Building The Perfect Performance Evaluation
Written by:  Mike Cleary
Copyright © 2005, Team Pegine, Inc.


Case study: Consultant Pegine Echevarria (http://www.pegine.com) 
challenges employees at a Fortune 100 tech giant to blow their 
own horns BEFORE formal review sessions ... and managers love it.


I. TWO WORRIED PEOPLE

Performance review time. Joe, a five-year employee at components 
giant GlobalTech, is trying once again to read his supervisor’s 
mind: "What, exactly, does he want from me?" He’s been worrying 
about this meeting for weeks.

He’s not the only one. 

Ed, Joe’s manager, doesn’t really know what he wants from Joe. 
He’s uncomfortable discussing things he can’t quantify with 
numbers, he's worried about his own upcoming performance review, 
he's afraid of saying something that will get him in trouble, 
and he's uncertain where Joe’s potential for growth really lies. 


II. THE PERFORMANCE REVIEW MEETING

Instead of asking questions that will help develop a personal 
goal that will build on what Joe has accomplished over the last 
three months, Ed takes what seems to be the easy way out: he 
starts a discussion about workplace processes skipping over the 
human equation. 

After all, evaluating processes is what he’s good at.

Process analyses during performance reviews, however, drive 
employees like Joe nuts.

The result? Joe nods his head obediently, takes notes, then 
retreats to his cubicle, where he mutters unflattering things 
about his boss. 

One personal evaluation at a time, GlobalTech’s historic 
commitment to innovation and improvement is collapsing.


III. THE CULTURE OF SILENCE

In thousands of America’s engineering-driven companies, 
collaboration and teamwork are the exception. And silence -- 
specifically, covering yourself to avoid punishment from 
above -- is the rule. 

Many (though not all) of GlobalTech’s numbers-driven managers 
have lost sight of the entrepreneurial vision that launched the 
company in the first place. 

What’s more, a fair number of these managers aren’t particularly 
good at – and don’t really enjoy – communicating with the people 
who report to them. 

The result is a three-part crisis undermining the company’s 
return on its human resource investment.

1. Loss of organizational opportunity. Good ideas and process 
   improvements that are developed by individual employees are 
   never shared throughout the organization, because managers 
   don’t hear about them in the first place.

2. Loss of personal productivity. When managers don’t even know 
   which workers are posting personal increases in productivity,
   they can’t encourage these behaviors over time.

3. Loss of team efficiency. Many team member follow Joe’s 
   example, investing lots of energy in a performance review 
   process that ultimately frustrates them. They form unrealistic
   ideas and expectations of management, but end up demotivated 
   and cynical, and then clam up about what they're doing. People
   eventually conclude – correctly – that their manager simply 
   has no idea what he or she wants.


IV. A DECLINE IN INNOVATION

GlobalTech was still an industry leader within its primary 
market.  The company’s historic emphasis on innovation and 
creativity, however, had declined.  After spending time with 
some GlobalTech team members, performance coach Pegine 
Echevarria thought she knew why.

In their interactions with managers, employees were focusing 
on avoiding mentioning anything that might conceivably lead 
to a "black mark" on quarterly performance reviews.  In other 
words, most team members were, like their managers, in 
"cover-your-anatomy" mode, which usually meant confirming the 
assumptions of managers. In many cases, this mean that managers 
did not get a full picture of the true accomplishments, assets, 
or requirements of their team members.

GlobalTech’s ability to support high-functioning, innovative 
teams had been undercuT. Poor morale, mediocre daily plans, and 
unproductive, low-information communication patterns were daily 
workplace norms.


V. TEACHING DIRECT REPORTS TO PROMOTE THEIR OWN VALUE

Working with the team at GlobalTech, Echevarria developed tools 
to help team members identify and promote their own value as a 
regular workplace event ... not just during annual reviews. 

Her goal was to train team members to communicate or "brag" 
about specific accomplishments, insights, ideas and applications 
BEFORE formal performance assessments.  She also wanted to help 
people enjoy and relate to each other in a fun and interactive 
environment, one that eliminated communication barriers, infused 
employees with energy and laughter, reduced anxiety, stress and 
fear, increased productivity, and enhanced teamwork.

The program she developed for GlobalTech taught and coached a 
process that enabled the company's people to win by:

1. FOCUSING on who they were in relation to the organization.

2. COMMUNICATING who they were in relation to the organization.

3. CELEBRATING their own achievements and innovations, as well 
   as those of their teammates.


VI. BREAKING THE CULTURE OF SILENCE IN PERFORMANCE REVIEWS

To break the culture of silence in performance reviews at 
GlobalTech, Echevarria had to confront a crippling fear that 
pervades many organizations – namely, that a given person’s 
value or accomplishments would not be worth the trouble of 
communicating upwards to one's supervisor. 

Pegine offered employees evidence that the company as a whole 
would flounder without the contributions of individual team 
members. She helped employees get over the notion that their 
managers "should already understand" their world. And she 
challenged managers to overcome their own fears about asking 
direct questions that connected to the personal goals of 
employees.

Echevarria developed exercises and role plays that helped team 
members overcome "cover your anatomy" communication patterns that 
had solidified over time. The job then became one of replacing 
these habits with new communication values. There were five of 
these values. (The word "value" itself became a trigger for 
questions that would spark a productive series of questions.)

========

CRITICAL VALUE QUESTIONS TO ASK EVERY WEEK, NOT JUST RIGHT 
BEFORE YOUR PERFORMANCE REVIEW

(Courtesy of Pegine Echevarria, http://www.pegine.com)

V:  Visibility.  What is clearly visible to others about your 
    expertise, the tasks you do, and the accomplishment of those 
    tasks? What should be more visible?

A:  Attitude.  What is your state of mind at work?


L:  Looking.  Do you look for solutions, innovations, and 
    brainstorms? Do you share those discoveries with others?  

U:  Using resources.  Do you actually use the expertise of others
    to gain insight on how to handle situations you face?  

E:  Evolution.  Have you grown as a result of a recent project?  
    How? What did you notice that no longer worked for you?  How 
    did that situation motivate you to change?  How would that 
    change affect your job? 

========

THE RESULTS

GlobalTech managers and team members agreed that, after the 
training, participants began promoting their own value more 
effectively – and sharing new ideas and processes with colleagues
and superiors. They did this by means of networking effectively, 
asking supervisors for guidance, and developing written and 
verbal assessments of recent projects.

Working with the team at GlobalTech, Echevarria developed, found 
sponsors for, and implemented an ongoing program that resulted 
in greater team cohesion, lower anxiety levels, and improved 
productivity. 

As if all that weren't enough, managers and direct reports 
could be heard talking about how they actually enjoyed the 
performance-review process.

Now there's an accomplishment.


Copyright © 2005, Team Pegine, Inc.

[Mike Cleary] is a freelance writer based in Massachusetts. 
E-mail him at:  mailto: mike_clearly02134@yahoo.com.

[Pegine Echevarria] is the president of TEAM PEGINE. To learn 
more about TEAM PEGINE's team-buildling, presentation, and 
leadership training, email her at mailto:pegine@pegine.com, 
call 904/280-8806, or visit:  http://www.pegine.com

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