A Better Workplace - Meridian Group's Newsletter, No. 40, 1-15-05

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This employee evaluation, that starts and finishes with the employee, guarantees improved performance.

In previous newsletters I've mentioned a golden rule of culture, "If an Employee Is Affected by a Decision, They Should Be Involved in It". Let's look at how one of my clients used this principle to design a performance evaluation process that actually changed employee performance.

The managers in this company knew that when employees were involved in any company action or decision that affected them, they would own it and be motivated to act on it. Most of these managers and their supervisors were frustrated with the ineffectiveness of their traditional top-down employee evaluation program. They decided to design a new evaluation process, one they would like to administer, and would build in positive behavior change.

Set the Stage

These managers were very comfortable using the cultural interview (see http://www.companyculture.com/change/interview.htm ). They knew the importance of creating a safe and positive atmosphere to make the new employee evaluation effective. The managers decided not to sit behind their desks and "evaluate the employee" but to sit together with the employee, in comfortable chairs, or at a table and discuss the employee, his experience at work, and anything in his work situation he would like to change. The managers recognized that performance came from both the person and their situation, so a realistic evaluation must include both.

Unlike traditional performance evaluations, which begin with a more-or-less fixed set of questions determined by management, the employee-based evaluation began with two blank notepads, one for the employee and one for the manager. The manager opened the discussion by stating its purpose:

"This is your annual performance appraisal but we are going to do this one a little differently. We won't be using the form we used before. I'd like to begin by talking about your work, how you feel about it, what's been working well, what hasn't, what's important to you, and anything you would like to discuss and possibly see changed. Perhaps we can start by your talking about some of the things you feel are important in doing your work, how you see "doing a good job"?

What's Important to the Employee?

After some general discussion, and with a little coaching, the employee develops his own list of five to ten personal and unique performance measures such as:

The Situation

Next he discusses what "Situation" factors affect his job. This list might include actions, decisions or the attitude of the manager, the effects of company-wide systems, or actions from other managers, departments, customers, or suppliers.

There are now two lists, "Employee" and "Situation". The manager now asks the employee to rank order the items on each list in order of its importance to them. Then the manager says: "Now let's look at your personal list. I'd like you to say how well you feel you are doing on each item. Let me draw a line after each item. At one end I'll write "Acceptable". At the other I'll put "Needs Improvement". I'd like you to put a mark on the line where you think you are. Let's start with your first item, 'Accurate Work'."

Management Feedback

The managers were surprised to find that the employees were quite critical of their own performance. They usually put their mark further towards the "Needs Improvement" end than the manager would have put it. The managers learned to say, "Well, I tink you are doing better than that. Remember when you .. (the manager would mention a specific, recent, positive action the employee took ).... So let me put a mark where I see you. If we circle our marks can we both agree that you are in that circle somewhere?"

Accurate work 

Needs Improvement                                                                        Acceptable

            ______________________x____________x______________

The employee and manager repeat this for each item.

The Action Plan

Manager: "Let's look at your list again. Are there any items you would particularly like to work on over the next few months, either by yourself or with me?"

One or two items are enough. The employee might have an idea for how he wants to work on the item, or if he doesn't, the manager might suggest they both meet in a week after the employee has had time to think about it some more.

Next the employee ranks the importance of the "Situation" or "external items" and the manager asks the employee the same question. "Are there one or two items you would particularly like to work on, either by yourself, with others on the team who are also affected by that, or with me over the next few months?"

Follow Through is Essential

Either at that meeting or a follow up meeting, the employee outlines his plan and they both commit to it in writing. This may involve some cooperative work with the manager. They then agree to meet again, in say a month, to discuss how the plan is going and any needed changes. That follow-up meeting is scheduled at this time. At each meeting the next one is scheduled. These regular meetings continue until both agree that the plan is completed.

The manager should not take on any items himself or herself, only those they are prepared to work on jointly with the employee. The employee can change his or her plan but cannot abandon it. The manager only provides the support structure for the employee's decisions and actions.

Significant Missing Items

It often happened that the employee does not mention an item that is significant to the manager. For example, in the above example the employee did not mention financial performance (which is important to most managers). Omitted items tell the manager where he must communicate better to employees. He knows he has succeeded when the employee includes the item at his or her next evaluation.

In my client company this new evaluation process was an immediate success. Managers no longer postponed their dreaded evaluations. They saw the process as an additional way to connect with employees and strengthen their already powerful and productive work culture. Employees said they liked the new way. Changes began immediately.

This Months Statistics

"Culture Drives the Whole Company."

From Fast Company , December 2004, p86, by Jill Rosenfeld

"MTW Corp, headquartered outside of Kansas City, provides software and Internet applications to the financial-services industry and state governments. Since 1996, when Ed Ossie, became president and COO, it has expanded from a 50-person outfit with $8 million in revenues to a 200-persons with $31 million in revenues."

"Teams make many company decisions but only one-the Culture and Communications Team -includes founder and CEO Richard Mueller, with. President Ed Ossie an active participant. Why? 'Because if we get the culture right,' says Ossie, 'then that drives the whole company.'"

"The group has 12 members and meets by conference call at least once a month, often more frequently. One recent project was a companywide survey of "guiding principles." The identified a dozen principles, and questions to evaluate how well MTW lived up to them."

"The survey asked employees to rank the 12 principles-trust, integrity, customer satisfaction, and so on-by importance, and then to rate the company's adherence to each one. Employees ranked "learning organization" as one of the top three, but indicated that MTW was failing to live up to its goal by a wide margin. Results were posted on MTW's intranet for action."

To read the full article see http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/30/mtw.html

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For more information on how Company Culture affects performance read http://www.companyculture.com/basics/benefits.htm