Recognize This! – Without real-time performance feedback and recognition, employee engagement withers and dies.

This year the discussion around the performance review process has lasted longer with a more consistent theme than I’ve ever seen in the past. That theme? The current annual review process is broken. But there are precious few suggestions on how to fix it.

In a recent New York Times “Corner Office” column, Jack Dangermond, founder and president of Esri, had this to say after reflecting on his early work experience in a plant nursery:

Quotation

“In a nursery, if you don’t take care of those plants, your profits get lost real quickly. You have to weed. You have to water. You have to nurture. Also, you have to take care of your employees in such a way that they do the same.”

I take four clear lessons for the performance appraisal process from that:

1. Weed – give constructive feedback when needed to “remove the bad”
2. Water – give positive recognition as appropriate to “feed the good”
3. Nurture – mentor and coach employees through the process so they understand the organization’s investment in their development
4. Encourage – all employees should be encouraged to give positive praise to their colleagues as well as constructive criticism (when coached how to do so properly)

The success of such an approach – in a nursery or in the workplace – relies on real-time action. If you fail to weed, water and nurture your plants regularly, they will die. The same is true for your employees – or at least their ability and willingness to fully engage with your organization, culture and strategic priorities.

In a recent TLNT article, Lance Haun described the performance review in the perfect world:

Quotation

“In a perfect world, the performance review itself would simply be a summary of the last year of real feedback, support, improvements and deficiencies. Since it is a summary, it would be quick to review and submit since all of the feedback is past tense, and any discussions and corrective actions would have been in the past as well. That leaves the performance appraisal as a final formality for record keeping purposes and to determine any performance based incentives or increases.”

I couldn’t agree more. There is a place for the annual performance review and Lance describes that proper role perfectly.

What’s the performance review process in your organization like? Hurry up and remember a year’s worth of activity? Or progress feedback and praise, simply summarized at year end?