Axe the Annual Appraisal
It’s frustrating – the amount of complaints I hear about the annual appraisal round. People protest its uselessness at all levels in business….but don’t make changes.
Let’s face it; it’s time to axe the Appraisal.
It irritates your managers and demotivates your people, it’s time consuming and costly and don’t get me going on that bell curve nonsense! It’s a crazy system that only reviews people’s performance once, twice maybe four times a year. What are you waiting for? Someone to come up with a better idea! Just step up and lead your business into a new performance era now!
Appropriate in the 1980’s
An annual appraisal may have had a place in the 1980’s when the pace of change was slower, and customer loyalty was earned in a totally different way. Today, companies have to win the loyalty of customers weekly, daily even hourly if they are to remain competitive.
Customer experience and staff performance/satisfaction are inextricably linked, so it follows that organisations really ought to be nurturing performance management all day, every day. There is a direct line between the performance of the worker and the satisfaction of the customer. Employees who truly believe that management is concerned about them tend to be more productive, more satisfied, more fulfilled. Satisfied employees mean satisfied customers, which leads to profitability.
Great staff performance therefore prompts customer loyalty. Your people drive customer satisfaction.
Walk a mile in my shoes
In this digital age there is a lot of talk about giving customers freedom to make their own choices, and to be treated more as individuals rather than mass marketing. It’s the same with employees. More and more often we are moving to an era where in order to motivate and retain the best people we need to understand what makes individuals tick and recognise their differences. Time to focus on the individual, not the group.
Think carefully before deciding which system your business requires. Design a bespoke system that feeds customer loyalty. Abraham Lincoln said, “If I had nine hours to chop down a tree, I would spend the first eight of them sharpening my Axe.” Start sharpening performance management today.
In your next Executive Meeting announce that your business is axing the annual appraisal. Trust me – your people will love you for it!
Call me on 07976 509551 to discuss how you can use our proven methods to update your performance system without a lot of fuss.
