One of the most common reasons why my clients first contact me is because they are having trouble trying to create their talent pool. They all have sophisticated, well structured, competence-based appraisal forms. In most cases, they have also invested in software, which, connected to their database and once the right metrics are introduced, is able to create professional graphics showing the different performance levels of each co-worker in the organisation. But someone must have previously introduced some figures; otherwise it is impossible to obtain any graphics. You acquire the metrics after carrying out an appraisal process using the sophisticated form. This form was presented to all managers in a training session about what competences are, how to use them, how to measure them, etc. But, in spite of the training, nobody was convinced by the tool. Nobody ever was. So nobody uses the tool. And therefore no metrics are registered in the software. So, there are no graphics and consequently no talent pool. When they reach this point, organisations say: “We need to redefine our method of appraisal.” And I tell them: “Dig the appraisal form!” In most of cases their first reaction is to stare at me looking quite confused.
The failure of the appraisal forms (in fact, the failure of the whole 80s-style appraisal process, which most companies still use nowadays) is due to the fact that most of them were designed without thinking about the final user nor the goal of the tool. They were created by back-office teams, usually supported by external advisors, who were not familiar with the real life and activity of the final user of the tool. So, as every single product which is created without taking into account its final client has very few possibilities of succeeding, as nobody will acquire and assimilate it (and no training can resolve this gap). On the other hand, every single appraisal model I check is metrics-based to assess performance levels and thanks to those metrics the magical software will provide us with our coveted graphics and KPIs. What are we really looking for with an appraisal? Measuring or developing? In other words, to what extent do we need figures to develop someone?
Metrics-based appraisals are one of the tools that are least trusted by teams. There is a good reason for this. The feeling that everything relies on a number or that such a number will determine your career puts everybody off. In such a scenario, we cannot try to convert the annual appraisal into the cornerstone of our talent management strategy.
After over 20 years devising, testing, deconstructing and devising tools again to make people improve, I’d like to think that development is like sentimental relationships. In fact, a couple is not consolidated by big events such as super-holidays or romantic candle-lit dinners. Of course, such things might occur from time to time, but our relationship is created by our day-to-day life: cooking together, making peace after an argument, choosing a piece of furniture, discussing the days issues while brushing your teeth … A long list of little interactions which, when put together, define the basis which stimulates the growth in a relationship between two people. Development seems very similar for me. We cannot consider appraisal, as being the main big annual event, as the key to developing our teams. Their development is on a daily basis, with every discussion, every coaching call, every time they stop and have a coffee to get philosophical and rethink a strategy, every debate, every spontaneous feedback in a corridor, without any forms or metrics.
Therefore, we do not need to redefine our appraisal form. What we really need is to focus on what will effectively help us boost people’s development, which is the basis of our talent pool. The secret depends on finding the right tool which, inspired by the scenarios and daily tasks of the final users, enables tracking and writing each team member’s evolution, instead of being obsessed with data. Evaluating does not mean developing.
