Performance Review Systems are assessments of an employee's performance and are usually conducted quarterly, bi-annually, or annually. The reviews are evaluated based on established goals and their accomplishment from start to finish. Goals are set prior with everyone on board to align them to organizational objectives. Performance Review systems vary according to the position of an individual in the company. The organization cannot review a manager the same way his subordinates are. Performance reviews depend not only on the job position in a company but also on the industry and the review's focus. Companies are not alike, and neither are their goals and objectives.
How can an organization customize its performance Reviews?
Organizations are becoming advocates of a performance management system that is value-based. This ensures that you can integrate your core values into the performance review framework. The result of the reviews provides organizations with a direction to support and guide the employees and the organization.
Discuss your organization's goals to objectives and determine if your employee translates your values in their behavior. Your performance management system can measure employees based on your core values and incorporate a value-based performance system. You can evaluate performances by asking questions related to core values and understand how your employee embody your core values. Some questions that you can include in the review:
Organizations must establish the company goals and objectives, and employees must set goals for themselves irrespective of their job title. From Chief Executives to Team Leaders, everybody must set SMART goals measured by company metrics. Why set company-specific goals? When you assess our employees based on the company-specific metrics, you can evaluate the impact each individual has on the company as a whole. It also helps your employees to stay aligned to your company with metrics that you prioritize.
You can also measure the talent at work and accordingly build plans and strategize to support their growth, directly impacting the company. Tie your employees' goals to organizational goals and help your team understand their contribution to its success.
360-degree feedback systems are executed to provide employees with constructive and motivating feedback from their people. It's an anonymous feedback system that covers a wide range of competencies to evaluate performance. This system of feedback ensures that employees receive a well-structured review from managers, peers, and self. When employees receive feedback from different perspectives, it gives them a comprehensive picture of their performance, strengths, weaknesses and identifies areas of improvement. Participants who are involved in the process include - Managers, peers, customers, direct reports. The 360-degree feedback system is used as a development tool and as an appraisal tool across various organizations.
Traditional review systems are conducted yearly and rating-based, completing a task is the only measure to assess performance. But a modern review system is more development and growth-focused to assist employees with their efficiency and productivity. This helps managers better track and measure employee progress and intervene when required with actionable feedback. When a review system is continuous, it engages employees and empowers them to do their best with meaningful conversations they have with their managers. Through a continuous review cycle, employees will be able to identify development opportunities and strengthen communication with transparency.
Performance review systems do not end with just evaluations. There must be a plan of action that triggers performance improvement when an employee's performance is not satisfactory. Having customized performance improvement plans can address and improve underperforming employees. This gives the employees direction and a better understanding of what's required of them and areas they need to work on. A performance improvement plan is an essential element in performance reviews to ensure that employee development is ongoing. This plan gives employees the power to change their performance with detailed feedback that addresses an employee's challenges.
Global Variations to Performance Reviews
Performance reviews are unique to different work cultures.
The American Business Model is widely accepted worldwide, and very few cultures make adaptations of their into it. The American culture works on a pay-for-performance system, whereas some cultures prioritize interpersonal relations. The United States lays great emphasis on information, one-on-one meetings and is highly individualistic. Performance Management system in Korea and Japan uses a parallel approach to the United States. Dick Grote, the author of Forced Ranking: Making Performance Management Work, has spent decades specializing in performance management and studying how various cultures worldwide adapt.
It's important to ensure that Performance Review systems are customized to a company's requirements.
It's not only that reviews have to be customized to companies but also employees. Some of the key components of review systems are to set goals, guide them, evaluate and reward them accordingly. When you customize performance reviews to employee goals, department goals, management goals, and company goals, you hold accountability, improve performance and foster professional development across the organization.
.png){kind=small}