Performance management sucks at every company. Criticizing our failure to help people succeed is a national sport – and every team is losing. So what can you do?

Oh No! Not Another Performance Management Presentation! – a DisruptHR talk by Vadim Liberman – Manager of Talent Engagement at Fortune 100 Financial Services Firm

DisruptHR New York 2 – January 21, 2016 in New York, New York #DisruptHRNYC

At your company, performance management sucks. But you already know that, because performance management sucks at every company. Criticizing our failure to help people succeed is a national sport – and every team is losing. So what do you do?

The main problem is that we’re appraising people based upon getting results. But what if getting results, and appraising people based upon getting results are not the same? What if focusing on results is not even the best way to get them? What if it’s actually the worst?

For example, our favorite goals acronym is kind of dumb – SMART.

– Specific – Specific goals can cause employees to miss risks and opportunities.
– Measurable – Not everything is measurable, so people can gravitate towards what’s easiest to track, not necessarily what’s most important to do.
– Attainable – Sends the message “go small, or go home”, because employees can set targets and meet them, but they’ll perform at a lower level that people who set harder targets that they may not meet.
– Relevant – To whom?
– Time Bound – Time bound makes sense, but if you’re always willing to move the goalposts, maybe it’s time for a new game.

Maybe it’s time to stop focusing on output, and start focusing on input – transform performance management into behavior management. Assess behaviors insofar as they lead to desired outcomes, not because you want to dodge those outcomes, but because that’s the best way to get at them.

You can still set objectives, but make sure that you’re measuring the value of the objectives themselves – not people based upon meeting them.