Get Rid Of The Performance Review: My Review
I am going to recommend that you read Samuel A. Culbert’s (with Lawrence Rout) new book “Get Rid of the Performance Review: How Companies Can Stop Intimidating, Start Managing – and Focus on What Really Matters.” You should know that I got my copy to review free of charge from the publisher. It’s a good book, not a great one, but it’s an important book because it is one of the few that makes a serious and impassioned case for abolishing the performance review.
I agree, performance reviews suck. Everyone involved – those that give them as well as those that receive them – dreads the process.
How could something so obviously destructive, so universally despised, continue to plague our workplaces? In part, it’s because the performance review is all executives have ever known, and they’re blind to the damage caused by it. In part, it’s because few managers are aware of the addiction to the fear that reviews create amongst staff, and too many lack the confidence that they can lead without that fear. In part it’s because HR professionals exploit the performance review to provide them a power base they don’t deserve. And it part it’s because few people know an alternative for getting the control, accountability, and employee development that reviews supposedly produce – but never do. (pp. 1-2).
The efficacy of the performance review is based on a number of false assumptions, almost all of which Culbert addresses in his book. The biggest false assumption is that the honest, accurate, and helpful subjective assessment of performance can take place in relationships where the boss has all the power and the employee has none. This mirage of efficacious subjectivity is most notable when the boss has an implicit or explicit numerical distribution to meet (e.g. make the average rating 7 on a scale of 10, only 10% can be rated excellent) that is something they in-turn are rated on, and when the performance evaluation is linked to pay actions.
Performance appraisal is a charade.
As much as I concur with the premise of the book, I have to tell you honestly that I really don’t care for the authors’ writing style. I’ve read one other book by Culbert and I didn’t like that one either (although I agreed with the premise of the book). I love sarcasm, but Culbert is in my opinion overly sarcastic in his style. He is very hard on HR in the book, and everything he says is true and the criticism is in my opinion merited. My concern is that his sarcastic and overly wordy style will be a distraction that will allow folks to miss or dismiss his very valid message.
The other big shortcoming of the book is the description of the performance preview, which the authors’ suggest is the remedy for the performance review. The performance preview is:
An ongoing dialogue between boss and subordinate, where each of them is responsible for asking the other: What can I do to make us work together better and get the results we’re both on the hook for? The focus isn’t on the past and how one person screwed up, but on making the system work better in the future. (p. 147).
I love that, but I wish he could have provided more solid examples of companies that have abolished performance reviews and replaced them with the performance preview or some other credible process. I think a lot of people will read the book and dismiss it feeling they still don’t have a better alternative.
In the end, the authors nail the issue for me when they state:
Keep in mind that improvement is each individual’s own responsibility. Only you can make yourself better. The best you can do for others is to develop a trusting and safe environment where employees can ask for feedback and help when they see the need and feel sufficiently valued to take it. Getting rid of the performance review is a necessary, and affirming, step in that direction. It provides employees with a relationship where confiding need, admitting mistakes, and asking for help, coaching, and guidance is increasingly likely. And it provides bosses a practical motive to share impressions and to help out (p. 215).
Read the book with an open mind and decide for yourself.
Related Posts:
Employee Engagement: Off To See The Wizard?
About the Author: Bret L. Simmons
Welcome to my blog! Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section of my posts. I publish all constructive, non-anonymous comments. 
Ah, the much revered annual performance review, where employees’ eyes roll and cynicism flows. Indeed, people need regular feedback on their performance and how this links to their developmental needs. However, whether in the private or public sectors, formal employee performance reviews are not only perceived as a waste of time but can actually damage morale.
I recall many years ago being told by a senior executive in the public sector that the reason he insisted that all his managers’ performance reviews of their staffs were completed were so that he could receive his annual bonus. Ask me if I felt motivated after hearing that comment.
My wife has worked for large private companies for 25 years and detests the periodic formal performance reviews because they are stilted exercises that yield nothing.
So, Bret, thanks for raising a very provocative topic. The challenge for those leading organizations is to determine how performance is best assessed and linked to development. One tip is to engage employees in the process. Management might be plesantly surprised at the outcome.
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Bret L. Simmons Reply:
July 22nd, 2010 at 8:55 am
Not surprised you are on the same page, Jim. I think your suggestion about involving employees in the search for a better solution is excellent. Thanks! Bret
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You know what else is absurd within certain employee reviews? In a nameless institution of higher education they have a policy where there is a cap on the amount of “excellents” any given department can submit; so, you’re basically screwed if you have a team of people who are all truly excellent in their jobs because only a few of them can be rated as such..makes you wonder why some people simply say screw it and quit performing. Like your earliler comment, where’s the motivation? Oh yeah…let’s not forget that there is no longer additional compensation due to economic hard times…still can’t submit everyone as excellent on the same team. I still aim to achieve excellent, but I don’t see it as common practice as much as I used to.
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Bret L. Simmons Reply:
July 22nd, 2010 at 1:02 pm
And yet the charade continues. Thanks, Kathy. Bret
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I just finished listening to this book on CD, an experience that I cannot recommend. It is narrated by the author, whose relentlessly smug and derisive style is accentuated by the abrasive and gruff tone of his voice. I found myself fast forwarding through chapters in the hope of hearing his points without compounding my headache.
I feel the digs he makes on traditional performance reviews are deserved, and I agree with his recommendation to engage employees and bosses in conversations focused on their mutual efforts to achieve clearly stated business goals. I just wish he hadn’t taken six CDs to say it!
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Bret L. Simmons Reply:
July 28th, 2010 at 3:21 pm
Welcome, Mike. Sorry to say I’m not surprised the CD was tough to digest. I love his message, but not how he delivers it. Thanks! Bret
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