#5 JooBee's newsletter

TL;DR

🔢 Performance ratings: A tool to judge or a tool to grow?

2️⃣ My Founder rated me 2 out of 10

❓ Your views on performance ratings

Performance ratings: A tool to judge or a tool to grow?

Imagine you're on a journey to improve your health and build healthy habits. One thing you’ve committed to is 🐾walking 10,000 steps a day. Now, would you wait until the end of the year to assess your progress only to realise that you've been averaging 5,000 steps per day? Or would you keep track daily using your Fitbit, regularly look back at your trends, and figure out early that, "Ah, I tend to fall short of my target on weekends"? In this scenario, you'd adjust your weekend activities to boost your step count, ensuring you meet your goal of 10,000 steps per day to work toward a healthier you.

This simple example illustrates how we use data and metrics in our daily lives to progress toward our goals.

So why is it still a matter of debate whether we should use performance ratings?

We’ve wasted years talking about performance ratings. Literally years. Ratings are not the issue. It’s the intention behind them that matters. 

Performance ratings have been employed in organisations primarily as tools that over-indexing massively on judgment rather than growth. Let's go back to our Fitbit analogy. When Fitbit tells us we've achieved 8,000 steps for the day, do we feel judged? No. Those numbers simply show us how far we've come and may motivate us to take a walk during lunchtime to achieve our goals. When used with the intent to foster growth, performance ratings become powerful tools for continuous improvement.

Performance ratings have often been tied to promotions, salary increases, or bonuses. Moreover, when they are used as a "rank and yank" tool, resulting in annual firings, it's no surprise that people fear and despise them.

To be transparent, metrics do provide data for decision-making. If someone hasn't been performing for the past 12 months, parting ways might be the eventual outcome. However, if data is used with the intent to facilitate continuous improvement, those 12 months would be spent actively working on how to enable the individual’s growth and providing them with the necessary support.

If you choose to adopt performance ratings, do it with a clear intent

In my experience, performance ratings offer numerous benefits when approached with a clear intent for both growth and evaluation. Performance ratings:

🗨️ Create a common language: A common language of performance reduces confusion and facilitates conversations and feedback on shared expectations regarding performance and impact. 

🤝 Build trust: Avoid the emergence of ‘shadow ratings’ in the absence of formal performance ratings. These shadow ratings can lead to bias and misalignment of expectations, ultimately resulting in employees feeling unfairly treated.

So, if you choose to adopt performance ratings, they can serve as a valuable tool for fostering growth and continuous improvement when implemented with the right intent. By embracing performance ratings as a means to enhance individual and organisational development, we can harness their power to drive positive change and achieve our goals effectively. Just like tracking those daily steps on your Fitbit, performance ratings can help us measure progress and take steps toward achieving your goals.

My Founder rated me 2 out of 10

"That was a 2 out of 10 of what I expect of you," my Founder told me during my first month on the job. Surprisingly, instead of sending shivers down my spine, this memory brings a warm smile to my face - no, I haven't lost my marbles! 😅

I had made a mistake that had a significant impact on the business. Immediately after delivering this feedback, my founder gathered the leadership team to collaboratively address the issue. He provided context, outlined the desired outcome, and made it abundantly clear that it was our collective responsibility to tackle this situation as a team.

For the next hour, the leadership team engaged in brainstorming, spirited discussions, and passionate debates. At no point did I feel blamed throughout this process. Instead, I felt a strong sense of unity, that both my leader and the leadership team had my back. Together, we identified potential solutions and forged ahead to implement them.

Fast forward to my end-of-year review, which took place 7 months after the incident. In our formal performance review process, I received a 3 out of 4 performance rating. This incident, far from being a blemish on my performance, was an integral part of my journey toward growth within my role - a performance evaluation encompassing the entire year.

Performance review should be #nosurprises 🙅🏻‍♀️

That's precisely why we designed our end-of-year performance review (known as the Performance Snapshot), to serve as a comprehensive summary encompassing a year’s worth of continuous and iterative performance improvements. 

One of our guiding principles is #nosurprises. No one should ever be caught off guard at the end of the year. Our employees maintain clarity throughout the year regarding their performance, know the areas they need to improve and receive the support necessary to enhance their performance. We provide training and support to managers on how to accomplish this, and we hold them accountable for achieving it.

In this way, we foster an environment of continuous improvement, transparency, and support, ensuring that everyone can thrive and excel in their roles.

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