the company's eyes. Therefore, person A and person B are rated the same (and compensated in the same ratio.) Person D did the best, even though he didn't perform as well as B or behave as well as A. He was the most complete package of behavior and performance. He contributed the most to the company.
Here is my take on evaluations: they are GREAT. They are difficult, but you need to do them and do them right. Evaluate yourself honestly and pray that your boss does as well. Anything that you don't see eye to eye on you should take as a blind spot in your life, an area to spend more time developing.
I am looking forward to my evaluation response from our COO because it will enable me to be better. Although we only formally evaluate the behaviors, this is the best for me because it typically is weaker than a performance review. Bahavior is the area that I have worked the most on, hope for the most improvement, and need the most feedback on. And through the evaluation structure, we have a forum to receive honest feedback; in this forum we find the direction needed for our personal development.
I like your chart. I would be interested to know which band equates to the expected threshold level of combined performance for your company. I would argue that a persons base compensation is for performance up to the band where persons A and B reside. Stated more simply, persons A and B would be eligible for the minimum level of incentive compensation. Unfortunatley, most compines I have been associated with would say that as long as you do not reside in the bottom left square you are exceeding expectations and therefore eligible for a "bonus".
Posted by: ITP Snob | November 18, 2005 at 11:36 AM