How was your annual performance appraisal? Did it move you to the next level? Here are five reasons we can do better.

Many organisations have a structured performance appraisal system, usually with an annual review. Most of us would have recently had our appraisal for last year, revising our performance and setting new objectives for the coming year.

This is the first in a short series as I explore performance appraisals and test better ways of approaching employee development.

Management theory

Have you heard of ‘Theory X’? A series of management beliefs that influence how organisations deal with employees, that management knows what is best because:

• People cannot be trusted to do what they are supposed to
• Employees are lazy and do not work equally
• Employees do not want to improve or learn
• Employees want to be left alone to do their own thing
• Without incentives, employees will not work hard

With these beliefs, not trusting employees, management needs to control employees, which it does through policies, performance appraisal, programs for incentives, rewards and motivation. When employees are treated this way, they act in the ways listed above, perpetuating the belief management has.

Why do we have an appraisal?

Considering Theory X, there is a logic that follows for performance appraisal:

• There are good and bad performers
• Management can tell which are good and bad
• Good performing employees contribute positively to the organisations
• Bad performers impair the organisational performance
• Performance appraisal will motivate employees to perform well
• Employees are accountable through the appraisal process

This makes sense, if it were true!

How do we turn this around?

The five reasons we can do better are simply inverting our thinking:

• People can be trusted to do what they are supposed to
• Employees are not inherently lazy, they want to do a good job
• Employees are keen to learn and improve what they do
• Employees, like anybody, need connection, social interaction
• People do not just do things from external motivation, for most they have internal motivation

In subsequent posts, I will explore other aspects of the performance appraisal and what we can do instead.

As well as Dr. W. Edwards Deming, Peter Scholtes and Alfie Kohn are key influences on the ideas to be presented.