Article Link: http://stage.exchangepress.com/article/honestly-speaking/5021522/
Why do we have such difficulty in being honest with our employees? Why are annual performance evaluations usually an exercise of compromise as opposed to an honest effort toward individual performance improvement? Recent research by Gallup indicates that 78% of employees polled felt that annual evaluations did nothing to help them improve or grow as individuals; 25% of this same group felt that annual reviews were in effect “a worthless waste of time.”If these statistics are true, and I have no doubt that they are, why do we even bother doing them? What’s the real issue here? I think there are numerous areas we as leaders, managers, directors, or ‘bosses’ need to examine.
Honesty is a good place to start. It seems that most people have a problem delivering or receiving a true accounting of performance. Managers too often view evaluations as negative, potentially confrontational, and ultimately a compromise because “we don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings.” In effect, we have been dishonest and lacked the courage that might improve performance, and, at a minimum, create mutual respect between professionals where trust can be fostered. In 2002, the Corporate Leadership Council surveyed 19,000 employees in 34 companies about the effectiveness of ...