Ratings & Reckonings

 

Washington Post columnist Michele L. Norris wrote a piece about racial reckoning in December 2020. She described a reckoning as “...not an action item on a wish list. It is a thing. An accomplishment. A checked box. A reckoning by definition refers to the moment when we finally deal with an ugly situation. It is more than just admitting that there’s a problem.” An epiphany, she explained, is not the same thing as a reckoning. Think of epiphanies as those aha moments we often have.

Undoubtedly, 2020 was a year of disruptive discovery with lots of aha moments. Turned on our heads by the pandemic, we saw drastic changes when it came to working. Leaders in likely all organizations had epiphanies on many aspects of work. One that comes to mind: performance appraisals and evaluations.

Many organizations adjusted their performance evaluations in 2020 to account for the challenges created by the coronavirus. Google combined its usual two review periods into one and rated employees against revised expectations. Facebook suspended performance ratings in the first half and used a formula to calculate bonuses that were above the standard target. In the second half, it returned to its typical process. Box, the file-sharing service, encouraged more regular feedback between managers and employees and had just one, not two, formal review cycles.

On the same day that Norris’s column appeared, there was a post on LinkedIn by Dan L. Ward. “My best advice for those considering what sort of rating/ranking process to inflict on employees who have survived 2020 is to leave those poor people alone. They have suffered enough for one year!” Ward has led the redesign of employee performance management systems at three major organizations, processes that were rated industry best practices.

Other organizations made changes in 2020. Goldman Sachs, acknowledging that the dynamics of today’s challenges underscore the need for more transparency, had managers meet with employees three times a year, formalizing a process that was only encouraged before. Hopefully, employees received more meaningful feedback.

Some organizations suspended formal reviews for 2020, recognizing that no one, employees and managers alike, needed the additional stress. Some of these organizations are contemplating never bringing back a formal review process. 

Have these changes accelerated the shift toward more frequent feedback? The world of remote work forces managers to have more check-ins with team members. Will this be the new default?

When work returns to its normal rhythms, or something close to it, will leaders in organizations have a reckoning about performance management—namely, taking a systems approach rather than being preoccupied with performance ratings and rankings?  

Granted, performance management systems must be unique to every organization and meet their individual needs. However, the dreaded performance review, with its associated ratings, is an ugly situation in many organizations. One reason is that they are often tied to pay increases, promotions, and future layoffs. If the only time you talk to employees about their performance is when you are also talking about money, what are they listening to hear? Perhaps it’s time for a reckoning in many organizations―an opportunity to move their performance management system to a feedback mindset rather than one focused on quantitative measures.

Cornelia & Barbara

What You Do Matters!

I felt my body chill, as if my blood were running cold. I was at the U.S Holocaust Memorial Museum standing in the replica of a family's room in the Ghetto.  I listened a woman say “My mother would never talk about it." I stood there frozen. I couldn't begin to imagine the horror her mother experienced, I told her, barely getting the words out.

I visited the Holocaust Museum in DC that day for an explicit reason. My son is student teaching this semester and his 9th grade class is reading The Diary of Anne Frank and studying the Holocaust. Perhaps I could find material to enhance those lessons. Since I've been through the entire museum before, this time I only explored one exhibit Remember the Children: Daniel's Story. When I left, a couple approached me asking if I'd take their picture in front of the museum’s sign. Of course I did. Without asking, I knew they were not mere DC tourists. This experience was personal on some level for them. Their faces were beaming as I snapped several photos. Their gratitude was evident.  I was curious. I really wanted to learn their story, their connection to this horrible history, but didn't want to intrude. Atrocities are often best left unsaid.

Reflecting on the incident as I made my way home, I wondered if by complying with their simple request to take their picture, if I engaged in an act of Radical Kindness. Radical Kindness is about showing the world that kindness, no matter how small, makes a big difference in others’ lives and in your own. It complements a saying I saw in the Museum -- What You Do Matters. What a powerful message.

There are so many powerful leadership lessons we can draw from that saying.  Actions have consequences. We all need to be accountable. James Damore, the Googler who wrote and posted an internal memo critical of the company's diversity policies, was not practicing radical kindness. Promoting stereotypes is not kind. It wasn’t his beliefs that got him fired, it was his actions. They had consequences. What you do matters.

Build a culture of kindness in your organization, especially if your organization’s values include honesty, integrity and respect. Kindness can be a powerful intervention. It can foil tensions from escalating. It can stop conflict in its tracks. What you do matters.

I recently learned that the founder of LaMadeleine the French Country Café chain, when he visited restaurants, first went into the kitchens to speak with the cooks and dishwashers, next made his way out to the cashiers and team members who worked directly with the customers, and only then did he seek out the managers. What you do matters.

As leaders, go out of your way to be gracious. Walk around your organization. Talk to all the employees – ask them how they are doing. Take a moment to be genuinely curious about them in a purposeful, genuine, and respectful way. Offer a kind word. Tell them they’re doing great work!  What you do matters.