3 Reasons Performance Reviews Don’t Work

As the generations change, so does the approach to managing performance in the workplace. A couple of generations ago, performance was managed in an annual conversation and written evaluation. The annual performance review proved to provide very little developmental value over and over again, but we kept doing it. Out of habit, or duty, or lack of a better idea, sitting down for an hour once a year and telling people what was wrong with them stayed the trend. Knowing that these did little to nothing to improve performance, what was it that made them ineffective?

1. Performance reviews are not done in a timely fashion. I remember in a previous job hearing one of my coworkers complain that they had to endure the verbal flogging of their manager for leaving the door unlocked when they had worked a 13-hour day… 11 months earlier! Far too many managers simply save up all their complaints to spew them on their people during the review. If you do not have monthly 1:1 conversations with your direct reports, they will not change the things that matter when they matter.
2. Performance reviews are not tied to anything meaningful. I had a friend of mine tell me that they just got their annual review and that it took 3 hours this time. I asked them how the feedback was. They told me they always tuned out because the feedback was mostly about stuff that had nothing to do with their job. This is such a common theme in performance evaluations. The questions are often very subjective and related to how the boss feels about various aspects of the employee rather than how the employee performed. We can finally have a meaningful conversation when we connect critical achievements to employee outcomes.
3. Performance reviews don’t condition better behaviors or outcomes. Behavioral conditioning is about coaching people regularly to understand what actions create the right outcomes. Coaching conversations are a feedback loop, requiring the manager and employee participation. To actually condition behaviors, the manager has to set clear expectations, observe employees in action, follow a Socratic model of questioning that leads to critical thought, and teach the employee internal accountability. This is an ongoing process. It isn’t a singular event.

If managers have taken the time to interact with, coach, develop, and care about their people, they will have an amazing annual review. This means that feedback is required within a short window of time when it is needed, with the review being tied directly to measurable aspects of their performance and success, and the review is focused on conditioning the best behaviors for employee success. Reviews can be a bit daunting unless you have a game plan going in.